A simple but tasty recipe using whole-wheat flour and honey to produce two loaves of soft-crust, very slightly sweet whole wheat bread.
Prep Time12 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Rising time1 hourhr30 minutesmins
Total Time42 minutesmins
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Whole Wheat Bread with Honey
Servings: 2loaves
Author: Don Herman
Ingredients
4 1/2cups100% Whole Wheat FlourI use King Arthur
1 1/2cupsWarm WaterApproaching, but below 110F
1/3cupOilOlive oil if you have it. But other vegetable oil will work.
1/3cupHoneyAvoid organic or unpasteurized honey in bread baking as it can have a negative impact on the yeast. Rinse your measure with water before adding the honey and it will drop right out.
1tspGlutenOptional. But to get a good rise, you really do need it.
2tspSalt
1tbspYeast
Instructions
In a medium bowl, mix water and yeast and let sit for a few minutes while you measure out the flour mixture.
In a large bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer), whisk together the flour, gluten and salt.
Add the oil and honey to the water and yeast. If you rinse your measure with water first, the oil and honey will pour right out.
Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. If kneading by hand, start pulling in the outside flour into the well to moisten, then knead until smooth and elastic. You will probably need to add additional water, about 1 tsp at a time. If using a dough hook, let the hook do it's work for about the same length of time. See video on how to know when you've kneaded enough here.
Place the kneaded dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl, rolling once to coat. Cover with wrap or a towel and let rise in a place with a consistent, relatively warm temperature, away from drafts. It needs to double in size, which will take about an hour at 68F room temperature.
Remove the dough from the bowl (no need to "punch down", shaping will do that). Slice the dough into two equal portions and gently shape into loaves (see video here.)
Cover with oiled wrap and let the loaves rise again. The dome of the risen loaves should be about 1 knuckle-height above the edge of your loaf pan.
Bake the loaves at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes. To test, you can actually remove a loaf from the pan, tap on the bottom and listen for a hollow sound. If it sounds too dull, put it back in for 3-4 minutes or so.