Honey Wheat Bread

So about 8 months ago I had this grand idea to start making my own sandwich bread. I do after all eat a sandwich every day for lunch at work and knew that I could make something better than what you get at the store. Plus its better for you since you know what is in it and an added bonus is that it's cheaper as well. I started doing some reading on wheat bread recipes, wheat bread is my go to for sandwiches, and what you see here is the fruit of those researching labors. Now the first time I made this bread it was an absolute disaster with half the bread ending up on the bottom of the oven and the bread having a flat top, the up side though was that it at least tasted good! Not one to give up I started sharpening my wheat bread loaf making skills and have got this recipe down to a science. I know that this recipe takes me just a little over 2 hours to make from beginning to pulling the bread out of the oven. Not to gloat too much but I have gotten many praises on this bread from those that I have gifted a loaf too. I add some optional ingredients to mine that you may want to leave out but I suggest trying everything I put into it at least once. And I have to give out a plug for Bob's Red Mill flours as that is exclusively what I use for flours in my kitchen. If you can find it in a local store you wont be disappointed. Now for what you have been waiting for, the recipe!

Ingredients

2 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 C White AP Flour, or Bread Flour

3 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten (optional)

2 1/4 tsp Dry Active Yeast

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp butter, salted or unsalted, melted

2 Tbsp high quality honey

1 1/2 C Luke Warm Water (if using Vital Wheat Gluten add 3 Tbsp more water)

2 Tbsp Flax Seeds (optional)

2 Tbsp roasted unsalted sunflower seeds (optional)

1 egg with 1 Tbsp water lightly beaten (optional for egg wash)

1-2 Tbsp whole rolled oats (optional for sprinkling on top)

Method

1. I use a stand mixer with the dough hook and do absolutely no hand kneading
2. To your mixing bowl add the 2 Tbsp of Honey and the lukewarm water, I like to swirl the water and honey around with a fork to melt the honey
3. While water is swirling add your yeast and make sure it is not clumped up in the water/honey mixture, let this rest while you get together the rest of the ingredients

Yeast all happy and frothy!!

Everything else, that right there is Mise en place!

4. Once your yeast is frothy and you have gotten the rest of your ingredients together its time to add it all to your mixing bowl. I like to add the flour first then sprinkle in the vital wheat gluten the butter and salt and lastly the seeds

Time to get mixing

5. Once you have added everything to your mixing bowl lower the hook and start out on a low speed for a minute or so until things start to mix together. If you start to high you might just get some flour all over the place. After it has mixed for a minute or two it should look like this

What you should see after a slow mix for about 1 minute

6. At this point you can turn the speed up to about medium or so and let it go for about 5 minutes to get everything well mixed and this also kneads the dough

All well mixed and ready for the rise

Time to rise to the occasion

7. Spray a large glass bowl or other container with non stick cooking spray and scrape all the dough into it, cover with kitchen a towel and let rest for at least 1 hour or until doubled in size

1 hour done and nicely risen

8. After the initial rise remove the towel and gently deflate the dough with a wooden spoon. Fold the dough over itself with the spoon turning the bowl a 1/4 turn after each fold. Do this about 25-30 times

After folding the dough its time for the loaf pan

9. Now prepare a 9"x5" loaf pan with non stick cooking spray and transfer the dough to it. Don't worry if the dough doesn't look quite even in the pan as it will even out. If it is really uneven though you can gently push it into place to even it out

Ready for the second, shorter rise

10. Now that your dough is in the loaf pan set it aside so it can proof once more in the pan. At this point preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position. The second rise will much shorter than the first, my loaf is just about ready to go when my oven reaches temp. You can also take this time to whip up your egg wash if you will be using it so it is ready to go when the loaf is ready to go in the oven

Second rise done, egg washed and oats sprinkled time for the oven!

11. Once the dough starts to just reach the edges of the pan apply the egg wash if you will be using it and sprinkle with the oats if you have elected to use them and place the bread in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the top is a nice brown color. Also enjoy the amazing aromas that will be coming from oven as this bread bakes it is very addicting.

12. Once bread is done remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes in the pan. After that time is up remove bread from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and eating (this part is the hardest, the waiting)

And there it is fresh out of the oven!

13. After it is cool and ready to slice you can just slice off what you need for eating, or what I like to do is actually slice the whole loaf and put 2 slices in baggies and store in the freezer. I usually get 14 slices out of this recipe and that including the wonderful heal's. If you plan to eat the whole loaf within five days you can just keep it in baggies but if you think it will be longer than that I suggest freezing it otherwise it will begin to develop mold, not good. And whatever you do never ever place bread of any kind in the refrigerator. Bread will dry and stale very quickly if left in the refrigerator for any length of time. Hope you enjoy this bread as much as I do and I have a feeling you will.

-Mark