Thursday, December 4, 2008

A New Bread Recipe

I have enjoyed making my own whole wheat bread for some time now. All the while, sticking my head into the sand over the fact that I was, little by little, running out of honey. The recipe (which can be found HERE) that I have been using from www.breadbeckers.com is awesome! BUT, at 1/3 cup of honey per two loaves, I have been thinking that I had better come up with a solution, and soon! Well, the inevitable happened. I am out of honey. At $40 per gallon, I don't plan on stocking up any time soon. I used to be able to get it for $20 a gallon. SO! What to do, what to do? I decided to experiment by mixing the recipe I had been using with another that I have used in the past, but didn't like nearly as much. Much to my surprise, it worked! I now have a honey-free recipe that turned out as good, or better than my old standby!

I made two batches. The first I kneaded by hand and I found it to be very soft and easy to knead. It never did "toughen" up. I formed this dough into two loaves. The next batch I made, I let my bread machine do the mixing and first rising. Then I took it out and formed it into 15 large rolls. This batch did super, as well!

You can see some of the bread here in this photo. The rolls on the left were the honey-less recipe. The rolls that look a little more golden on the right was the breadbeckers recipe. But, the loaves turned out golden, too, so I think the pale rolls had more to do with cooking them for a little less time. They were totally done in the center, and very soft!


A close-up of the basket.


The perfect roll! Doesn't it just BEG to be dipped in a hot bowl of soup?


After some very "scientific" blind taste testing, the results were in: although the bread was still slightly sweet, it had just a hint of a sour dough flavor. There were no complaints over the change in flavor, and it is now the new, even cheaper bread of choice for our family!

Here is the recipe:

2 cups very hot water
1/4 cup melted butter
2 Tbs molasses
1 egg
1 1/2 Tbs salt
1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs Lecithin (optional)
1 tsp gluten

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl or dump into bread machine. Add 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 Tbs yeast. Mix thoroughly. Add 3 more cups flour, one cup at a time until dough can be turned out on counter and kneaded. Knead for 6 minutes, adding more flour as needed. (if you use the bread machine, add flour until a ball forms in the machine and pulls totally away from the walls. Cover and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled. Pinch and shape dough into 2 loaves, place in greased bread pans, cover, and let rise again. OR, break off about 1/4 cup dough, roll playdough style into a 6 inch long, 3/4 inch diameter "snake". Tie into a knot, place on greased cookie sheet, cover and let rise again. Bake loaves in 350 oven for 20 min. (or more if needed), bake rolls for about 12 minutes.

7 comments:

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

Your bread and your tree both look very nice. Maybe I'll see you at pick-up.

fitncrafty said...

It does look great... I will have to try it! Thanks for sharing.

Your blog looks great by the way! I love the colors.

Misty said...

Looks yummy! I love the rolls :-)

Denise Punger MD IBCLC said...

I snuck over to Lori's today and got my beans and stuff. I am so excited to have my order. I listened to Sue's DVD fresh milled testimony driving back home. I am really excited.

Carrie- I'll make sure you get a copy. I'll bet Lori has more if you guys want to hear it.

Scott and Libby said...

OK, so I'm going to show my ignorance. What is Lecithin, and where do I get it? What does it do to the bread? I make bread all the time and have never used it, but have seen it on the ingredent section of store bought bread. I will have to admitt that I don't often make whole wheat, my family likes white. Does that stuff make whole wheat taste better?

Any-ol-who, I really like your background and the music is nice too!!

Allana Martian said...

Libby, I had to look up the answer to your question, because I didn't know for sure, either! Here's what I found:
Lecithin helps keep bread fresher longer & works with the gluten
to make a lighter bread. It also helps make the bread moister
and acts as a mild preservative. Made from soy or egg yolks.
Comes in liquid or granular form.

You can get it at any health food store. The kind I use in my bread is in granular form.

Hope that answers your question!

Livin' out loud said...

Oh this looks yummy!!
Susan