Last night I made my favorite whole wheat bread and some delicious butternut bisque. Together they’re a perfect fall dinner, and I doubled the soup recipe and froze half so we can have it again later. I posted the soup recipe last year here, so I’ll just give you the bread recipe now.
I have to say this bread turns out perfectly every time and I by no means consider myself a skilled bread maker. It rises quickly, slices well, and tastes yummy. The recipe says to use a standing mixer to knead, but I don’t have one and I like to knead bread by hand, anyway, so this recipe has hand-kneading instructions.
Whole-Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye
2 1/3 cups warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup honey
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup rye flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (I usually leave this out and it’s fine)
3 cups whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand is the best)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
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1.In your largest bowl, mix the water, yeast, honey, butter, and salt with a rubber spatula. Then mix in the rye flour, wheat germ, and 1 cup each of the whole wheat and all purpose flours.
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2. Add the remaining flours and work the flour into the dough, turning out onto a floured surface when necessary. Knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky, adding more all purpose flour when necessary. Don’t add more flour than needed to make the dough so it doesn’t stick to your hands.
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3.Place the dough in a very lightly oiled large bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Let it rise 1 hour.
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4.Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Gently punch the dough down and either shape the dough for loaf pans or roll into 2-3 cylinders and shape free-form (that’s what I do). Place each cylinder seam-side down on a baking sheet. If desired, brush the dough with egg and roll in seeds (flax, pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds work well). Cover and let rise until almost doubled in volume, 20-30 more minutes.
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5.Bake until an instant-read thermometer reads 205 degrees (I never use a thermometer), about 25 minutes for free-form loaves, or 35-40 minutes for loaves in pans.
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6.Cool and have a few slices with butter and jam while the bread’s still warm.
(I need new pans, don’t I? 11 years’ use is probably long enough.)
