We used to be a typical family getting our bread for the week at the grocery store...until I came across this recipe and we fell in love! I now bake our bread every week and it's worth every bit of extra work. (which isn't much) It's made using only whole wheat flour, but it's very soft and sweet. It makes amazing sandwiches, but honestly we most often put some butter on it and eat it plain. Sooo good! I dare you to try it and see if you don't love it.
Gather up your ingredients- whole wheat flour, salt, oil, honey and yeast. In a large bowl mix together 2 cups of the flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of honey. (tip: add the oil just before the honey, it will make the honey come out of the measuring cup much more easily) Add 2 1/2 cups of warm water (not hot water...we're talking baby bath temp (or slightly warmer) here) This should make a very wet mixture. Add 1 tablespoon of yeast.
Now grab your bag of flour and begin putting the flour into the mixture about a 1/2 cup at a time. There's no exact science here. You'll probably end up with about 4-5 cups but just keep adding flour until you have a nice soft dough that isn't sticky anymore. (try not to over-do it, though, you want it to be soft, not stiff)
Turn out your dough on a floured surface and knead it a few minutes, then put it back in the bowl, cover it with a towel and let it rise in a warm spot for 30 to 40 minutes. After that time, punch it down (for those of you who have not baked bread that means exactly what it sounds like- punch it down into the bowl) Then form it into two loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Use a fork to poke several holes into the dough. (You may want to press down around the edges just to make it look pretty.)
Cover it back up, let it rise again for about an hour. Then bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown. (tip: I usually turn on the oven to "warm" while I'm mixing the dough, then shut it off and put the bowl into the oven to rise the first time. I put it back in the warm oven the second time and simply turn on the oven to 350 when it's finished rising and remove the towel.)
Let it cool a bit then enjoy! Added bonus- your house will smell AMAZING! :) I already have bread made right now, but the next time I make it, I'll add some pictures. Enjoy!
2 comments:
Do you use a bread maker or the oven???
I use the oven. We do have a breadmaker and I used to use it all the time. But the size of the loaf (short and fat) meant not so many slices and the bread always had a bit tougher crust than the kids like. I found that this recipe using the oven was just as easy. It makes two loaves that are longer and thinner like you would buy in the store and makes a nice soft bread. Two loaves (one batch) is easily enough for our family for the week.
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