Great in Bread

My first successful homemade bread

A slice of homemade whole wheat honey bread
with  homemade pear honey

I love to cook.  People who know me are nodding (and rolling their eyes).  I am always talking about food and I tend to expound on how my creations were made.  I really should have taught cooking!

I really love the art of canning but bread baking has escaped me for so long; I just couldn't seem to get it right.  I would follow the directions, but the dough wouldn't rise.  I began to doubt my yeast, my bread machine, my hands.  I was never sure what the problem was.  Recently, I joined a bible study called, "1,000 Gifts" by Ann Voskamp.  In her video of the same name, she makes bread while talking and it inspired me to try again.  I found Ann's recipe on her website, A Holy Experience called  Ann Voskamp's Foolproof Bread Recipe.  It really is foolproof.

There are a couple of interesting things about this bread.  Normally. when you make bread, you add yeast to a bowl of warm water, add sugar, etc. and then add flour to your concoction to begin your dough.  This recipe you add your warm water, honey, oil, flour, salt and flax, then add the yeast at the end.  Mix, let rise 30 minutes until your dough doubles in size and then bake 30 - 35 minutes.  This has been the easiest recipe I have ever tried - with the best results.

I will say, that if you decide to try this recipe, you may want to cut it in half at first.  The recipe makes 5 loaves of bread and my Kitchen Aid mixer was actually straining toward the end.  My first attempt last week did not rise, but my yeast is getting old, so this week I bought new and I made half whole wheat flour and half unbleached white flour.  I used 1 cup of milled flax seed  as recommended (the grocery store did not have wheat gluten*) added a little molasses.  I may add more molasses next time as I love the flavor.  This time I used my Hobart N50 (commercial grade) and it handled the dough fine, but it really fills the bowl!  Hence, the suggestion to cut the recipe in half.  The bread came out  fragrant and beautiful - sliced warm with a little butter and homemade pear honey.  Warm sweetness melts in my mouth on a cold winter's day.

*If you are new to the idea of bread making, wheat gluten is an enhancer for heavier breads.  Whole wheat, graham and other heavier flours require a "boost" to rise.  By adding wheat gluten or milled flax seed, your bread rises and is less dense.