Well, I have been fooling around with this whole homemade bread baking thing for about a year now and I have to say that for most of the year I really did make all of our bread. It has been fun trying different recipes and seeing what my family likes. In recent months however, I have been getting a little out of comfort zone and actually trying to come up with my own recipes. They are mostly combinations of other recipes that we have enjoyed, and luckily, we have been very happy with the results!
I am sure you can imagine the pleasure I gleaned from the look of shock on The Carpenter’s face when upon asking me which recipe I had used I told him my own!
Today I whipped our latest favorite and I even made a cinnamon roll loaf- which is already half gone!
What’s that? You want my recipe? Well, I suppose… 🙂
BOLD Bread
This recipe makes approximately 5 loaves and is intended to for heavy-duty home mixers, such as the BOSCH Universal Plus Mixer.
Add all these ingredients in the order listed:
3 Cups Warm Water (between 110-120 degrees)
2 Cups Warmed Milk
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Melted Butter (I told you it was going to be good!)
2/3 cup Olive Oil
2/3 Cup Honey
1 1/2 TBSP Sea Salt
3 Cups Whole Wheat flour (preferably home-milled- I used Golden Wheat Montana Farms)
4 TBSP SAF Yeast
At this point you should turn the mixer on and begin adding another 5-7 cups of your whole wheat flour. Now we are going to switch over to some white flour to finish it off (I know, I know, I feel all you whole foodies cringing!) but make sure you get a high-quality white flour that isn’t bleached. You could stick with your whole wheat at this point but you would need to add about 3 TBSP of dough enhancer and should expect an over-all more dense loaf that won’t rise as well after having been frozen.
Now, all of you you who aren’t very proficient in bread making are probably in a little tizzy thinking, “Well, how in the blazes am I supposed to know how much more flour to add!? Why doesn’t she just make this easy and give me a number!?” Well, if I did that you wouldn’t be learning anything, now would you? (Ya know- gotta teach a man to fish!). Plus, the amounts really do vary with humidity and such, so I’m not just trying to be difficult! So just settle your little self down for a second and listen to just how easy this is- Add flour one cup at a time (a good rule of thumb is to add the next cup as soon as the last one if fully incorporated). Once your dough is clumping around your hook and not sticking to the edges of the bowl, you’re done! That’s it! See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?! And always remember that you are better off not having enough flour than having too much.
Once you have all you flour incorporated let your mixer knead on a medium speed for about 6 minutes. After that, turn off your mixer and let your dough rise for about 35-35 minutes.
When your dough is sufficiently popping out the top of your machine you can ready a large cutting board or other surface as well as your hands, by slathering them generously with olive oil. Next dump your dough onto the board and divide into 5 loaves. For the loaves that you want to bake immediately, simply throw them into greased pans, score the tops about a half an inch deep in whatever patter you like and let them rise for another 35-45 minutes. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes and then slather with butter to give you a nice soft crust.
For the loaves that you don’t want to bake immediately, just wrap the dough (that you haven’t let rise for a second time) in freezer paper and chuck those babies in the ice box! And note that they take a fairly good amount of time to thaw and rise, so you will probably want to take one out again, like… tomorrow! This bread disappears fast!
Most importantly- enjoy & come back to tell me what you think!
I must say that I never would have come to this point if it weren’t for the tremendous confidence I acquired as a direct result of repeatedly using The Bread Basket Cookbook from Marmee’s Bread Market along with everything I learned from her DVD- Make it Special. She offers great products and knowledge, including Bosch Mixers and a wide variety of quality grain mills. You should check her out!
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