Incorporating wheat in dinner rolls

People ask me all the time "What do I do? I want my family to eat wheat. Where do I start?" Then they give me a long list of reasons their families wont eat wheat bread. The bread is hard, its too dense, its dry, it doesnt taste good, the loaves are too big so the bread cant be used for sandwiches because it doesnt fit in zip lock bags, it takes too long to make.....there are lots of reasons.

I think learning how to incorporate wheat is a process. Its important to start off small. Try putting a cup of whole wheat flour in a batch of cookies, or substitute a cup or two when making rolls. The trick to good whole wheat products is a good recipe and learning the recipes technique. Sometimes, you might have to try a recipe a few times before it works out. But the most important thing is not to give up. Keep gathering recipes and keep trying. If you are at a pot luck and the homemade rolls are delicious, ask for the recipe. Ask whoever baked them to give you some tips if you need. Somewhere in your baking things will work out. One day you will know just what the dough should look like or just how glossy your rolls should be and that will be the determining factor when adding ingredients. You will realize your dough "looks right" when you add 3 cups of flour instead of the 5 that the recipe calls for.

When I use whole wheat in recipes it is fresh ground. I dont know how that compares to whole wheat flour you can purchase at the store but I imagine they would be interchangeable. (Although, fresh ground grains are always superior in nutrition to the pre ground stuff you buy at the store. But if you dont have a grinder, or dont know someone who does, the store bought stuff will work)

Tonight I made a few dozen of these:

I used 2 cups of fresh ground white wheat and about 3 1/2 cups of regular ole white flour. They were light and fluffy and very flavorful. I dont think anyone would have guessed there was a little bit of actual nutrition in them.

So if you are just starting out with grains and want to incorporate some in a recipe, this is an easy starter. Follow the recipe using 2 cups wheat flour and the remaining 3 or 4 cups will be all purpose flour. Hope you get rave reviews!

recipe here