Honey Whole Wheat Loaves!
If you’ve wandered down the bread aisle lately, you may have noticed that many popular brands come with long ingredient lists full of hard-to-pronounce words. While baking bread from scratch might not be part of your weekly routine, it’s a truly rewarding experience—and it fills your kitchen with the most amazing aroma. Try making this wholesome loaf, enjoy every bite fresh out of the oven, and freeze an extra one for later. It’s a simple pleasure that’s well worth the effort.
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 ⅓ cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 ⅓ cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil (for brushing bread loaf pan)
Directions:
- Prepare bread loaf pan by brushing with 1/2 teaspoon oil and then dusting with flour.
- In a liquid cup measure, sprinkle yeast over water and set aside. Stand until foamy about five minutes.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of mixture, then add 1 tablespoon of oil and yeast mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon or pastry scraper until all ingredients form into a dough ball. Scrape dough onto a surface lightly dusted with flour.
- Use the pastry scraper to develop the dough until it becomes less sticky and more pliable. Knead dough with fingertips for approximately five minutes until smooth. Sprinkle an extra teaspoon of flour on the surface as needed just to keep dough from sticking (but make sure not to over-flour).
- Brush a large container with ½ teaspoon of oil. When a piece of the dough can stretch to form a window without tearing, place the dough in container; cover and let rise at room temperature (75F) for 1 hour.
- While in the container, fold dough over on all four sides. (See overnight rise below.)
- After dough rises for another 1 hour, place dough onto lightly floured surface and flatten; then shape into a round ball. Let rest on the board for 15 minutes.
- Gently stretch ball into a rectangle shaped log and place into the prepared bread loaf pan with the seam at the bottom. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Remove plastic wrap and bake loaf for 40 minutes.
- Remove loaf from pan and place on a wire rack to cool before slicing.
For overnight rise: Follow steps 1-7 for honey wheat loaf. Then place in a container in refrigerator and let rise overnight. The next day proceed with step 8 through 10.
Makes 12 servings (1 slice per serving).
Nutrition Facts per serving: 90 calories; 1.5g fat (0g sat fat, 1g mono, 0.5g poly, 0g trans fats); 0mg cholesterol; 17g carbohydrate (1g fiber, 2g sugar); 3g protein; 110mg sodium; 4% Daily Value (DV) iron.
– Stacey Antine, MS, RDN is the author of Appetite for Life, founder of HealthBarn USA, and director of the HealthBarn Foundation and HealthBarn Nutrition Academy. Celebrating 20 years of inspiring strong bodies and healthy minds, HealthBarn USA has become a national model for hands-on nutrition education. Stacey was named one of the Top 10 Dietitians in the Nation by Today’s Dietitian magazine for her groundbreaking work in children’s health and wellness.
