Grainlady ?????

Why only three grams? Store bought bread- like Arnold, etc- in multi grain loaves has 8 grams or more. The 100% whole wheat loaves have more.
Sometimes going cold turkey is best- just switch to whole wheat flour. With a little effort and a different recipe you could have something nutritious, soft and tasty.

Try having half of the flour content of your bread be whole grains....
Remember there are many other while grains other than wheat....try adding wheat bran, oat bran, raisins ( and cut out the sugar) some rolled rye flakes and some ground flax seeds.
And a couple of Tablespoons of vital wheat gluten for texture.
Linda C

Whole wheat (including white whole wheat which is barely wheaty at all) is fibery. You might need to add some gluten to the mix. Oat bran is an easy add-in, too.

I'm a total bread newbie but find these to be pretty easy to do.

Oh I'd take more than 3 grams of fiber! I was just trying not to be too ambitious.

I hadn't thought of oat bran. Hmm. So, I could try part white whole wheat and part oat bran and add a little vital gluten in there. Ground flaxseed would be good as well.

Thanks - More testing this week!

I start my breads with freshly-milled flour. 100% whole wheat flour bread already has over 4 g. fiber per one-ounce slice. Then I add many of the following.... The high-fiber and high-protein add-ins also lower the glycemic impact of bread.

1. Chia seeds (made into a gel - 1 oz. chia seeds + 1 c. water)- http://www.thechiaseed.com/ Secondary effect, it aids in keeping the loaves fresher longer. Two T. = 7 g fiber. I generally add 1/3-1/2 c. chia gel to all bread recipes. Looks like poppy seeds in the bread.

2. Flaxmeal - freshly ground in a spice/coffee mill
(2-3 g fiber per tablespoon - whole seeds). I generally add 1/4 c. per loaf. Best use ground, rather than the whole seeds. You'll get more nutrition from ground seeds. Whole seeds act like a laxative. I automatically add some flaxmeal to all baked goods.

3. Multigrain cereal blends. These look like chopped whole grains/seeds and are sold as 5-grain, 7-grain, etc... for cooked cereal. I mill my own blends, but looking on-line at Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain Hot Cereal, it contains 5g fiber per 1/4 c., and I usually add 1/2-3/4-c. towards the end of kneading. If you add it early, the sharp edges of the chopped grain will cut the gluten strands. You will also find recipes where you soak it in hot water before adding to bread. I usually just add it dry. Adds a bit of "tooth" (crunch) to bread.

4. I often add freshly-milled bean flour, high in fiber and protein. If using bean flour, choose small white beans for the least amount of bean flavor and keep it to no more than 15% of the total flour.

5. My newest add-in is Hi-Maize Resistant Starch - 1 heaping T. = 9g fiber - which is more than the fiber in 1/3 cup of high bran cereal and twice as much as the fiber contained in 1 cup of oatmeal. You can replace 10-25% of the flour in a recipe with hi-maize. I add at least 1 T. to my morning smoothie (made with 1/2 homemade kefir, 1/2 100% fruit juice of some kind, 1 T. Hi-Maize and 1/2 T. of a powdered supplement). Hi-Maize is also added to all baked goods now.

There are many other high-fiber choices... oatmeal, bran, coconut flour, cooked kernels of wheat, etc.

6. Coconut flour contains the highest percentage of dietary fiber in comparison to other flours. Sixty-one percent of coconut flour consists of fiber, while enriched white flour is 3%, whole wheat flour 13%, oat bran 16%, and wheat bran 27%. However, coconut flour doesn't substitute like wheat flour. It's a nice add-in for additional fiber and I use gluten-free coconut flour recipes for some of our baked goods.

There are seven basic classifications of fiber: bran, cellulose, gum, hemicellulose, lignin, mucilages, and pectin. Each form has its own function, so that's why I include a number of those to bread and baked goods. Add to our diet: whole grains, fresh and dried fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, and vegetables.... for a very high-fiber diet from all the types of fiber possible.

How to figure your fiber? You'll have to total the amount of fiber added from the various sources, then divide it by how many slices you get per loaf. A serving of bread is one ounce. I make most burger/hot dog buns 2-ounces (baked weight), so I know there are 2-servings of whole grains per bun. I cut bread from small loaves in thin 1/2-ounce slices, so 2 slices = 1 serving of bread. From regular loaves of bread I'll cut 1-ounce slices which equals 1-serving.

You can also find high-fiber bread recipes that have nutritional information (on line and in cookbooks), which generally provide the amount of fiber in the diet, as a guideline.

-Grainlady

Well, in figuring this out I was surprised at how light bran is! You need more than I thought. (I picked wheat bran as the most likely source of fiber, and the easiest weight/volume equivalents online.) I'm also assuming that all of the bran counts as fiber; if not, then use a bit extra.

First, you want to know how many slices per loaf. Sixteen seemed likely to me, but of course you may slice thick or thin, and that will matter. But taking 16 as the number, multipling the amount of fiber you want per slice (3 g) by the number of slices (16) gives you 48 grams for the whole loaf. The USDA says a cup of wheat bran weighs 58 grams. At this point I'd just say, "throw in a little less than a cup for each loaf." But if we want to be more exact, we can divide 48 by 58 and we see that it's .8275 cups you need. That is, just under 7/8 of a cup.

Add the bran before you add the last cup or two of flour, while the dough is still wet. Then wait (I hope this extra 15-30 minutes won't blow your schedule). Let the bran absorb some water. That's the secret to making whole-wheat breads that aren't too dense or dry. Bran, whether it's in whole wheat flour or added separately, is going to soak up water. Let it do its thing, and only then add the last of the flour.

Hi Maize!
Hi Maize!
Hi Maize!

Grainlady & Jessica, is the Hi Maize you're referring to the same stuff that's sold by King Arthur Flour? I've been intrigued by the catalog description of the product and wondered if it would be a good product to buy.

Here is a link that might be useful: KAF Hi-Maize Flour

Thank you all so very much. It looks like I have some experimenting to do.

I remember Grainlady mentioning Hi-Maize before. I think that will most certainly be on my "try" list.

Thanks again!

I've found that half white whole wheat (which I get from King Arthur Flour) and half regular AP or bread flour makes a relatively "white" loaf. I add a couple of tablespoons of ground flaxseed per loaf, it has something close to 3 grams of fiber per tablespoon.

Also, to keep the crust tender, I brush with melted butter while it's still warm, it keeps the crust soft and tender.

Annie

I like whole wheat, but DH doesn't. 50:50 KA white whole wheat and bread flour with a dab of the Bob's Red Mill 10-grain cereal or oatmeal and a touch of vital wheat gluten is acceptable to everybody. I don't use a bread machine and barely knead so I make a stickier -- or "slack" -- dough and tbat gives me a nicer, less dense loaf. A small pinch of Fruit Fresh (powdered ascorbic acid) speeds the rising.

I purchase Hi-Maize from Honeyville Grain. Your entire order costs $4.49 for shipping, so I purchase several bags at a time (as well as other products I get from them). I may order the 50-pound bag ($119.99) the next time and split it with a friend who is now using Hi-Maize, to save even more money on the purchase.

5 pounds - $16.99

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Honeyville Grain - Hi-maize 5-in-1 fiber

Same here. The King Arthur one looks like it's flour mixed with hi-maize.

Yes, I realized after I hit the submit button that I had posted the wrong product. King Arthur does indeed sell just plain Hi-Maize. Thanks for the link, Grainlady. That sounds like a really good price.

Here is a link that might be useful: KAF Hi-Maize

Here's a link I ran across today with recipes that included grams of fiber per serving. All the recipes include Hi-Maize.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Hi-Maize High Fiber Recipes