Long Winter Wheat Bread, Cheater's Version

I separated the wheat from the chaff!

I was reading my Little House cookbook today and remembered the Kern jar of wheat berries given to me by my friend Leslie. Leslie's aunt is a genuine cowgirl and grows wheat on her farm. I've been saving the wheat for something really special (for two years now) and the time has finally arrived.


I was going to take the wheat and grind it in my coffee grinder, and make the bread that Laura and her family ate during The Long Winter to keep from starving. Thank goodness for dreamy Almanzo and Cap Garland with his flashing blue eyes, who traveled a zillion miles through a blizzard to get more wheat from that weird guy who was hiding it in his walls. (I know. You just have to read the book.)

So I'm all excited, until I read the description: "You are not likely to find this coarse, heavy loaf as satisfying as Laura did--unless you eat nothing else during the day, help to grind the grain, and share it with five hungry people in a room where a bottle of ink might freeze." Hmmm. Good point. Why would I waste my precious wheat on a crummy recipe?

Change of plans: wheat berry bread. I used this recipe as a jumping-off point but as you can see, changed many things, including the addition of homemade granola (Don't tell them you got it at Honey's cafe--dang it. Did I just type that out loud?).

Bread Machine Wheat Berry and Granola Bread
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup cooked wheat berries
1/2 cup granola
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
Mix all ingredients in bread machine and process on dough cycle. Bake in loaf pan (I used two because it seemed like a lot of dough) at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Janet's notes: Don't use two loaf pans. It's not really that much dough and I wish I had made one nice big loaf. If you use this bread as morning toast, leave the salt at 1 tsp. but if you want it for sandwiches, I'd add another teaspoonful. I was a little worried about not adding any butter or oil but it came out surprisingly tender. I'd also have used a cup or two of whole wheat flour in place of the white bread flour if I had it.