I have been wanting to post this recipe for a while now because it is soooooo goooooodddd!!!! Far and away, the best bread I have ever made.
I have been making bread for a couple years now, I started when I purchased my grain grinder and could make amazing whole grain foods with fresh flour. The taste difference between fresh flour and stale grocery store flour is astounding. If you have never tried bread made with fresh flour, seek some out. You will not believe it is whole grain.
Well, you will, but you will think to yourself, “There is no way this is 100% whole grain, it has to be mixed with all-purpose.” You will be wrong.
Here a wonderful blog post about why freshly ground flour is better for you than store bought flour.
Over Christmas last year, we visited my brother and sister-in-law and Andrea made sandwiches with her fresh bread. I knew instantly I must get the recipe. It was soft and chewy and the flavor was perfect.
When we got home I emailed Andrea for the recipe.
The next time I made bread, my husband asked me, “Do you think you could get Andrea’s bread recipe? I really liked her bread.”
I was excited to be so on top of things!
I have been making Andrea’s bread recipe since then and it still makes me weak in the knees.
One thing I love about a wonderful bread recipe like this is making lots of different things out of it. As you can see from the picture I make dinner rolls and sandwich bread but I also make cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns, cinnamon raisin bread, anything you need a yeasted dough for.
I have also used spelt flour for this and it is delicious. I love spelt.
If you do not have a grain grinder, I would guess you could likely use store bought whole wheat flour, maybe just substitute a couple cups of all purpose for the whole grain and then you could eliminate the gluten flour.
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ⅓ cup honey
- ⅓ cup olive or coconut oil
- ⅓ cup gluten flour
- 5-7 cups hard red wheat bread flour
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine all the ingredients except the flour.
- Turn the mixer on the low setting and start adding flour one cup at a time, until the dough starts to pull away from the edges and is thick enough to touch with out it totally sticking all over your finger but should still be tacky. This is the trickiest part of bread making, determining when the dough has enough flour, it comes with practice.
- Once the dough is the right consistency, knead for 10 minutes on the second speed if you are using a KitchenAid mixer. I think if you are using a Bosch a) I am jealous and b) maybe a lower speed?
- After 10 minutes, turn the mixer off and cover bowl with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm spot. In the winter I often turn my oven to the lowest temperature while I am making the bread and then turn it off and let the dough rise in the there - no need to cover if you do this.
- Allow to rise until doubled, about 2 hours (I am high altitude where dough rises very quickly so I usually only need about 45 minutes).
- Once doubled punch the dough down.
- Butter or oil your bread pans and divide the dough in half. Shape into loaves and place in bread pans. Cover with a towel and allow to rise again until doubled, for me this usually takes about 20 minutes, if you are at sea level allow for another hour.
- Preheat your oven to 325˚.
- Once the dough is doubled and your oven is hot, bake for about 30-40 minutes, until it is nicely brown all over and makes a nice hollow sound when you thump it.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan about 10 minutes and then remove from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool.
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