Monday, May 10, 2010

Honey-Whole Wheat Bread

Today I decided to try my hand at making bread. I really don't like most commercially available breads, and those that I do like cost too much. Besides, I like to know exactly what is in what I'm eating. I had today off from work, and the weather was too rainy to work in the garden. It was the perfect time to do some baking. I made a visit to YouTube and found a series of videos from epicurious which show how to knead, proof and shape the dough. I had planned to use a recipe I'd found on the web for beginner white bread, and substitute some whole wheat flour for half the white flour. But when I went to the grocery store, to purchase the whole wheat flour, I found this recipe for Honey-Whole Wheat Bread on the back of the package. It sounded like just the recipe I was looking for. It was easy and called for wholesome things like butter and honey. Thanks to the video, I successfully kneaded the dough and it rose well. Here it is all shaped and in the pans, ready to rise for a second time.


I baked it for about 5 minutes less than the recipe recommends. I was afraid it might burn if I left it any longer. Here are the finished loaves cooling off.


I had read somewhere about greasing the bread pans with butter and sprinkling them with cornmeal, which is what I did. It isn't the most attractive thing, but it does make a nice crunchy crust. I'll probably continue to do that in the future. I also brushed the top of the loaves with melted butter before baking, although the recipe didn't mention to do that. The bread turned out perfectly. I had 2 pieces of peanut butter toast for dinner and it was the best toast I ever ate.

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