bread recipes by Chef Kelly Unger

Bread is more than carbohydrates. It is nutritious and flavorful when made with locally grown and milled heirloom grains and shaped by loving hands.

Overnight Bread

4 cups flour such as Castle Valley Mill hard bolted wheat

2 cups water, room temp

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup dried fruit and/or nuts

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly with a large spoon. Cover with plastic wrap, leaving a 1 " vent on one side and place in a warm, draft free place overnight (12 to 18 hours). Preheat oven with a cast iron 10"/5qt pot with lid to 450 degrees. When oven is at temperature, pour dough out onto a clean and well floured surface. Knead several times into a ball, adding enough flour to surface to prevent sticking. Remove pot from oven and add a tablespoon of butter or oil to bottom, put formed dough ball in center of pot and cover. Put pot back in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake for 15 minutes more until perfectly browned. Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Cranberry Bread

yields 2 - 9x5x3 loaves

Preheat oven to 350 degres

4 cups good quality a.p. flour - I use Castle Valley Mill soft bolted wheat

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 stick frozen butter

2 large eggs, beaten

2 tsp orange or lemon zest

1 1/2 cups cold orange juice with pulp

3 cups dried cranberries

3 cups fresh cranberries

In a large bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a cheese (box) grater butter, grate butter into dry ingredients and stir to distribute, making the mixture crumbly. Add egg, zest and juice all at once. Stir until mixture just comes together and is evenly moist. Fold in cranberries gently. Spoon into loaf pans sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or util toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Vegan Biscuits

2 cups Castle Valley Mill bolted whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup cold vegetable shortening

1 cup cold almond milk

Flavored olive oil for brushing (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a medium bowl, add first 4 ingredients and stir to combine with a fork. Add cold vegetable shortening and cut in with a pastry blender (or a fork if you don’t have one) until course meal texture is achieved. Slowly pour in the cold almond milk while stirring with the fork until batter is just moistened and blended. Turn dough out onto a heavily floured counter and sprinkle top of dough with a little flour. Flour your hands and very gently pat/shape dough into a circle if you will be using a round cutter or a square if you will be cutting the biscuits into squares. Using a floured rolling pin roll dough to about 1 ½ to 2 inches thick and cut into about 2 inch squares or 2 inch rounds. Do not twist the cutter but push straight down and pull straight up, otherwise you will seal the edges and the biscuits won’t rise properly. Dust off excess four and place biscuits on a baking sheet spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 15 minutes until lightly browned. For extra flavor, brush with flavored olive oil as soon as the biscuits come out of the oven, such as lemon, orange or lime