Honey Whole Wheat French Bread
This morning dawned with a cool autumn snap in the
air and I have a hankering
to bake!
So I got a couple loaves of my favorite Honey Wheat
French bread rising and then my glance fell on the over-ripe bananas on the
fruit plate. Well, what could I do but turn on the oven and make some sweet
banana bread? No special recipe for that, just good ol' Betty Crocker. The
Wheat Bread recipe came from a cookbook put out by Victoria Magazine, (the old
one), called At Home with Friends and Family. I have never made a recipe from
that magazine that wasn't wonderful. I've tweaked it a bit over the years, here
is my recipe:
Whole Wheat French
Bread
4 to 41/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
2 Tbsp. Sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/8 cup honey
2 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/3 cup hot water (110-115 degrees)
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine 2 cups of the
flour, the yeast, sugar and salt. Mix well and add the water and honey. Beat at
med. speed until its well mixed. Add two more cups of flour, at this point I usually switch the paddle on
my Kitchenaid to a dough hook attachment.
Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time at low speed until
you have a moderately stiff dough that is smooth. I can usually tell that it is
ready when it cleans the flour off the sides of the bowl and is firm enough to
pull out of the bowl with a minimum of sticking. Turn the dough out on a floured
surface and knead just a bit until smooth. Butter the mixing bowl and put the
dough back inside, turn it to coat with the butter, cover and let it rise until
it is double. (45 minutes to an hour)
Turn it out on a floured surface, punch it down, knead it just
a little bit more to get the air bubbles out, cut it in half and form it into
the shape of a loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet or in greased bread pans
(place the seam on the bottom), cover and let rise again for about 30
minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400. Bake the bread for 10 minutes, reduce
the oven temp to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes. Try to let them cool
before you cut into them. Fight over who gets the end pieces. Or share if that's
your style:>)
The
scent of this bread baking is pure heaven! Just a couple notes before you try
this recipe. First of all, if you haven't ever tried it, bread baking is easy.
Secondly. I switch the recipe up all the time. Today I threw in 2/3 cup of
oatmeal (uncooked) before I added the wheat flour, sometimes I add chopped nuts,
or 1/3 cup 9 grain mix (try Bob's Red Mill brand from the grocery store) or
sunflower seeds. I have also topped this with egg wash and an equal mix of
coarse salt, dill, chopped garlic, and poppy seeds before I bake it for a yummy
herbed french bread. You can even mix the herbs inside. It's all good and it all
works and once you get the hang of it, you may even think of some variations of
your own. Bread is very forgiving. It warms the house, and if you have never
had melting real butter on warm bread fresh from the oven, well, I'm sorry but
you really must.
Let me know if you try this, I think you'll like
it.
Have a great weekend, and please share, what do you
love to bake on a cool day?