I had a hankerin’ for hot-out-of-the-oven wheaty, seedy bread yesterday. I didn’t plan on blogging the recipe because I just threw it together on a whim but it turned out yummy, so here is my substandard food-photo-to-annoy-Facebook-friends-only picture (for now) to go with a yummy recipe.
Wheat Bread
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water (110°F or less)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 1/2 cups warm milk (110°F or less)
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/4 cup ground flax seeds
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup shelled sunflower seeds, lightly chopped (optional)
- 3 cups 100% whole wheat flour
- 1 cup white flour, approximate (if 100% whole wheat bread is desired, replace white flour with whole wheat flour)
Place yeast, warm water, and a tablespoon of white flour into a large bowl. Whisk. Allow it to sit in a warm place and do its magic for a few minutes. After the sponge (that’s what you just did is called) has developed, stir in sugar, honey, milk, oatmeal, shortening, eggs, salt, and seeds. Mix well. Add in the order listed because if you add the salt too soon, it will work hard to kill your yeast which will give you rocks instead of bread.
Keep mixing and add a couple of cups of flour. Switch to guns, I mean a wooden spoon. Continue to stir in flours.
The dough will have gone from somewhat soupy to more elasticity. Give or take, it can take about 6-ish cups total to reach this point. This isn’t an exact measurement because the amount of flour you’ll need depends on how much moisture is in the air.
Begin using your hands and add in the last couple of cups of flour. You can do this on a floured counter, in a large mixer with a dough hook, or if you have one of those insanely large Tupperware bowls from the seventies like I do, you can knead your dough right in the bowl. Knead for about 10 minutes. The dough should spring back when touched and shouldn’t be too tough to knead so be sure not to overdo the flour.
Cover the dough with a clean towel and let the dough sit in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. If it’s not rising, there are a few ways to troubleshoot:
- Did you add salt too soon? Salt can kill the yeast when added too soon.
- Was your water too hot? Hot water kills yeast.
- Is the room warm enough? Move the dough to a warmer location. Maybe place it closer to the oven if it’s on.
After the dough has risen, punch it down, and separate bread into two loaves. Place in 2 bread pans coated with non-stick baking spray. Let sit in a warm place covered with a clean towel until doubled in size again (for about an hour) or if your oven has a proofing setting, you can place them in there for about 1/2 hour to speed things up. After they’re done rising, bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
To cut bread into slices, it is best to wait until it has cooled. We both know you won’t be waiting for that, though, so just gently use a bread knife to ease the process a bit.
You can also shape this seedy goodness into rolls. Always use fresh ingredients. If you pull your wheat flour or seeds out of the cupboard that you’ve had good intentions of using for the last year and they smell like everything in your cupboard, run the store and grab some fresh. You will thank me. It might be tricky, but you can half this recipe for one loaf.