Lately I have been lurking on The Fresh Loaf and trying my hand at baking bread again. What fun I have had.
The following is my second adventure in making this bread, I tried it a couple weeks ago, it was most delicious and it actually turned out. My previous 2 attempts at bread were ok, but a little dense and not so flavourful.
What I am making today is a honey whole wheat bread. For this time I also tried out a razor blade to put a slit in the top. The last loaves I baked they split in weird places, and they didn’t look so nice.
Also, instead of baking 2 loaves as is mentioned in the directions, I made one loaf to bake today, then I made 14 little round buns and froze them so in the next month when I want a nice fresh bun I just have to grab it out of the freezer, proof it for a couple hours and presto, yummy hot bun for lunch. I will let you know how long to proof and bake once I have tried it out a couple times.
All the pictures can be found (here)
The Recipe:
Ingredients –
1 lb. Whole wheat flour
12 oz Hot Water
227g all-purpose flour (I used 300g)
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water (100F)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 to 1 cup all-purpose flour
Directions –
- Mix the hot water and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until around room temperature. ( I let mine sit for about 3 hours because I went out)
- Combine yeast, warm water and sugar. Mix well, and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Add milk, honey, salt, yeast and flour to the soaking whole wheat flour. Mix until well combined.
- Turn out onto a well floured cutting board, knead for about 15 to 20 minutes, adding flour whenever needed to keep the dough tacky, not sticky.
- Your final dough should be smooth, and tacky to the touch. Form into a ball and place into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warmish place until doubled (about 60 – 90 minutes)
- When doubled, punch down and divide into two. Shape dough into loaves and place in lightly greased bread pans. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let rise in a warm place again for 60 – 90 minutes.
- Once risen, take a razor blade and slice straight along the top of each loaf.
- Move oven rack to the second from bottom and preheat the oven to 425F. Place loaves in oven and turn down heat to 375F.
- Bake for 45 – 55 minutes, rotating pan once for even browning. Once the bread reaches an internal temp of 190F or until a tap on the bottom of the pan sounds hollow.
- Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes then remove from pan and continue to cool.