Whole Wheat Bread

2011-03-12 Bread Jackie

Since getting my super awesome bread pan, I’ve been making all of our bread lately. I’ve tried a couple different whole wheat recipes, but they tended to be really heavy and the boys weren’t digging them. Especially when it came to using the bread to make sandwiches. So I kept looking, and trying, until I came to this really simple whole wheat bread from Nita Crabb that I found on AllRecipes.com. This recipe rocks! It’s heavy enough to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich; yet it doesn’t taste heavy at all. The boys love it and it’s now my go-to recipe whenever we need a whole wheat loaf.

The original recipe was fabulous, but for us there was one slight problem – it made too much. The recipe filled my 13x4x4 bread pan a little too much, but not enough to make two loaves using the same pan. So I made a few adjustments so I only get one loaf at a time. I also use the bread machine to make the dough, so my directions are going to be a little different than the original recipes.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup honey
2-1/2 cups bread flour
1-1/2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Using a bread machine, mix all the ingredients per the manufacturers directions. Select Dough cycle; press Start.
Once the dough is ready, place on a floured surface and knead until the dough is not too sticky. You may need to add more flour as your kneading, but don’t add too much. A little at a time is the way to go.
Place dough into bread pan and place in unheated oven for 30 minutes or until doubled. My bread pan has a lid on it, so I never know when it has doubled, hence the time.
After the 30 minutes has passed and the dough is still in the oven, heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes once the oven is preheated – ie if it takes 6 minutes to heat up, your timer should say 36 minutes.
Remove from pan and cool. Store the bread in a tightly sealed container. The loaf fits in this 21 Cup Bread Container perfectly.

Serving Size: One 13x4x4 loaf