Rye and Whole Wheat Bread

I love to bake bread and am particularly proud of this bread since it is such a healthy and tasty bread. Though it is not a 100% whole wheat bread I am slowly trying to take it in that direction by reducing the amount of bread flour I add. And because it has so much whole grain in it, a slice or two of this bread in the morning keeps me going for a long time.

Recipe

1 cup rye flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour ( I use white whole wheat from King Arthur)

3/4 cup bread flour (I used King Arthur)

2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tbsp light molasses

1 1/2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup boiling water

1/4 to 1/2 cup warm water ( I find it best to add 1/4 cup and then add as much of the water as I can while I knead without making the dough too sticky)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp of caraway seeds ( I did not have caraway seeds on hand and so skipped this)

Take 1/2 boiling water and add the honey, molasses and butter to it. Mix and let the butter melt. Now set aside and let the mixture come to lukewarm temperature.

Take 1/4 cup warm water in a separate container add the yeast to it. Mix and set aside. After a few minutes the water and yeast mixture should be a little frothy. Add this water and yeast mixture to the honey and molasses mixture and stir to combine.

Mix the whole wheat, bread flour, caraway seeds and salt in a container and add the liquids to the dry mixture. Stir to combine. After a wet mixture forms add the rye flour and start kneading. I spent about 15 minutes kneading this bread while slowly adding more water ( the other 1/4 cup). If the dough is too sticky add more bread flour but just a little at a time.

I am still experimenting with my kneading technique so it is still work in progress. But I did a simple stretch and fold for this bread and it seemed to work fine. However, I will probably get better results with some experimentation and research. But not to complicate it too much, knead till you get a smooth ball and then put the dough in a well oiled container , cover and let rise in a warm kitchen for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours till it doubles. Since this is a rather dense bread it will takes its own sweet time to rise.

After the rise punch the dough down, knead for a minute and put into an oiled loaf pan. Cover and let it rise again for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Set the oven at 375 F and bake for 30 minutes. If you think the top is browning too much for you cover the bread with foil and bake.

This taste delicious with butter or peanut butter and marmalade.

Whole Wheat Rosemary Bread

I am a big fan of the rosemary bread served in Macaroni Grill. As lovely as that bread is I was convinced that rosemary would be perfect in a whole wheat bread. The natural sweetness of a whole wheat bread seemed like a great match for rosemary. I am pleased to report that I was right and a little less pleased that other people have had this idea already. Nevertheless the other recipes did help a lot in the actual baking so I suppose it all worked out for good. The recipe I followed is here.

1 to 1 and 1/cup warm water
1 packet yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 and 1/2 cups bread flour ( King Arthur Bread Flour)
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ( King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary or dried rosemary ( I used a combination of the two since I did not want to over tax my relatively new rosemary plant)

Proof the yeast with the water and 1 tsp sugar. Add the flour and the salt to a bowl and stir. Add the oil and the rosemary to this mixture. To this also add the yeast and water mixture. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until you get a smooth dough. Add a little flour if the mixture is too wet for you.

Cover the dough and let it rise in a well oiled bowl for an hour. After an hour punch the dough down shape it into a loaf and put it into an oiled loaf tin for the second rise. Cover and let the loaf rise again for 45 minutes to an hour till the dough is 1 to 2 " above the loaf tin.

Preheat the oven at 350 F for about half an hour. Remove cover from loaf and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Be gentle with the loaf. I actually managed to knock mine some and the bread fell a little. Despite that I ended up with a very wholesome tasting whole wheat rosemary loaf for sandwiches all of next week.


Have a great weekend.

Start with Bread

I opened this space a loooooong time ago. Food and I have a long complicated history. And my relationship changed forever when I started to cook. At one point it was enough that I got to eat something cool but now the experience is not complete till I can reproduce the dish/ alter it to my tastes.

I like to cook. I wish I could say things like it relaxes me. It does not- I cook like I do most do things - with adrenaline, stress poured in, hating myself for not being better even the first time. But I enjoy it. It is what I like to do that I do not have to do.

So to backtrack I opened this space a loooong time ago. I wanted to file away the things I enjoyed making, enjoyed eating and sharing. But I never did anything about till now.

And I will start with bread. Simple, wholesome bread. My husbands face as he eats bread is another reason I love the man. It is such a simple yet bordering carnal experience to eat good bread. And he appreciates it as deserves to be appreciated.

This is a recipe for a bread with some oats thrown in. I am working through some recipes from the King Arthur site. I also recently switched to King Arthur for all my baking and have been kicking myself for being a cheapskate and not doing it earlier. That one dollar that I am shelling out extra per 10 lb bag - very very worth it.

I am relative new comer to baking. The strictness of baking in that there is no stirring, tasting and adjusting makes it less enjoyable to me. But after some success the taste of fresh homemade bread makes the rest of the process more bearable.

I changed the recipe a bit and in place of 3 cups of Bread Flour used 2 cups of Bread Flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. I have made the recipe as is and it is delicious, the altered version is a bit denser but still very tasty.

Edited to add
I wanted to add what I did since I was told that some of my friends could not bring themselves to click on a link to get at the ingredients. So -
I added
2 cups bread flour (King Arthur)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
1 cup of oatmeal
1 and 1/4 cup low fat milk
1 and half tablespoons butter melted a little in the microwave
2 tsp yeast.
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Warm the milk in the microwave until it feels lukewarm to touch. It should NOT be hot at all. Add a tsp of the sugar and add the yeast. Set the stuff aside for around 8 minutes to proof.

Add all the dry ingredients and the butter and the yeast. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until a smooth dough is formed. Form a ball with the dough and place it in an oiled container and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for an hour. The dough should be a little sticky. I have a feeling that my dough was a little on the drier side and might have risen more if it were a tad wetter.

Punch the dough down after the hour and shape into a log. Put the dough into an oiled loaf pan. Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hr. I let mine rise for a full one and half hours. It should rise above the top of the loaf pan and should be 1 to 2 " above the top of the loaf pan.

Now heat the oven at 350 F and bake for 35 minutes. Take out and cool before slicing into it.
This is a slightly sweet loaf and lovely for sandwiches.

Edited to add- do taste the dough before the first rise. This dough should be on the sweeter side.