even more perfect wonderful whole wheat fluffy sandwich loaf

I really didn't think my bread could get any more perfect than it already was but low and behold these beauties are amazing!

Can you see how light and fluffy! It is so soft and delicious and sweet and oh so perfect. What did I change you ask? Well I ran out of oats. Never thought the oats where drying the bread out so much but hey, each trial teaches you something new! So I replaced the 1 cup oats with a 1/2-2/3 cup unbleached white flour. I also finally bought honey! So 1/4 cup honey and still kept the 2Tbsps of white sugar to give it that sweet yummie bread flavor I was looking for. Then I also painted the tops with honey before baking. Now I could have gone without that because my hands are so sticky from each time I hold the bread to cut it. I also keep it wrapped up in plastic which makes it a little stickier! (haha!) So here is the orignal recipe. And here the new one with adjustments made for this round! ROUND 6!

Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)

2 tablespoons milk 2 tablespoons oil

4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp White Sugar

4 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten (Bob's Red Mill is what I used)

2.5 cups all-purpose flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

Instructions:

1. Combine first 2 ingredients with a pinch of sugar and let proof for 5 minutes. I did this in the measuring cup so that I could put the next 4 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir while waiting for the proof. Once bubbly and fluffy add the yeast mix to the mixing bowl and stir.

2. Add flours, vital wheat gluten and salt and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. I do this in my kitehenaid mixer. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes to 1.5 hours.

3. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into two loaves. Place in 2 greased loaf pans and cover. Let rise in a warm place until it is the size you would like your loaf to be once baked. It will not rise in the oven, maybe a little, so don't put it in the oven until you like how it looks. I painted the top with warm honey and then you can sprinkle all kinds of oats or seeds or anything on top that would like to make it pretty. I left everything off because then I have to sweep the floor even more often.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If loaf starts browning too soon cover it with some foil. My loaves were perfect after 30 minutes. Very soft and tend but almost hard and hollow when knocked on.

5. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. I removed it to a wire rack to cool. Slice and enjoy while still warm or wait until cooler so that your bread slices nicely! (click here for a little bread slicing tutorial) Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.

march breads

I know I mentioned this before but finding the time to blog about my baking is very difficult for me. This month I will just be posting everything I baked and a few I forgot to take pics of for the blog. I baked a little less this month over last month but still had a wonderful array of yummie yeasties and I even ventured into trying some wet breads and sourdough.

Here I made some Garlic Naan! It came out wonderful! So much so that I actually made it twice. The first week in March and the second week to go with a yummy vegetarian red curry.

I don't have a pizza stone so I put my cast iron flat iron in the oven and it came out brilliant! Here is the naan cooking away in the oven.


And here is the final product.

After reading the March round up from BYOB I was totally inspired to make the chocolate brioche that Roxanna made from Green Girl. I stayed traditional in shape but liked the idea of using Nutella inside instead of the chocolate chips and boy did this taste good. But bottom line - it was just like my chocolate challah bread. I need to do a little more reading about what makes Brioche a Brioche instead of just calling it an egg bread! I think I ate most of it!




So I picked up Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and tried out the recipe for the fluffy sandwich bread on page 92. It was much better than the 10 grain cereal one tried in January but still wasn't not sold on it as a regular staple in my house. It was still really dense and the strong yeast smell made my husband not want to eat it. So it lasted a long time. But it was super delish toasted with butter and thinly sliced extra sharp cheddar cheese. My personal favorite is Tillamock's Vintage White Cheddar - extra sharp. I pick up the 2lb block every time I go to Costco as this is truly my favorite cheese. The hamburger buns were from the same batch of dough and they came out pretty good too but still hubby didn't like the smell.

As you can see it came out with quite a nice texture and was soft but not as soft as my favorite whole wheat bread that I keep making. You can see a few pics below or click here for the recipe.

Here is my next round of Bagels that really did not fair that well! I'm not sure what I am doing wrong but they come out so FLAT and this time they were all gooey in the middle where the water seeped in while boiling and didn't seem to cook off. I feel like my dough is too dry so as I shape the balls the top dough tears leaving places for the water to sneak in. I'd love some help here if anyone knows what to do or how to help me. I will be trying it again this week and will try to keep my dough a little more hydrated and hopefully more pliable. I need the gluten to do it's job so maybe I should knead it longer too. hmmm.....

Here I cut the yucky part out of the middle so that I could eat it. Ew! Didn't taste bad though. LOL!

Of course another round of chocolate chip banana bread. And muffins too but they didn't have any chocolate. That way I can send it for snack to school with Mr. H.

Round 5 of favorite whole wheat oat bread. Here's the recipe. I really feel like it just gets better every time.

So I ventured into the realm of sourdough bread. I think this one needs it's own post which will come later but bottom line is it came out more like a french loaf because my sourdough starter was bad. Still tastes good though, hehe.

Sliced up nice too! I made it because I really wanted to have pannini's for dinner. I served this sandwiches with a really delicious broccoli cheddar soup (I adjusted it to be vegetarian). Here is the link for that recipe because it was amazing. I highly recommend doubling the recipe to serve 8 so that you have enough leftovers.


What I didn't get a chance to take pictures of were my beautiful Calzones! They were so pretty with the rolled twisted edges and the filling was to die for, adults got mediterraian style and the kiddo's got pizza pocket style. Yum yum. I baked them in the oven just like I did the naan above. I put my cast iron flat iron in the oven and baked it on one side only. Super duper great.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins - small batch so they went super quick. Only two left and a picture with two muffins only is a sad picture.

Also put together a pan full of my no-bake eggless granola bars. Super quick and easy, here is the recipe:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped cashews
1 cup coconut flakes - dry unsweetened - I love this so sometimes I add extra, yum yum!
1 cup oats
1 cup puffed rice cereal
1 cup kamut puffed cereal
1/4 cup flax meal
Put all in a 9x11 pan and toast @ 350 degrees in the oven for 12 minutes, stirring every 4 minutes so they don't burn. While that is toasting heat 3/4 cup honey and 7 Tbsp coconut oil on the stove till warm and mixed. Combine the honey and dry toast ingredients and then press into the 9x11 pan. Let cool. Place in the fridge to get extra hard. Pull out, flip over onto a cutting board and make your granola bars! Too much honey and they are too gooey and fall apart when not super cold from the fridge. Still really good but almost too sweet when there is too much honey. I wrap each individually and keep in the fridge for quick snack access. You can press chocolate chips into the top after pressing into the pan for chocolate coconut granola bars. My favorite!

Busy Monday

Yesterday was a busy day! Here's my 4th round oft favorite whole wheat bread recipe!

Also made our hamburger buns for our yummy eggplant burgers that I was making for dinner. Talk about kids loving veggies! This was a hit, a definite one for the books. The hamburger buns on the other hand didn't look perfect but tasted great. I topped some with onion and some with sesame.

And the bagels of course!