Honey Wheat Bread

This recipe uses both wheat and bread flour.  If you like your bread more dense, you’ll want to increase your wheat flour.  If you prefer it fluffy, reduce your wheat flour and add a bit more bread flour.  I make mine in my Bosch mixer, if you’re using a KitchenAid you might want to half the recipe.  I’m not sure how much dough those machines can handle.

Ingredients

4 cups warm water (110 degrees or so)
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp active dry yeast

2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup honey
4 tsp salt
6-8 cups wheat flour
4-6 cups bread flour (you can use all purpose too)

Directions

  1. Add the tablespoon of sugar to the warm water and then add the yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes
  2. Meanwhile, add 2/3 cup sugar to mixing bowl.  Next add oil and then honey (use the same mixing cup – the oil residue will help the honey slip out easily).  Add salt and yeast mixture (it should be foamy) and blend lightly.
  3. Add wheat flour one cup at a time and mix well.  I don’t really measure, I just keep adding wheat flour until the dough is thick, sticks to the beaters and starts to look like this…
  4. Change to a dough hook attachment.  Add bread flour to the mixture half a cup at a time until it cleans the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky to the touch.  Increase motor speed and “knead” the dough for 6 minutes or so (you could also do it by hand on the counter – just increase the time to 10-15 minutes).  Continue to dust with flour as needed.  It will look something like this…
  5. Turn your oven to it’s lowest temperature (I use my warm setting) and move the rack down to a low position.  Grab a large bowl and coat it lightly with oil.  With floured hands, form a smooth and elastic ball with the dough and drop it in the bowl.  Flip dough ball once to coat the entire surface of the with oil.  Cover the bowl completely with plastic wrap.  It should look something like this…
  6. Turn your oven off, then place the bowl in warm oven (if you can’t touch your hand to the inside of the door, it’s too hot – open the door to allow it to cool).  Let it rise until doubled (about 45 minutes).  It should look something like this when it’s finished…
  7. Lightly grease 4 standard size bread pans (I prefer glass because it’s easy to see when the bread has cooked through by checking the browning on the bottom).  Punch down the dough.  Divide it into four even chunks.  Shape the sections into loaves by tucking the dough under itself.  Place the sections in the pans and return them to the warm oven (you may want to warm it up again – just be sure to turn it off before you put the loaves in).
  8. Let the loaves rise until they double in size or are about 1-2 inches taller than the pans (about 30 minutes).
  9. Pull loaves out of the oven and preheat to 365.  Place loaves back in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.  If your loaves start to brown too quickly, cover the tops with aluminum foil (I use a disposable oven liner because it’s faster and easier to work with).

Posted by  on May 17, 2009