Revised Honey Whole Wheat Bread

OK, I've been making this bread at least once a week for a while now.  It's become our staple bread.  I've made enough changes to the original recipe that I feel like I should repost a more accurate one.  Also, Genny made me.

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon yeast
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt. 

Combine first three ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer; let sit for about five minutes or until frothy and bubbly. 

Add 1 1/2 cups flour and salt. Mix until combined

Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until soft dough forms.  The dough should just barely pull away from sides and will be sticky.

Knead on low in stand mixer with dough hook attachment for 4 minutes. 

Cover and let rise until double in size, about one hour.  Punch down and knead by hand for a couple of minutes to work out the big pockets and give the dough some elasticity.  Shape into loaf and drop into greased loaf pan.  Let rise till double again (about half an hour).  Bake at 350 for about 38 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool in loaf pan on cooling rack about 10 minutes.  Remove from loaf pan and let cool completely (2-3 hours) before slicing. 

In my quest to have homemade bread that isn't crumbly and falls apart after it's cooled I've learned some things mostly from trial and error.  Don't let it cool completely in the loaf pan.  This can lead to some soggy crust.  Letting it cool completely before cutting into it ensures that the steam won't escape and dry out your loaf.  I've also noticed that if I slice the whole loaf up at once it isn't as crumbly either.  This has kept nicely on the counter top for up to a week.  I think that's the longest it's ever taken us to go through a whole loaf.  It would keep longer in the fridge obviously. 

This one is super simple and my whole family loves it.  The chickens, who will eat anything, do not like it.  I find this strange.  I wonder if it's the honey.  Do you think maybe chickens don't like the taste of honey?  I don't know, it's weird.  Seriously, those birds will eat almost anything. 

Good luck baking and post a comment if you have a question, or it's not turning out right for you and we'll figure it out. 

This week I'm trying out a Dave's Killer bread copycat recipe, though I will wait till it's perfected to post it, cause who wants to post twice?

honey whole wheat bread

I tried a new bread recipe yesterday.  I'm always on the lookout for good bread, but I haven't tried a new one in a while.  This one is a copycat of great Harvest's Honey Whole Wheat, which I love.  It turned out pretty good.  It was warm outside (and inside) yesterday and the dough rose too fast making my bread a little too crumbly, but still good.  I'm going to try it again today and use about half the yeast and let it rise longer if necessary.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

The recipe is on my healthy habits pinterest board, but here's a link.

http://www.eatcakefordinner.net/2012/02/great-harvest-honey-whole-wheat-bread.html

One of these days, time permitting I will write my own recipes.  I've got good stuff up here in my brain and I'm afraid it will all leak out before I can take the time to write it down. 

**UPDATE**
I made this one again yesterday.  I decreased the yeast from 1.5 Tablespoons to just one tablespoon.  It still rose a little too quickly leaving pockets larger than I would like in the middle of the loaf.  I think next time I try it, I will decrease it even more. 

Such good bread though.  My favorite thing is that I can knead it in the stand mixer.  I hate kneading bread by hand. 

real pitas stuffed with chicken avacado salad

I once again apologize for my less than appetizing photography.  It's just not my strong point. 

These  were so good.  I was so excited to make pita bread with flour after my gluten free attempt.  It went so well and I couldn't believe how easy it was.  Super easy.  I say that and then you will read my recipe and probably think it doesn't sound easy at all, but please try it.  It is really easy and they are so good.  I used whole wheat flour in these, though of course you could use white flour.  They are stuffed with a chicken avocado salad which was so fast and easy and also super good.  This will definitely become a regular.  I wish I had some alfalfa or lentil sprouts to shove in there for a little crunch.  Maybe some lettuce would have been good.

Experiment with these and let me know what you come up with and what you put in there.  I'm serious, make these, they are worth the effort. 

Both of these recipes can be found on my healthy habits pinterest board and I am going to attempt to attach a link as I have seen Genny do. 

avocado chicken salad - http://bakersblessings.blogspot.com/2013/07/avocado-chicken-salad-no-mayo.html

pita bread - http://bakersblessings.blogspot.com/2013/07/avocado-chicken-salad-no-mayo.html

there, I hope that works out for you.