A note from Theresa Gleason

There are so many great books and recipes about baking bread. Check some out at the library until you find one you really like, then buy it. If you like a yeast-raised 100% whole wheat loaf, I highly recommend The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book, by Laurel Robertson. This is one of the few books I have found where the recipes actually call for 100% whole wheat in a whole wheat bread recipe.

For a few years I sold bread at the Middlebury Farmer’s Market and the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op. I taught myself to bake a very consistent high rising yeast raised whole wheat bread by following the explicit directions in The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book, and I adapted her recipes for the bread I made. I almost always sold out within the first two hours of the market.

And don’t forget to bake with pastry flour! I prefer to use the 100% Whole Wheat Pastry Flour in cookies because of the texture and nuttiness. It really adds character to your cookies! I use the Lemon Fair Sifted Pastry Flour for pie crusts and cakes. Until we began sifting, I used the 100% whole wheat pastry, but with sifting, I discovered that the flour was finer and lighter to work with. I use the pie crust recipe from The Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook by Andrea Chessman.

--Theresa