have i told you about my favorite favorite bread recipe? in the past year, when i've made bread, 90% of the time it's been this loaf. i love it! it cuts nicely for sandwiches, stays fresh for a long time, and makes perfect toast. and we take toast seriously at our house. (our toaster has 4 slots.)
i like to toy with the types and amounts of flour i use for each baking, depending on what i have and what i feel like that day, but this time it came out especially nice. feel free to make up your own flour blend, too. it always turns out fantastic.
honey whole wheat bread
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup honey
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 T. butter, melted and cooled
combine flours, flax, salt in a large bowl and use a fork to sift. mix water, yeast, and honey in the mixer bowl and let sit for 20 minutes. add dry ingredients and melted butter to mixer bowl in one or two dumps and use dough hook to mix, scraping sides of the bowl if necessary. after a few minutes, dough should have pulled away from the sides of the bowl and come together in a large ball around the hook. pull dough off, dough should be easy to handle. slightly sticky is just fine.
put dough in a large oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour. after first rise, punch down, form into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan. cover and let rise 45 minutes. bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. brush top crust with butter after pulling it out of the oven. let cool in the pan at least 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
and hey thanks for the fun comments about my new blog banner! i actually design my own, for you kind people who asked. which means i might still be playing around with it these first few days.. you know how it is when you get a new look.
11 comments:
I don't have a stand mixer which means I don't have a dough hook. I do have a bread machine that I usually dump the ingredients into and let it do my mixing. Then I throw it into a bread pan for baking. Do you think that would work for this recipe?
hi dee,
i've never tried it in a bread machine myself, but i think sheena uses hers for this bread, so i'd say go ahead! you can check out my link to her original post if you'd like to see her bread machine method! :)
This looks like a great every day sandwich bread. I must give it a try! I am not a bread expert, but I think Dee could mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon and then need with her hands until it comes together as an alternate :)
this looks awesome, thanks Summer! Quick question, when covering in oiled bowl, does it matter if you cover dough with saran wrap, foil, cloth towel? Any suggestions? And once it's in the pan and rising for 45 minutes, I'm assuming it is not covered? Sorry so many questions....I just want to make more of my own bread & don't want to mess it up. Thanks so much again!!! :) Jaclyn ><>
hi jaclyn,
i LOVE questions! especially about break baking:) i always use a light towel to cover my bread bowls, but i think another kind of wrap should work, too. i've know i've seen some people use saran wrap.
as for the 2nd rise, i always cover my loaf pan there too. sorry i wasn't clear on that! i have fixed it in the instructions now. happy baking to you!
Just checked out Sheena's post. Perfect! I suppose I'm a cheater, too...and I'm ok with that! :)
I love a little bit of honey in bread, this sounds delicious!
I made this bread last night, and it turned out gorgeous! Thanks so much!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maggie_may/5599865710/
What kind of yeast do you use - active dry or instant? And is the flax seed necessary for the recipe or just added in? I don't have any and wasn't sure if it was important to buy. And lastly - can you just use whole wheat flour instead of mixing the white whole wheat and whole wheat? I understand adding in the all purpose, but not the white and non-white wheat flour. THANK YOU! I'm super excited to try this recipe! :)
Made this last night and it turned out very moist! I made a few adjustments by adding all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, barley flour and flax meal.
@Kara Hi! I use active dry yeast. I'm sure you can try it without the flax and using only whole wheat flour. I like blending in the white whole wheat because it makes for a lighter loaf.