Anyway, I haven't done a food blog in a bit, so today I thought I would share my favorite recipe for homemade bread - Sunflower-Herb Whole Wheat. It's straight-up delicious.
Ingredients:
3 cups whole wheat flower
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup softened butter
3 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
1/4 - 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
4 1/2 teaspoons (2 packages) regular active or fast-acting dry yeast
2 1/4 cups very warm water (I use an electric kettle and bring it almost to a boil)
3 - 4 cups all-purpose flour
This recipe yields 2 loaves.
Step 1:
In a large bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, honey, butter, salt, yeast, basil, thyme and sunflower seeds. If you're using a KitchenAid (or similar) mixer, use your hook attachment - it might take a little longer to mix than the leaf, but once you add all of the flour at the end, your dough will climb as you mix, and you'll be glad you used your hook!
Step 2:
Add warm water - scrape sides as you beat until mixed.
Yes, it's supposed to look this gross while you're mixing - don't worry!
Step 3:
Add all-purpose flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is easy to handle. You should be able to poke the dough and have little to no residue on your finger.
Step 4:
Spill the dough out onto a large, lightly floured surface - and have extra flour ready in waiting.
Knead your dough for about 7 - 10 minutes; your dough is fully kneaded once it is significantly tougher than when you started.
Step 5:
Grease a large bowl and set your kneaded dough inside, covering with seran wrap.
Let this sit for 40 - 60 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size. Your dough is fully doubled once you can poke your finger in, pull it out and the insert has stayed in the dough (see image below).
Step 6:
Once dough is ready, gently press your fist into the dough to deflate it. Divide the dough in half. You'll need a large workspace now and a rolling pin - you need to roll each half of dough into an 18" x 9" rectangle (or as close to a rectangle shape as you can get).
Step 7:
Now you're going to shape your flattened dough into a "loaf." Simply start from the end closest to you and roll up. On your first roll, pinch the dough edges into the rest of the roll.
On every roll after, pinch the sides of the dough together.
When you have fully rolled to the end, pinching the sides, you will fold the ends under and pinch.
Then fold the ends under the loaf and place them, seam side down, inside a greased pan.
Cover them with seran wrap and let them sit for another 30 - 40 minutes, or until the loaves have doubled again.
Step 8:
Preheat your oven to 375 F. Set your dough inside at middle height in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes. At 40 minutes, take a loaf out, tip it out of its container and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's done (check the other as well, just to make sure). If it doesn't sound hollow, put them in for another 5 minutes.
Step 9:
Brush loaves with a little extra butter and set out to cool. I use a spoon to do this - the warm bread makes the butter slip everywhere, and a spoon helps to keep things under control.
Bag them up individually and put one (or both, if you don't intend to use them right away) in the freezer.
Note: This bread doesn't have as long of a shelf-life as store-bought bread; in a cupboard, it will only last about 1 - 1 1/2 weeks; in a freezer, about a month. To keep the cupboard-shelved bread even more fresh, I suggest you only cut off the amount you need as you need it and keep the rest of the loaf whole.
Happy baking!
