Whole wheat breakfast bread ~

Bread link ~ yeast item ~ lovely bready-yeasty sharing found at the Wild Yeast blog.   

(It's challenging to find time to blog a post when I don't have internet at home any longer.  What a concept for me, no net access at my fingertips.  That's why I'm here even less often.)

I want to stop the feeling I have to apologize for this bread.  It’s all made up in my head too, the thought that it’s not what it should be.   In reality, in the truth, we really like the taste and texture of this bread.  My problem (again - totally made up and off center) is with the appearance.  When I make a bread in a loaf pan I want that pretty high risen result, preferably with a little lip.  Well, not on this bread.  Not even with multiplying the recipe at 1.5 of the original recipe as I did with these two loaves.  This is a dense bread and it is not going to get any higher without change and therefore lighter and there I am back to the fact that we like the texture and we really like the taste.  I take a while to come to peace with some things life throws at me, even in the form of bread.

This is a very moist, slightly sweet whole wheat bread.  We toast this in the mornings, Nic uses excessive jam, the girls will ask for butter if they think I’ll let them, if not - more jam.  Me, I prefer dry toast, no butter, no jam….maybe honey when I am in the mood and feeling indulgent.  Okay, okay….when I allow the desire to be indulgent, which isn’t too often.  Honey is great on this bread.  But this is about 100% whole wheat bread.  That’s this bread.  My current favorite breakfast bread.

One of these loaves was waiting for the children when they got back from Christmas vacation with their dad in Portland.  In Portland they have their own TV’s, separate bedrooms, watch a lot of cable TV, play computer games on a huge Mac, eat junk food and have a blast with their dad.  I like that for them.  At my house we don’t have cable or internet, one TV and this computer lost it’s fan a few weeks ago -- but we have whole grain homemade bread, baby!  *LOL*  We can’t have everything can we?  I am happy that my children love being in two different homes that are a contrast, where both contain parents that love them and are involved in showing that love to the best of their ability. 

Too much blathering, again.  Recipe.  Next.

Whole wheat bread ~

1 ½ T. yeast
1 ½ c. warm water
8 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. oats
1/3 c. cracked wheat
¾ c. sunflower seeds
1/3 c. millet
½ c. wheat bran
2 T. kosher salt
1 ¾ c. + 2 T. lukewarm water
1 c. unsulfured molasses

• In a small bowl whisk the yeast into the warm water until dissolved.  Let stand for 5 minutes. 
• In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, cracked wheat, millet, seeds, bran, and salt.
• Add the yeast mixture, lukewarm water, and molasses.  If using a mixer, mix on low speed until combined.  Switch to a dough hook and knead 10 minutes.  
• Move the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let double.
• When double, remove, divide, pinch and roll and place each in an oiled 9x5 loaf.  Let rise until shy of double, approximately 1 to 1 ½ hours.
• Thirty minutes prior to baking, preheat oven to 450.  
• When ready to bake, brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with oats.  Make it pretty, pretty. :)
• Bake at 450 for ten minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375.  I move the racks and bake these in the top third, but start them in the lower third.   Bake for 45+ minutes.  Here is the iffy part, my baking times -- I take the temperature of the loaf around 45 minutes in and it usually takes longer.  I pull it out when it hits at least 200 degrees.  If you want to go up to 215-220 degrees, so be it.  

So there it is - our breakfast bread for toast.  Whole grain, full of delicious molasses, seeds and grains.