Recipe for Light & Fluffy Homemade Whole-Grain Bread & Buns

May it please the Court of Bread Lovers, I submit that the state of American bread is one sorry, sorry, state and hereby submit into evidence:

Exhibit #1: At Christmas a few years ago, my dad ran to the grocery for bread and brought home sour dough Wonder bread. We made our sandwiches, the bread went into the bread drawer. Ten months later – I know, too long – there it was, still as ‘fresh’ as ever, no science experiment color, no sign of mold or aging. If it weren’t so creepy, I’d ‘wonder’ if bread might be a yeasty fountain of youth. (Photographic evidence? Scroll to the bottom of this recipe for another Whole Grain Bread from A Veggie Venture, my food blog.)

Exhibit #2: Last month, I bought a small loaf at the grocery, something quick for dinner. First, they fooled me. The label read ‘wheat mini loaf’ versus ‘whole wheat mini loaf’ so wasn’t even whole grain. How many of us make the same mistake? And then, the ingredient list was longer than the loaf. Bleached wheat flour (malted barley flour, niacin, thiamine, mononitrate, riboflavin), water, sugar, cracked wheat, yeast, wheat bran, salt, vegetable shortening (partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed, and/or canola oils), wheat gluten, cornstarch, soy flour, molasses, calcium stearoyl lactylate (CSL), dextrose, malt, corn flour, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monodiglycerides (datem), carmel color, ammonium chloride, ascorbic acid, calcium carbonate, malt barley flour, soy oil, enzyme, calcium peroxide, azodicarbonamide (ADA), lcysteine, isolated soy protein, sodium phosohare, lecithin, soybean oil, carrageenan, mixed tocopherols added to protect flavor. Yikes, is all that necessary, just for bread? The price? $.12 an ounce.

Exhibit #3: So then I bought a loaf of ‘good’ bread, a so-called ‘Artisan Multi-Grain Flax & Honey Bread’ at a brand-new high-end grocery but had to ask, special, for an ingredient label. Hmm, was it whole grain? I don’t think so, not from the label. But the ingredient list was shorter, just Water, enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, barley malt, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), whole wheat flour, rye flour, molasses, sugar, oats, sunflower seeds, millet, flax seed, contains 2% or less of: honey, salt, yeast, cracked wheat, lactic acid, sea salt, cultured wheat starch, ascorbic acid. For this bread, the price was 25 cents an ounce, more than twice as much. The taste? Okay. And sure, I could go to a bakery with good bread, I’m lucky to have one up the road. But it’s an extra stop and is closed after six and Sundays. Plus the bread is expensive, $6 a loaf.

Exhibit #4: During a road trip into the American West this summer, we ate three meals a day out, no fast food, local places only, some times a little upscale, mostly not. Only once was the bread was worth eating, a splurge at a pricey place with all-around fabulous food. Otherwise? White bread, soft and smudgy, tasteless and forgettable.

Your Bread Honors? I rest my case.

ABOUT THIS RECIPE As a country, we like our bread white and soft. So I set out to find a whole-grain bread recipe that’s not white, sorry, but a lovely pumpkin-tinged brown but whose texture has a tender satisfying texture. Plus the flavor is so good! I must say, I’m hooked on this bread, I’ve made it a half dozen times in the past couple of months, playing with the basic recipe. It's become my go-to recipe for whole-grain bread, especially since it's such a forgiving bread dough. When family is arriving from out of town, I'll mix up a batch the morning of arrival, we'll have hot soup and small rolls hot out of the oven the first night, then use larger rolls for lunch sandwiches the rest of the week. Often there's time for a loaf of Autumn Pumpkin Bread too, finishing the can of pumpkin!

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. In 2009, Kitchen Parade celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special collection of my mother's recipes. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Become a Kitchen Parade fan on Facebook!