Q: Is this to enhance flavour or what? I can leave these out but was wondering if anyone has a good recipe not using a sweetener.

This is a problem similar to Granola. Every single recipe has some form of sugar added. I do not personally like sweet foods.

[ 09 August 2006: Message edited by: libertarian ]

Unless you really have something against it, I would suggest using a certain portion of white flour. Whole wheat flour on its own makes a really heavy textured bread.

Having said all that, I do have one recipe -- one!-- that uses all whole wheat flour and no sugar. It uses apple butter with the yeast -- which would provide a natural fruit sugar to feed the yeast and probably also add some nice taste and texture.

I lived on a beach one summer and I built an outdoor oven out of rocks I collected in the vicinity, held together with local clay. I went to the nearby landfill and found a rack from a discarded stove and a small sheet of metal that I laid on top.

(An aside: I too was surprised to discover how much sugar is added to commercial peanut butter. We make our own now -- just dump a few handfuls of peanuts into the food processor and process them until they turn into peanut butter -- couldn't be easier.)

These recipes all use fruit juices, concentrates and purees of fruit as sweeteners.

Here it is -- 100 per cent Whole Wheat Bread

Yield: 2 loaves
Oven: 375 F.

1 cup warm water (110-115 F.)
2 tbsp. yeast
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to 110 F.
1/4 cup apple butter
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
6 1/2 cups whole wheat bread flour

In a bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the milk, apple butter, oil, salt and eggs. Stir well. Add 2 1/2 cups flour, beating well with an electric mixer or by hand. Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 40-45 minutes).

Reserve 1/2 cup flour for kneading and add the rest to the dough, mixing well. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for 8 to 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turning the dough to make sure it is well coated. Cover the bowl and set the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board, divide into two equal portions and, using your hands, flatten each portion into a rectangle. Roll each rectangle up like a jelly roll to form a loaf. Place each loaf in a greased bread pan and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 375 F. for 40 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.