….Do you ever obsess about things? I know I do. (You know you do, too.) And most of my obsessions are food related…Goat cheese (i love you), balsamic vinegar, honey, roasted red peppers, riesling, whole grain mustard, guava! Mmmm. The simple things in life.
However, my my main food obsession is lies in homemade bread making.
My obsession stems from the fact that it is totally un-complicated! And SO worth it. Plus, I like saying “it’s aliiiiiive” when the dough has doubled in size from rising. Besides the rising time, your active time is usually less than five minutes. Five minutes!
You have five minutes. And now, you have a reliable recipe below. So there are no excuses. The smell that will fill your kitchen is reason enough. And like most things, making things from scratch (obsession) is not only uber-satisfying, but they always taste better.
This recipe is adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I love this book because, with most of the recipes, you can make a large batch of dough, then keep it in the fridge for up to a little over a week and pull pieces from it to bake whenever you want. An hour later, you will have a delicious batch of homemade bread. Share it with your loved ones (and impress) or just share it with yourself. The whole wheat-ness gives it a deep, nutty, sweet, well rounded flavor. I also just learned about whole wheat things in depth in my Nutrition class this week and….it’s better for you, duh. Plus it has fiber, which I’m also obsessed with..weird, I know, who says they love fiber? My favorite way to eat it is slathered with cream cheese and guava.
If you make too much, like me, you can dry the bread out for a day and make croutons, whole wheat breadcrumbs, or a hearty bread pudding. So many options, so versatile. So why not do it now?
100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Makes three 1 1/2-pound loaves. You can double or halve this recipe.
adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup honey (you could also use molasses to switch things up and get a deeper flavor)
5 tablespoons neutral flavored oil
6 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
Mixing and Storing the Dough
1. Mix the yeast, salt, honey, and oil with the milk and water in a large bowl.
2. Mix the remaining dry ingredients without kneading. You can use a wooden spoon, food processor with dough attachment or large mixer with dough hook.
3. Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2-3 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days.
On Baking Day
5. Lightly grease a 9 x 4 x 3 inch non-stick loaf pan. Using wet hands, scoop out a 1 1/2 pound (cantaloupe size) handful of dough. This dough is really sticky and often it’s easiest to handle it with wet hands. Keeping your hands wet, quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
6. Drop the loaf into the prepared pan. You can to fill the pan slightly more than half full.
7. Allow the dough to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Flour the top of the loaf and slash, using a serrated bread knife. {Make the bread pretty! It’s easy to make a simple but intricate design and totally up the ante of your presentation. Simply cut a bunch of criss crossed lines, or just vertical or horizontal lines, or whatever design you wish. Be creative!}
Twenty Minutes Before Baking Time, Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees.
8. Place an empty pan on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
9. Place the loaf on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the empty pan and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm.
10. Although this step might be difficult, don’t cut into the freshly baked bread! Allow it to cool because you will lose precious heat and make the bread dry out if you cut into it while it’s hot.
Slice, serve, and enjoy. Or just rip a piece off. Or take a bite right out of the loaf…that might be a little barbaric, though. No judgements here.
The Grizzly Kitchen 