Honey Wheat Bread

It's a baking day for me! The Cuban bread I made last week was my very first attempt at home baked bread. Today, I decided to take a basic white bread recipe from back of the flour bag and come up with my own honey wheat bread. This bread is really yummy, earthy and full of flavor and makes excellent toast. Proof that great things can come from a VERY mediocre kitchen, LOL! I do not have a stand mixer or a bread maker and this bread was so easy to do.

Honey Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups water, warm (105 - 115F)
2 1/2 tsp (1 package or .25oz) active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
3 to 4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp honey
4 tbsp ground flax seed meal (you could use wheat germ too, I love the nutty flavor of flax seed though)
4 tbsp butter, very soft

Combine 1/2 cup of the water with the yeast and sugar in a large bowl and let stand until foamy - about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining water, 3 cups of white flour, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, salt, honey and flax seed meal to the yeast mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon (or in a mixer), adding the remaining whole wheat flour a few tablespoons at a time, until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Knead in butter until dough is smooth and not sticky. You can add flour, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough is still sticky after kneading the butter in.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and continue kneading for an additional minute or two, until it is smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl to rise until doubled, about 1- 1 1/2 hours. I usually turn a back burner on low for a bit and set the bowel next to the burner. Do not put it on the burner, it's too hot. If you have laundry to do a good spot to let the dough rise is on top of a dryer.

Butter two 8x4 inch loaf pans and set aside. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide in two equal portions. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough out into a 9 inch wide x 12 inch tall rectangle, with the short side towards you. Fold one third of the dough down, then fold it down again. Pinch the bottom seam to seal. Your rectangle should be approximately 9x4 now. Turn the seam side up. Fold each end over about 1/2 inch, tuck in any loose ends and pinch to seal. Place the loaf seam side down into a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan.

Cover loaf pans lightly with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes. Dough will rise above the top of the pan.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F.

Place loaves in oven and bake for 36-40 minutes. The loaves will be golden and will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom when they are done. You can also insert an instant-read thermometer into the bottom of the loaf. It will read 200F when the loaves are done.

Remove loaves from pans immediately and let cool completely on a wire rack(2-3 hours) before slicing.

Makes 2 loaves