Monday, June 10, 2013

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (mock Great Harvest recipe)


I found this recipe online that has the same ingredients as great harvest honey whole wheat.  While nothing seems to compare to great harvest this recipe worked great and had my kids begging for bread all day!

Also, a quick side note.  I've started using Bob's Red Mill products which are pricey but super good.  I couldn't believe how fine the whole wheat flour was and the bread came out so smooth and soft.  Also, I've been adding ground flaxseed to a lot of my baking.  It adds a bunch of nutrients to the food without changing the taste or texture too much.  It can also be mixed with water and used in place of eggs.  I'm going to play around with that more since flaxseed is much easier to store than eggs and would be a great emergency preparedness item.

Anyway, back to the recipe. The directions I found for this bread were kind of weird so I tweaked them a lot and then added some sunflower seeds and ground flaxseed.  This makes three excellent sized loaves for sandwich bread and is dense enough that it will hold together when sliced thin.  It's also (of course) delicious sliced thick and topped with honey butter!  Enjoy!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
3 T. yeast
4 cups warm water
2/3 cup honey
3 tsp. salt
1/3 cup ground flaxseed (optional)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
10 1/2 to 11 1/2 cups whole grain wheat flour

Combine yeast, warm water, and honey in a large bread mixer. (I just used my kitchen aid with the bread hook attachment). Allow yeast to bloom for 5 minutes or until frothy.  Mix in salt, ground flaxseed, and sunflower seeds if so desired.  Add flour 2 cups at a time until all flour is well incorporated into dough.  I used about 10 and 1/2 cups but you might need a little extra.  Knead, using the dough hook attachment for 4-6 minutes.  Dough will be sticky but just barely pulling away from sides of bowl.

Cover bowl and let dough rise about 20 minutes.  Turn onto lightly floured surface and punch down (about 30 times). This is my 4 year olds favorite part! :)

Form into large rectangle and cut evenly into 3 loaves.  Place each loaf in greased bread pan.  Cover bread pans and rise about 30 min.

Bake @350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Allow to cool in pans 5 minutes and then remove from pans. Serve warm with honey butter or allow to continue cooling.