Today, Anna and I made 3 loaves of homemade
honey wheat bread! This was my first time trying bread that was not made in a bread machine, and it came out great. It was ridiculously easy. And even hours later my house still smells like a French bakery. Ok, here goes...
We started with 3 cups of 110 degree water,
2 packets of yeast, 1/3 cup of honey,
3 tbsp gluten flour and 5 cups white bread flour.
After mixing, it looked like really wet dough.
We let that sit for 30 minutes to rise.
Then, I put the dough hook on. We added 1/3 cup honey,
3 tbsp melted butter, 1 tsp salt, and
2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour, added in slowly.
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| (I'll add the salt, Mom!) |
We kneaded it in the mixer for about 7 minutes (note to self: invest in a heavy duty mixer). My beloved Kitchen Aid was NOT happy about this kind of treatment. I ran it until the dough pretty much stopped sticking to the sides. Then we flipped it out onto a floured counter and kneaded till it felt sticky and not floury.
Then into a bowl sprayed with Pam it went. I also sprayed all surface areas of the dough so it wouldn't stick to the bowl as it rised. Rose. Riseth. ?? Then covered it with a cloth and left to go pick Angelina up from school while it riseth.
Before and after
Ok so now we punched it down (just literally punch
your fist down in it to deflate it) and turn it back onto
the counter to cut it into 3 portions, forming loaf shaped...loaves.
I have 3 bread pans: 1 silicone, 1 metal, and 1 glass. I was interested to see the different results. After putting the dough in, we had to let it rise till it's about 1 inch above the edge of the pan, then bake at 350 for about 25 mins.
Beep Beep Beep! After I took them out, I brushed them with melted butter and put them on a rack to cool.
TADA!!!!
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| I sprinkled oats on the first one before baking. Take a whiff! Heavenly! |
So, the results are in... The silicon pan loaf (right) didn't really keep it's shape, but still looks nice! The metal pan loaf (middle) is very poofy, but I think that's because I put more dough in that one. And the glass one (left) was perfect! I think this one cooked more evenly. Time to dig in...
We cut into the middle one first and the whole family raved!! Woohoo!!
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| Anna enjoying the fruits of her labor |
I would say my first attempt at making bread went off without a hitch...except that as I started cutting up the first loaf, I discovered something quite peculiar about it... A hollow hole almost all the way through! Back to the drawing board, I guess!
