Well, it has been a month since I last wrote, it is amazing how time can just slip by! So I come back to you with a recipe that I have slowly been perfecting for the last several months. I had been trying to make a good whole wheat sandwich bread for a while. Most of the time it was either incredibly dense, not very sliceable or just plain bad. I finally took some advise from some homesteading friend of mine that said I have to start to embrace the white bread flour. Now, I know that bread has been made without the white stuff, and I know that I have enjoyed such bread, but recreating it hasn't happened. So I have slowly embraced the white stuff and have actually had some amazing bread. Luckily, I have converted the recipe to use honey or maple syrup (since that is a local commodity) instead of just sugar. Enjoy!
Honey/Maple Whole Wheat Bread
Makes one sandwich sized loaf.
1 tbsp yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp EVOO (I think you probably could use melted butter if you can get it local)
1/4 cup honey (Shelburne Honey Co.) or maple syrup (Hager's Family Farm)
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour*
3/4 cup bread flour
* I have substituted 1/2 the WW Flour with our local WW Flour and found that the consistency doesn't hold up well to slicing, gets all crumby, but I'm still working this part out.
1) Warm milk and water slightly over stove or in the microwave. (We recently discovered just how much energy the microwave actually takes versus our electric stove: 30 seconds of the microwave = 6 hours of a solar panel in full sunlight; and therefore have decided to not use our microwave anymore. As it turns out, heating things on the stove is just as easy and even quicker.)
2) In a medium bowl combine milk, water and yeast. Let sit for a couple minutes until yeast starts to bubble (testing the yeast).
3) Add salt, oil, and honey to yeast mixture and combine well.
4) Add all flour to yeast mixture and start mixing with a wooden spoon. Do this until dough is too think for wooden spoon. Leave the mixture in the bowl, and use hands to knead in bowl for 2-4 minutes, until a good consistency of dough forms. Dough shouldn't stick to hands anymore and it forms a ball well. (I have found that it is easier to knead in the bowl and not make a mess of the wooden counter.)
5) Place dough in a warm draft free place for 1-2 hours. The oven with the light on works best for us.
6) After dough has risen slightly for 1-2 hours, take out and punch down. Let rest for a couple minutes while you grease an 8x4" loaf pan. Be sure to grease EVERY part of the pan including the top lip because loaf will hopefully rise over it.*
7) Knead dough once more in bowl for another 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a log that will fit the pan and place in greased pan. Place pan back in the warm draft free place (oven) and let rise for another 1-2 hours or until loaf is desired size.
8) Once dough is desired size, and while loaf is still in the oven, turn oven on to 400 degrees. Set timer for 30 minutes and bake. After 30 minutes dough should be nicely browned and make a hollow sound when tapped. I have taken the bread out too early a couple times though, so let it get thoroughly browned!
9) Place on cooling rack and let cool 10 minutes, and then remove from pan and let cool completely.
Perfect sandwich bread or bread for french toast. We haven't bought a loaf of bread for a long time thanks to this recipe! It might seem like a lot of steps, but it is very simple especially if you are going to home for the day. And, once you have this bread as toast with butter on it, you will realize how worth it the effort really was!
*And officially tonight I looked like an energy efficient GENIUS! This morning I started the wheat bread dough, and put it in the oven with the light on, and pretty much forgot about it. We went out to lunch, and ran some errands and I realized the bread dough was in the oven when I got home @ 2. Yikes! But as it turned out, it was perfect! I kneaded the bread dough a second time and put it in the bread pan and back in the oven (light on only). Then, using the same bowl I kneaded the bread dough in (no washing necessary), I made our pizza dough for dinner. I put that in the oven to rise with the wheat bread. Then around 5pm I took out the pizza stone and pizza dough from the oven, turned the oven on to 400 degrees and set the timer for 30 minutes (whole wheat bread in there all ready to bake). Marc and I prepared our pizza and put that in the oven as well. Half way through baking the pizza our wheat bread was cooked perfectly and there was NO waste of energy!!! Seriously, I felt like a genius! The oven was cooking our bread as it heated up to make our dinner, no water wasted in washing the bowl between doughs, pure awesomeness. Now I need to try and do that every time I make bread and I truly will be an energy efficient cook! I will include my pizza dough recipe in another post soon, so don't fret, energy efficient brilliance is in your future!
Honey/Maple Whole Wheat Bread
Makes one sandwich sized loaf.1 tbsp yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp EVOO (I think you probably could use melted butter if you can get it local)
1/4 cup honey (Shelburne Honey Co.) or maple syrup (Hager's Family Farm)
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour*
3/4 cup bread flour
* I have substituted 1/2 the WW Flour with our local WW Flour and found that the consistency doesn't hold up well to slicing, gets all crumby, but I'm still working this part out.
1) Warm milk and water slightly over stove or in the microwave. (We recently discovered just how much energy the microwave actually takes versus our electric stove: 30 seconds of the microwave = 6 hours of a solar panel in full sunlight; and therefore have decided to not use our microwave anymore. As it turns out, heating things on the stove is just as easy and even quicker.)
2) In a medium bowl combine milk, water and yeast. Let sit for a couple minutes until yeast starts to bubble (testing the yeast).
3) Add salt, oil, and honey to yeast mixture and combine well.
5) Place dough in a warm draft free place for 1-2 hours. The oven with the light on works best for us.
6) After dough has risen slightly for 1-2 hours, take out and punch down. Let rest for a couple minutes while you grease an 8x4" loaf pan. Be sure to grease EVERY part of the pan including the top lip because loaf will hopefully rise over it.*
7) Knead dough once more in bowl for another 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a log that will fit the pan and place in greased pan. Place pan back in the warm draft free place (oven) and let rise for another 1-2 hours or until loaf is desired size.8) Once dough is desired size, and while loaf is still in the oven, turn oven on to 400 degrees. Set timer for 30 minutes and bake. After 30 minutes dough should be nicely browned and make a hollow sound when tapped. I have taken the bread out too early a couple times though, so let it get thoroughly browned!
9) Place on cooling rack and let cool 10 minutes, and then remove from pan and let cool completely.
Perfect sandwich bread or bread for french toast. We haven't bought a loaf of bread for a long time thanks to this recipe! It might seem like a lot of steps, but it is very simple especially if you are going to home for the day. And, once you have this bread as toast with butter on it, you will realize how worth it the effort really was!
*And officially tonight I looked like an energy efficient GENIUS! This morning I started the wheat bread dough, and put it in the oven with the light on, and pretty much forgot about it. We went out to lunch, and ran some errands and I realized the bread dough was in the oven when I got home @ 2. Yikes! But as it turned out, it was perfect! I kneaded the bread dough a second time and put it in the bread pan and back in the oven (light on only). Then, using the same bowl I kneaded the bread dough in (no washing necessary), I made our pizza dough for dinner. I put that in the oven to rise with the wheat bread. Then around 5pm I took out the pizza stone and pizza dough from the oven, turned the oven on to 400 degrees and set the timer for 30 minutes (whole wheat bread in there all ready to bake). Marc and I prepared our pizza and put that in the oven as well. Half way through baking the pizza our wheat bread was cooked perfectly and there was NO waste of energy!!! Seriously, I felt like a genius! The oven was cooking our bread as it heated up to make our dinner, no water wasted in washing the bowl between doughs, pure awesomeness. Now I need to try and do that every time I make bread and I truly will be an energy efficient cook! I will include my pizza dough recipe in another post soon, so don't fret, energy efficient brilliance is in your future!
