I wrote before about my incompetence with yeast… and the fact that my only successes had been in a bread machine. Then I sort of broke the cycle with this Italian bread. I followed the Joy of Cooking’s instructions step by step, and yielded something yummy.
Well, guess what I did today… I flew… all on my own. I made honey wheat bread from scratch WITHOUT using a bread machine. And it’s beautiful.
We already ate some of the rolls (topped with honey butter. YUM!) and I have to say the texture is delightful. I did a good job.
Want to know how I did it? Of course I’ll share.
I basically used the same recipe as my usual sandwich bread, but I doubled it. And didn’t touch the bread machine.
- Proof 4 teaspoons of active dry yeast in 2 cups of 110 degree (Fahrenheit) water with a bunch of honey. This means mix all of that together and wait 10 minutes or so, until it’s frothy.
- Dump it in the mixing bowl.
- Add 4 cups of bread flour and 2 cups of wheat flour.
- Add half a cup of veggie oil.
- Spoon in 2 teaspoons or so of salt.
- Stir/knead until smooth. If you want, you can use the dough hook of your mixer to do this.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place until roughly doubled in size. I did mine for a bit over an hour, I think.
- Punch down the dough (this releases some CO2 and relaxes the gluten) and shape into whatever bread you want. (I did one loaf in a sprayed loaf pan, some buns, and some bread sticks).
- Let rise again, about an hour or until about doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- If you want, you can make cuts in the top of your bread… though it’s not necessary.
- Bake until it’s done. This will vary depending on what size/shape bread you made. My smaller breads were finished in about half an hour. The loaf took about 40 minutes.
- Remember to let your loafs cool COMPLETELY before slicing.
I think it would be a lot of fun to dry different additions… maybe adding sunflower seeds to the dough, sprinkling the top of the loaf with raw oats, or topping hamburger buns with sesame seeds. I bet it would also make a great breakfast bread if during the shaping stage, you rolled it up with some cinnamon/sugar/butter inside in a nice swirl.
What do you think?
Bread machines are GREAT but I like that this made a normal-shaped loaf… I was able to get a lot more slices out of it than usual (which also means smaller sandwiches so I might be able to actually eat a whole one… I’ve taken to just eating turkey lunchmeat plain because I never feel hungry enough for a sandwich as huge as our bread usually is. ha!) .
I’m not swearing off the bread machine of course, because honestly… what beats dumping in ingredients and walking away, then coming back later on to freshly-baked bread? But it’s nice to know that my yeast curse seems to have been lifted, and that now other shapes of bread are actually in my menu of options, provided I have a bit of time and patience for it.
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
Oooh, I love the cinnamon idea, and perhaps i could raisins as well. I’ve also tasted bread in Singapore once that had a sweet red bean filling in it and could probably try that with this bread. Thanks for sharing the recipe! I’ll browse around and see if you have recipes that are wheat free, since someone at home is gluten-intolerant
Looks delightful! Only thing I would change is your instructions to let cool completely before slicing, then you totally miss out on the very best part of homemade bread, that hot and fresh from the oven taste! That first hot slice or two tastes twice as good eaten immediately instead of waiting for it to cool. Slap some butter on it and it's like eating heaven
That's the thing I look forwards to the most when baking bread.
Looks delightful! Only thing I would change is your instructions to let cool completely before slicing, then you totally miss out on the very best part of homemade bread, that hot and fresh from the oven taste! That first hot slice or two tastes twice as good eaten immediately instead of waiting for it to cool. Slap some butter on it and it's like eating heaven
That's the thing I look forwards to the most when baking bread.
Ohhhhh I'm hungry! Sadly I'm not a good baker:(
My biggest problem is I dont understans the punching down of the dough after it has risen. We use our own wheat berry and spelt berry, rye we grow our own organic grains and grind our flour and sell this product if you are interested but I have problems with my bread rising to its fullest
I make all of our breads and never hesitate to add fruits and nuts to the recipes that I use. I always use 1/2 heart healthy oats ~..~ and I add one cup chopped apple plus 1/3 cup chopped walnuts etc. for each loaf. I also make a cinnamon sugar ( 1/2 cup sugar plus 3 teaspoons good quality cinnamon ) and line the pans with the cinnamon sugar and top the loaves with it also. You can add cinnamon to your bread dough just as you would add a good garlic powder and some parmesan cheese with italian seasonings for an italian or garlic bread. Bread recipes are very versatile and by using honey and no sugar, even more so. I use 1/2 cup honey in place of the sugar. You may n eed to add a little more flour to absorb the liquid, but not to worry. Also with fruits you will need to add more flour, but you can tell how much when your dough is no longer sticky, but kneads easily.
Salt in bread helps hold down yeast growth and keep the bread from collapsing due to rising too fast. If added directly to your proofed yeast, it would really kill a lot of the culture; adding both on top of each other to a bowl of dry ingredients will give you dough that won’t rise. Best to mix the salt into the flour or at least keep it from mixing with the yeast immediately. Salt also tightens up the gluten in the dough, which is another help in keeping bread structure. I haven’t tried reducing salt in yeast bread recipes, but I imagine this would need shorter rising times and would have to be baked in a pan.
Lina… I’m not sure exactly what the salt DOES in bread, but I think there’s a chemical reason it’s there. Since this recipe was doubled, a single recipe would only have 1 teaspoon-ish of salt in an entire loaf of bread. Do you think that would affect your low-sodium diet?
If so, maybe try making a loaf with the salt amount lowered or omitted… what’s the worst that could happen? The bread might not “work” but at least then you’d know, right? Let me know how it works out!
The bread looks delicious. I am on a low sodium diet. Do you think it is possible to omit the salt or add less?
Emmy, the honey is in step 1.
Proof 4 teaspoons of active dry yeast in 2 cups of 110 degree (Fahrenheit) water with a bunch of honey. This means mix all of that together and wait 10 minutes or so, until it’s frothy.
Hi
The name of your bread is Honey Wheat but I don’t see honey in the recipe – is this ccorrect?
PS I LOVE your granola bar recipe and I now make them every week. 1/2 cup of hemp hearts is a super addition and good for you.
Thanks for the great tips
You’ve totally inspired me to try to make bread. I felt like I had to have a bread maker but your bread turned out beautifully.
Thanks for this! I’m going to have to give bread a try again. Hmmm think you’ll be making homemade pizza dough soon and be able to give us the lowdonw on that?
I really enjoy your blog!
Lalie
Oooo, that looks so yummy! ~runs to the kitchen to find some bread and butter~
Oh me! That IS some beautiful bread! The shape is just PERFECT! I especially love the long walking stick bread, haha, it looks like it would be so good to tear, dip, and consume! I think I will leave the bread baking up to you!
Congratulations on joining the oven bread band! Once you get the hang of one they’re pretty much the same. I loooooovvvvveee making Finnish Nisu (Cardomon bread) because you get bread AND frosting for breakfast. I remember the day I realized why nobody could make a cinnamon roll as good as my grammie’s…. she used Nisu instead of whatever the recipe called for and then just rolled in the cinnamon sugar. It’s OMG good!!!! You gotta Google it! (Tip… let the dough mix stay a bit wet and work in the last of the flour for a more tender loaf.)
Thanks, you two!
Mrs. Green, it’s a 5×10 inch pan.
I think you should definitely try it. I don’t know how much packages of bread mix cost, but I’m pretty sure making it from scratch would be cheaper.
This looks amazing and so delicious! I am a failed bread baker – I’ve tried dozens of recipes and each one has turned out inedible, but you have inspired me to try again – a new year’s resolution, perhaps
I too use a breadmaker (and a packet bread mix (groan) but still feel like I am cheating.
I didn’t see when skimming through your recipe – what size bread tin did you use?
mmmmmm! That looks yummy. Wish I could scratch and sniff this screen. I love fresh baked bread!