I thought I would share one of my favorite bread recipes for those of you who bake bread at home. This bread is my old stand-by and always tastes great, and makes good toast and sandwiches. My husband recently bought me a sack of a very finely ground whole wheat flour that he bought at the Amish Store near here. I must say that it made for a very nice loaf, and I will be buying more of their flour.
BASIC HONEY WHEAT BRAN BREAD
2 cups of warm liquid (I use half milk and half water)
1/4 cup honey
2 1/2 tsp salt
3 T butter
1 cup wheat bran (like Miller's Bran)
1 or 2 cups of whole wheat flour (I usually use about a cup and a half)
unbleached bread flour (I usually use somewhere around 3 or 4 cups)
2 T. (or 2 pkgs) yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp sugar
In a large (microwaveable) bowl put the 2 c. warm liquid, honey, salt and butter. Microwave for 3 minutes to scald the milk. When the liquid is still hot, sprinkle in the bran and let it sit while you proof the yeast. To proof the yeast: sprinkle the yeast over the water in a small bowl, add the sugar, and cover the bowl with a cloth to proof until bubbly - takes about 5 minutes.
Then add the yeast mix to the milk mix, and start stirring in flour. When it gets hard to mix in any more flour, turn out onto a floured board and knead in small amounts of additional flour until you have a springy, smooth dough. I usually knead for about 8 minutes. Try not to add any more flour than you have to. Scrape the board often. Then turn into a greased bowl, turn the dough over, and cover with wax paper and a cloth to rise until double. When the dough has risen double, punch down and divide into two parts and form into loaves and place in two greased 9 x 5 pans. Let rise again until almost double. Bake for 38 minutes in a 400 degree oven, or until the loaves sound hollow when you thump them out of the pan.
Note: Sometimes I add about 1/2 cup of potato flakes (packaged, like in a bag) to the warm milk mix. This makes for a great toasting bread, and the dough rises really high, so I make three 8 x 4 loaves then, instead of two 9 x 5's.
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Nothing better than fresh honey wheat bread! |