Say "YES!" to Whole Grain

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My goal for this year is perfecting the art of making 100% whole grain bread. So far I have been highly unsuccessful. I have a barrel of wheat berries and a huge can of gluten. For my first loaf I ground up the wheat berries in a coffee grinder to make the flour. After adding multiple ingredients-including a tablespoon of wheat gluten to my bread-maker I let it go to work kneading  and baking. The result was a 5 pound brick-not bread. Unless I add white flour to my loaf, I have been unable to make anything except highly nutritious bricks which are even too tough to toast. I am convinced a 100% whole wheat bread is possible to make because I have enjoyed it from other people's kitchens--just not my own. Hopefully I will be able to make it by the end of winter. 

I am a firm believer in the value of whole wheat or whole grain.

Benefits: Whole Grain is full of vitamin B. In fact, second to eating a slab of liver, whole grain is listed at the top of the list for containing the most B vitamins of the food we eat. And what is so important about eating B vitamins? Essentially B vitamins are known for keeping us from getting sick. So if you get sick a lot chanced are you are not getting enough B vitamins! By the way, it can also be caused by over-consuming sugar which attacks and kills B vitamins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_vitamins#Related_nutrients

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/vitamin-b1.htm

In fact, I read an article about a woman who started making home-made whole wheat bread and she said that since she had started making the wheat bread at home she and none of her family had been sick. She had been making it for 3 years. She said up to the point she made wheat bread, her family had been sick every a year with colds and flu. Oh the power of B vitamins!

Whole grain also contains a large amount of other nutrients including fiber, which most American are sorely lacking in. Now the difference between making and buying the grain is debatable. I find it is significantly cheaper to make my own--well assuming I get the hang of it. Plus I can use 100% natural ingredients and no preservatives. I know what is in it. 

If I had the power to go back in history and change something. One thing I would like to change is the invention of white flour. It is my belief that it has done more harm to our overall health than any other product we eat. 
White flour is used in pretty much any food that is unhealthy to eat-including snack foods. It is not good on the digestive system causing weight gain, constipation, blood suger problems including high blood sugar and diabeties, and possibly increases the risk of allergies to wheat and gluten. 


For further reading on the dangers of white flour read this article from women's fitness.
http://www.womenfitness.net/ugly_truths.htm

So, my goal? It seems hopeless at the moment. Two years ago I tackled the art of making pie crusts and spent a summer trying to perfect mine. Now I can do that--but whole wheat bread is by far a more complex task. So far, I have spent half a year with no success. Hopefully I will soon be able to grasp the art of bread-making and better the health of myself and my family!