(I microwave for 6 min.)
6 cups water
1/2-cup rolled oats
1/3-cup oil
1/3-cup honey
In mixer bowl put:
6 cups whole-wheat flour
3 tablespoons instant yeast (I use SAF Instant Yeast)
1/4-cup wheat gluten
Warmed water mixture above
Run mixer with dough hook until well mixed and smooth. Cover bowl and let rise 15 minutes. This is called a proof and is the 1st rise.
Add 2 tablespoons salt (DON'T FORGET THIS) and enough flour to clean the sides of the bowl while kneading.
I like to add flour a small scoop at a time. When the sides just start to be cleaned off, I stop the mixer and let it sit a few seconds--maybe a minute-- so that the ww flour has time to absorb the water. It takes ww longer to do this than white, and I find that if I don't wait this minute, I get too much flour in my dough.
Start up the mixer again, adding just enough to get the sides to clean, then kneed for a short while. I have never timed this, but it isn't long (3 minutes maybe?). I like to wet my hands and rip a piece of dough off and try to smooth it out into a thin sheet. If you can get a section to smooth out so that it is thin enough to become almost transparent, the kneading is done--make sure your hands are wet enough not to stick to the dough. The dough should not be exceptionally sticky. If it tears, it needs more kneading. This stage is short--if you over knead it you will not be able to get the proper rise out of your bread.
When ready, pull dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Form into balls making them smooth and taunt. Cover with a towel and let rest for a few minutes (4 or 5)--this allows the bread to relax and let you form it into loaves without fighting with it. Shape into loaves and place into greased loaf pans. I use 8.5X4.5 pans—if your pans are too large, whole wheat bread might deflate part way through the baking cycle.
Let rise. It is ready to preheat the oven when you poke the bread slightly and the indention fills back in slowly. If it doesn't fill back in or if it "sighs" you have waited too long. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place in oven leaving a small amount of space between pans--as much as you can with 6 loaves. I place them all on the center shelf. I use glass pans, and I check my loaves after 20 minutes. If the bottoms are about the same color as the tops, they are done. Let cool on a rack--do not wrap in plastic until they are completely cool. If you are going to slice them before placing in the freezer, it helps to let them sit in their bags overnight before slicing. This allows the bread to firm up a bit.
If you want to roll out one loaf into a large rectangle, smooth melted butter over it and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, you can roll it up and have a loaf of cinnamon bread as well. Caution: this never sticks around in the kitchen for very long.
When I place the pans in the oven, I use a mister bottle to mist the loaves very lightly with water so that the surface is just damp enough to get that last rise from the heat as it starts to bake. They should easily rise an inch or more above the bread pan.
Enjoy!
5 comments:
YUM!!
Now this is the kind of bread recipe I like--lots of specificity and explanation of why you do what you do.
Why do all recipes use SAF instant yeast these days? What's wrong with the old-fashioned kind?
SAF yeast: the old fashioned kind is not instant yeast. I can do a proof for 10 minutes (as is done in this recipe) and then I do not have to do the first rise (which use to take up to an hour to do). Instant yeast enables me to get my bread started and ended in a much shorten length of time, and SAF seems to be the best of the instants that I have used. The bread is not better, though, so if you want to use the regular yeast and have the time, the product will be the same. HTH.
So if I use regular yeast, where does the first rise come? Where you proof or after all the ingredients have come together? I've found with my Bosch that if I do two risings, the bread does not rise very high in the pan and tends to be heavy.
Thanks for your help! I made such good bread with my KA--I'm getting very frustrated with my new Bosch! I know, though, that it takes a while to get a bread recipe properly "tweaked."
Mary
I've never made my Bosch recipe with regular yeast. All my other recipes call for the entire mixture to be put together and kneaded, and then the bread is set aside to rise. When it has doubled in size (or when poked and it fills in but does so slowly), then it is time to punch it down, let it rest for a few minutes, and then shape into loaves; then set aside to rise.
I wonder if you would need to change the amount of yeast (and maybe honey)if using regular yeast. My breadmachine uses 2 teaspoons active dry yeast OR 3 teaspoons instant.
I'd have to experiment with it!
Jean
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