One of my earliest memories was baking bread. Not with my Mom- she was more of a sweets baker. No, this was part of our church training. It began with cream puff shells and branched out into breads. Below is one of the recipes I made many years ago.
I used a lightly colored honey and white whole wheat, and it turned out just fine! You can also substitute the all-purpose flour for bread flour if you like. I've done it both ways. But whole wheat doesn't have rise, so don't try to do it 100% whole wheat.
- 1 cup of warm water
- 2 1/4 cups active dry yeast or 1 packet
- 1 cup room-temperature milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 3/4 cups AP flour plus extra for kneading
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- In a large bowl or the stand mixer bowl, combine water and yeast and set aside for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the milk, honey, and oil
- Add the all-purpose flour and salt.
- Stir to combine
- Add the whole wheat flour and stir by hand or dough hook until dough forms- about 1 minute on low.
- Knead until smooth and springy, about 10 minutes on medium speed.
- Form into a ball and place in a large bowl coated with spray or butter.
- Turn to coat.
- Cover and let rise until twice the size (about 1 hour)
- Remove and fold out onto the lightly floured surface
- form into a large ball and divide in half
- Shape each into a 9 x 9 " square and fold the sides under to make a rectangle
- Put into lightly greased loaf pans, fold down
- Let it rise for another 45 minutes
- Place slashes or the design of your choice on top and place it in the oven
- Immediately reduce the heat to 375 and bake until golden brown and sound hollow when thumped (around 30 minutes)
- Remove from pans and let cool completely.
Makes 2 loaves- try to resist cutting into it until completely cooled!