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Read more background info on this recipe and all about my bread making saga. As I said there, this organic soaked homemade bread recipe turns out better than store bought bread! It has great flavor and texture, and because of how well the Boschworks the dough, it is so soft. It rises well, slices well, keeps well, and even comes out of the freezer well. Kids love it, too. Not only that, it's organic, almost all whole grain, easy, and economical. One of the best things, though, is that it is also “soaked”, which means that just by starting the recipe the night before, it is much more nutritious because much of the phytic acid is broken down for more mineral absorption. (Read more here about properly preparing grains.)
***Keep in mind: the amounts below are for 3 LOAVES. For the 6 LOAF RECIPE, see further below. (When I was experimenting I didn't want to make more than 3 at once.)
Here's where you can get a Bosch, which is what I like to use to make homemade bread.
(Update years later: mostly now I make this super simple sourdough bread!)
Kelly's Soaked Bread Recipe in the Bosch
Or here are variations to this soaked bread recipe to make hamburger buns, hot dog buns, cinnamon rolls, etc.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups organic whole wheat flour (I sometimes grind the whole grains in my Nutrimill from “hard” wheat, don't use pastry flour or “soft” wheat for bread), or I like using organic whole einkorn flour.
- 1 1/2 cups organic spelt flour (or you can just use more whole wheat, but adding in alternative grains to your diet here and there is a good idea)
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (I make it from our raw milk – it's so easy! Read how to make buttermilk) – you could also use whole milk yogurt, or kefir. (Nourishing Traditions says if you have milk allergies to use an equal amount of water + 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, whey or vinegar, but I haven't tried this.) I thought the buttermilk was easiest to make, it keeps a long time, and it is economical. According to Susan, a reader who has been experimenting with me, it also works as a dough enhancer.
- 2 cups very warm water
- 1 egg — wonder which eggs should you buy?
- 3 cups white unbleached flour – or I like using white einkorn flour
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 1/4 cup refined or unrefined coconut oil (depends on whether or not you don't mind a little coconut flavor in your bread – I use the refined with no taste or smell) – if it's warm in your kitchen and the oil is already melted just add these two ingredients to the Bosch. (Normally you'd never put hot water anywhere near yeast, as it will kill it. But by the time the oil melts and you mix it in, the water will be only warm.)
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
- 1/2 cup local raw honey (read more about healthy sweeteners, and if you can't find a good local source, you can buy it online.)
- 1 Tablespoon sea salt
Instructions:
1. The night before, add these ingredients to your Bosch Kitchen Mixer or other big mixer or breadmaker: flour (first two listed above), buttermilk, and warm water.
2. Mix just until all the flour is wet. Put the lid on the Bosch, and let set 7 hours, but 12 or more is even better and you may even have a nice sourdough taste. (Once I didn't know we were having hamburgers until that morning, so I only soaked it 4 hours – I figured it was better than nothing, and much better than buying them at the store.)
3. The next day, or whenever you're ready to finish your bread, here's what to do next: Add to the Bosch: the egg, 3 cups white unbleached flour.
Measure the 1/4 cup hot water in a measuring cup…don't put it in yet… Add to the hot water (so it melts) the coconut oil. Once it's melted, add it in, and start mixing on the lowest speed. Add the yeast, keep mixing on lowest speed. Add honey, then the sea salt.(Always add salt last after the yeast is mixed into the dough well – the flour protects the yeast and keeps the salt from killing it.)
4. When the dough has cleaned up the sides and middle of the bowl, check how the dough feels and see if you need a bit more water or flour (you'll know if it feels too dry or too wet), and then set the timer for 14 minutes and continue mixing on the lowest speed. 
5. Meanwhile, butter your stainless steel bread pans. (Butter up and over the lip of the bread pan, so it will come out easily after baking.) Do NOT use coconut oil for this because for some reason it doesn't work and your bread will stick! When the dough is done, use buttered hands to split it into 3 equal pieces (some weigh it out, but I just guess), shape them into a loaf, and press into the pans. Be careful not to fold it over itself and leave big air pockets. (I've done this now and then – my family frowns on big 1″ holes in the middle of their bread for some reason, lol.)
Variation for freezing the dough:
At this point you could shape the dough to fit your pan (or shape into buns to use in the future), then freeze before letting it rise. When it's frozen, transfer it to a freezer baggie (to free up your pan). Now you have homemade bread all ready to thaw, rise and bake someday when you feel like fresh-baked heaven right from the oven. Or keep reading if you plan to bake them all at once and then freeze…that works, too! (See the following links for info on these variations)
6. Rise. The time depends on the temp in your kitchen – usually 2-3 hours. The first time I made this I was shocked that it only took ONE rise, other homemade breads I've made in the past took 2-3 rises and it was an all day affair. This is so much faster and easier! Apparently only one rise is necessary with a Bosch, because it mixes and develops the gluten so efficiently. (This is also why it comes out so soft!)
7. Bake. When it's the height you want (don't wait too long or it will fall), carefully place the bread pans into a cool oven, and set it for 350*. Bake 25 minutes. (This is for an electric oven, for a gas oven, preheat to 350*, then bake for 20 minutes.)
8. Cool. When you take it out of the oven, immediately (carefully) take it out of the pan and cool on a wire rack, otherwise condensation builds up in the pan and makes the bread soggy.
9. ENJOY!
- Use this soaked bread recipe for your everyday bread – sandwiches, toast, etc.
- Freeze in a labeled freezer baggie after it's cool.
- OR, my preference is to slather it with plenty of butter and eat it while it's warm 🙂
Buy a Bosch mixer here.
Amounts for 6 loaves of the soaked bread recipe (Detailed recipe above)
Note – this recipe is a work in progress! If you notice the recipe changing here each time you check, it's because I'm trying things that may or may not be working. When I just doubled the 3 loaf batch from above, it was too much dough for my Bosch – the top was coming off, and it was dripping out the sides. But I ended up getting 7 batches of bread: 5 loaves, 7 hot dog buns, and a pan of cinnamon rolls out of it – so my 3 loaf batch must be 3 bigger loaves than I made.
Next time I'm going to try these amounts:
Night before:
- 7 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 cups spelt flour (or you can just use more whole wheat)
- 1 1/2 cupsbuttermilk
- 3 1/2 cups very warm water
Next day:
- Add 2 eggs to the Bosch (I just read that eggs make your dough dry, so I'm omitting these and using more water instead, see below)
- Add 5 cups white unbleached flour – you MAY need more of this – go by how it feels. Too dry? Add a few drops of water. Too wet? Add a bit more flour.
- Measure a 1 cup very warm water in a measuring cup…don't put it in yet…
- Add to the hot water (so it melts) 1/2 cupsrefined or unrefined coconut oil. Once it's melted, add it in, and start mixing on the lowest speed.
- Add 4 Tablespoon yeast, keep mixing on lowest speed
- Add 1 cuplocal raw honey
- 1 Tablespoon sea salt
When making all 6 loaves, you'll need to bake 3 at a time, obviously, unless you're lucky enough to have two ovens. Let me know how it goes for you!
Read about how Susan makes bread with her Bosch:
“I usually make 5 loaves and a pan of cinnamon rolls. I turn the oven to its lowest setting while I'm forming the loaves… I weigh 1.5 pounds of dough out for each loaf of bread. Then I put the pans of bread on the pizza stone in my oven and turn OFF the oven. I set the timer for 55 minutes for the bread to rise. Allowing the bread to rise in the oven like this gives it a more “controlled” environment… I've read that allowing bread to rise on the countertop at room temp is “better”, but that's too unpredictable for me… I'm ADHD and I'll “forget” to check on the bread if I don't have a timer on it! Then once the bread has risen properly, I turn the oven onto 350* and put the timer on 35 minutes…I had to watch the bread rising closely several times to get the 55 minutes right, and again monitored baking the bread several times to get the 35 minutes right. The slightly over/under raised bread and slightly over-browned batches were all wolfed down by my family … so the experiments went to good use. When I moved I had to adjust the times, and I think I used to put the oven at 325* for baking the bread… the oven at my new place isn't as good as my last oven – we rent, so I have to work with what I'm given to work with.”
More you might like:
- Read about more ways that I like to use my Bosch mixer
- Why I Don’t Use a Bread Machine Anymore
- Replacing white flour with whole grains in 4 simple steps
- More of my favorite kitchen gadgets
- Healthy Meat Options
- The many health benefits of Coconut Oil
- Easy, raw applesauce
- in the Bosch
