Honey Whole Wheat Bread

There’s nothing in the world like slicing into a loaf of warm bread fresh out of the oven and spreading butter over the top. It just melts in your mouth and this recipe is so good for you too! I buy all my grains in berry form (shaped like rice before its ground into flour) and then I grind it in my Whispermill right before I bake to get the most nutritious bread possible. You can definitely buy your flower from the store but I think it taste better when it’s ground fresh. I also like to grind it fresh so that I can use a variety of grains like Spelt, Rye, Einkorn, and so on. Each different variety has a different profile of vitamins so it’s good to mix it up. The majority of my flour is from heirloom hard red wheat berries that I have shipped from The Grain Place. This is a particularly good option if you have sensitivity to wheat. The heirloom grains are non gmo and organic, so they don’t have the same negative side effects of traditional American wheat. I am absolutely allergic to regular wheat, but I do fine with all of the heirloom grains. This is exciting news for so many people! This company also sells flour from these grains. I also want to note that the olive oil I use is from a company based out of Israel called Blessed Buy Isreal. It has it naturally low acidity which is important in bread making because a higher acidity will hinder the yeast action.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

4 1/2 cups warm water
3 Tbsp dry active yeast
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (low acidity) or regular olive oil halved with coconut or avacado oil
1 cup raw unfiltered honey
3 beaten eggs
2 rounded Tbsps dough enhancer (buy on amazon)
2 Tbsp salt
12- 16 cups flour of your choice
My typical flour combo:
2 cups rye, 2 cups spelt, 2 cups buckwheat, 2 cups Einkorn, 8 cups hard red winter wheat

Combine in a large bowl or Bosch mixer the warm water and yeast. Use a glass one cup measuring cup to measure out your oil, and add that to the water and yeast. Use the oiled measuring cup to measure approximately one cup of honey. The honey comes out of that oiled cup so much easier. Next add the eggs, dough enhancer, salt, and 3 cups of your flour. Combine well, and then start adding the rest of your flour one cup at a time while mixing on low. You can substitute and some white flour if you want. Look for the devil to start pulling away from the edge of the bowl. It should be a moist dough that doesn’t stick to your fingers too much. Ere on the side of a too wet dough rather than dry. Once the door is pulling away from the sides it needs to mix on medium or high for about five minutes to build up the gluten. Don’t overmix however, or you’ll end up with a tough loaf of bread. The dough should be very soft to the touch and pliable. Cover the mixing bowl with greased plastic wrap and sat on the counter or in a slightly warm oven for one and a half to two hours. If the dog starts to run over the side of the bowl instead of rising upward, it is a little bit on the wet side. That’s OK, just make a note of it for next time and you may need to bake a couple of extra minutes.
Once Aledo has doubled in size, turn it out onto an oil countertop and divided into six or seven balls of dough. Six is all that will fit in the oven at a time, but smaller loads are easier to work with and fit in sandwich bags once sandwiches are made with the bread. Take one of the six balls of dough and squeeze out any big air pockets. You will want to need the dough a little bit by folding the dog over like a taco and then needing it towards the closed end with the palms of your hand. Do this several times and tell you have pressed out as many air bubbles as possible. Shape into a loaf and put into a greased bread pan and cover loosely with greased plastic wrap. Repeat for the remaining Lowe’s and let rise for another one and a half to two hours until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 350° and bake the loaves for about 30 minutes total. The first 20 minutes uncovered, and then the last 10 minutes slide into long sheets of foil to cover the tops of the bread so that they don’t over Brown. You should be able to tap on the tops of the bread when they are done.