I am the occasional yeast bread baker. You can look through my nearly 16 years of food blogging and while you’ll find beaucoup quick breads and muffins, biscuits, and other such deliciousness, yeast breads will not be terribly forthcoming. (Maybe my cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls are here somewhere? That would make my kids happy. My pizza is for sure on the blog.) It’s not that I don’t make yeast bread; I do. I just don’t do it every week and hence am not an expert in any way. I’ll admit I lived in Europe for a couple of years and became very used to incredible bread bakers nearly every block or two. (Why bake?) I’m also the sort of embarrassing yeast bread baker who still sometimes likes a bread machine for fun, easy bread. Truth in blogging here: I have the Cadillac of bread machines, a Zojirushi and — unlike many out there –adore it for more than just mixing dough–which is what a lot of good bread bakers use it for. I have gone through one bread machine (an Oster) and had to replace it. That’s an unusual claim to fame in today’s baking world. I also own a bread machine book by bread guru, the late, great Beth Hensperger. See: experts can like bread machines, too! (Today’s bread is, in fact, based on one of Beth’s recipes –not for the bread machine– adapted by KRISTEN BROWNING-BLAS in the Denver Post in 2014. I changed the recipe to suit my on-hand ingredients. Beth’s recipe called for both dry milk and buttermilk– neither of which I keep in the kitchen all the time. I do, however, always have plain Greek yogurt, which worked perfectly. Fun aside: my first copy of this recipe left out the yeast. I was an hour into making the bread when I realized it. I added it to the hour-old sponge and, while it took a while longer to double, double, toil, and trouble, it worked! Bread is forgiving. When I looked up the recipe a second time, the yeast was back in the ingredient deck. Hm….)
On a really special day, I’ll rev up both my slow cooker and bread machine and sit in my chair with a sleazy novel and an afghan til 5:30 when it’s time to uncork the wine and enjoy the fruits of my …non-labor. This is stretching the truth but not by much. Oh, how I love small appliances.
Didn’t I make bread during COVID? Of course, I did. Right along with most of you. But I could hardly get ingredients and ended up making Icelandic sweet rye bread (Dökkt Rúgbrauð), among other recipes. There still might be a loaf somewhere in some freezer. When we were in Iceland last summer, I had a good discussion about this bread with a tour guide who pointed out where it is baked in hot springs. It’s called “Thunder Bread” (ahem…) and is very popular. I found it a bit sweet and definitely thunderous — still…it ate. Perhaps good for what ails you.
But, Alyce…isn’t bread bad for you??? Ah, no! Healthy carbs are healthy! Whole grains, some of the foremost carbs, are good for your heart, good for your belly, and help keep you feeling full. Scroll down to TIPS….and read what the Mayo clinic has to say about whole grains. Everything in moderation. Nuff said.
WHY MAKE BREAD?? If you make bread at home, you know what’s in it, you save money, it’s delicious, tastes like bread, and it’s fresh. Locally, I pay $10-$13 for a large loaf of beautiful whole wheat that is baked that day, is void of preservatives, and doesn’t taste like squishy old stuff stuffed in a plastic bag you buy at the grocery. Ewwww. These loaves, though smaller, cost about $2.50 a loaf baked with good quality flour…King Arthur whole wheat, which is 13.2% protein and gives you 30 grams of whole grains per serving. Maybe worth your time to be able to eat real food. It was certainly worth mine and I’ve about decided to make it a firmer part of my baking routine.
While baking bread can feel overwhelming (my daughter Emily labels it “hard”), I recently thought it perhaps just takes time –which many of us don’t have. This particular recipe, however, involves time but not much engaged time. There’s a lot of what my husband calls, “hurry up and wait,” but what I think of as “down time,” or time to read or cook something else. What does that time look like?
- First you make a sponge — which gives you a lighter and more flavorful loaf — and let it bubble up for an hour.
- You then add the rest of the ingredients, knead the dough, put it in an oiled bowl, and let it rise 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
- Third, the dough is divided into three parts, shaped into round loaves, and set to rise once more for about 45 minutes before baking, cooling….and eating!!
So while there are about 5 hours involved, there’s not too much effort. Big plus: This recipe makes 3 loaves. You can freeze some and not bake again for a while. Follow along in these photos to see what I mean:
Note: The photos show the bread made in a 7-qt Kitchen Aid. You can also make it by hand.
If this sounds too complicated, and you’d rather start with a simpler loaf…albeit a white one…try The Easiest Bread You’ll Ever Bake Recipe from King Arthur Flour and begin there. If you’re still on board and want breakfast that looks like the photo below, keep reading and try this:
100% Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
SPONGE:
- 2 ½ cups (20 ounces/570 grams warm water) –105-115 F or "baby bottle" or lukewarm
- ½ cup (4 ounces/115 grams) non-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 2 packages active dry yeast (4 ½ teaspoons/14 grams)
- ¾ cup (6 ounces/170) grams honey
- 3 cups (340 grams) whole wheat flour
DOUGH:
- ½ cup (110 grams) vegetable oil, not olive or peanut oil—I used canola
- 3 ¾ teaspoons kosher salt (20 grams or 1 ¼ tablespoons)
- 5 – 5 ½ cups (565-625 grams) whole wheat flour
- Rolled oats for sprinkling on the baking sheet
Instructions
- PREPARE THE SPONGE: In a large bowl or 7-qt mixer bow), mix (use whisk or flat beater in mixer) together water, yogurt, yeast, honey, and flour until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in draft-free place for an hour. (I turned my oven to 150F and put my bowl on a cast iron griddle –as a diffuser to avoid too much heat–on the stove top.) When sponge has doubled in size and is bubbly, gently stir down with a wooden spoon.
- MAKE THE DOUGH: Sprinkle oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour over sponge and beat hard with whisk for a minute or mix (flat beater in mixer) going from low to medium (to avoid a flour shower) if using the mixer –until smooth. Mixer: Change now to the dough hook. Add ½ cup (57 grams) flour at a time (for a total of 3 – 3 1/2 cups/340-395 grams) using a strong and large wooden spoon or on a low – low medium speed on the mixer until the dough just clears the sides of the bowl. It will be sticky; that’s ok.
- KNEAD by hand on a floured surface until smooth and springy or knead in the mixing bowl using the dough hook on low-medium for about 3 minutes, adding a tablespoon of flour at a time to keep dough from sticking, if necessary. Don’t add too much flour; it should remain sticky and will smooth out as it rises. The dough has been kneaded enough when you press a finger gently into it and it springs back, even if it does it slowly. If the indentation remains, you knead to knead a bit longer.
- LET DOUGH RISE: Oil a large bowl or storage container, place dough into it, and turn once to coat the top so it stays moist. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk—1 ½ – 2 hours. I used the same spot on top of my stove with oven at 150 F.
- SHAPE THE LOAVES: Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide it into 3 equal portions. I weighed them all and added or subtracted a little dough so they were close to even in weight and size. Shape into 3 round balls and place at least 4-inches apart on a greased or parchment-lined sheet pan sprinkled with oats. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until not quite doubled in bulk – about 45 minutes. I put the sheet pan directly on my stove, this time without a diffuser.
- PREHEAT OVEN/BAKE BREAD: 20 minutes before baking, or after 25 minutes, preheat oven to 375 F. Bake in the center of the oven 40-45 minutes or until center tests at 190 F using an instant read thermometer or loaves produce a hollow sound when tapped on bottom. Place a piece of aluminum foil over tops to control browning if needed. Cool on racks before slicing. Store well-wrapped at room temperature for a day or two or double wrap—once in plastic and once in foil or freezer paper– and freeze. Let defrost at room temperature or heat in 350F oven 20-30 min., first removing interior plastic wrap, if using.
Notes
Tips….and other stuff to read:
Standing mixer?? By Hand? See below (same info is printed in recipe notes):
I’ve made this bread in a 7-quart Kitchen Aid mixer. It can’t be done all at once– according to the manual-– in a 5 qt. Kitchen Aid, which is limited to 6 cups whole wheat flour. This bread uses about 8 cups. One idea, if you wanted to try it (I have not), would be to basically make half of the dough at a time. You would, I think, first make the entire sponge and let it bubble. Then take half the sponge, add half the dough ingredients, and knead that, making sure you keep the speed low to avoid overheating the machine. You’d then repeat with the other half of the sponge and other half of the dough ingredients. Next, knead the two doughs together by hand before letting the now one large dough rise in the oiled bowl as directed. The entire recipe can be done by hand: See this recipe for making by hand if you’d like. You can still use my ingredient list for the sponge, using yogurt and water instead of buttermilk, water, and dry milk listed in the Denver Post recipe. Get your workout done in the kitchen! You’ll need a really large, strong wooden spoon.
Has the dough risen enough? According to ZoëBakes:…It somewhat depends on the recipe, but the dough should rise and if you press your finger into the dough it should leave an impression. If you poke it and the dough expands to fill that hole, it is still rising.
Whole Grains: Hearty Options for a Healthy Diet/MAYO CLINIC
How to Bake Bread/King Arthur Baking
How to Shape a Boule (round loaf)/King Arthur Baking (I’ve used the simplest method of gathering up the dough.)
The Easiest Loaf of Bread You’ll Ever Bake Recipe/King Arthur Baking
FAQ Baking Homemade bread/Zoëbakes
LIFE GOES ON:
IN MEMORIAM: Royal Gene Morgan. Dave’s dad, 92, crossed the river last Thursday and is by now happily fishing in his bass boat out on a smaller sort of lake. Here he is when he married Dave’s mom, Lorna Jean Mays in 1950.
Dave, Rosie, and I will be gone for a few days as you’d expect. We’ll be back in the kitchen next week thinking about Super Bowl or Valentine’s Day or….we’re unsure. We were supposed to be gone right now to Hawaii for three weeks and since we’re obviously not vacationing for February, who knows what we’ll get up to – except that it’ll be delicious!!! We just might be making some biscuits and gravy, one of Gene’s favorite things to cook or eat. Want to make Gene’s gravy? Look here! And if you just can’t make biscuits, you could buy some English muffins. I will write you a note.
Brave up and make some bread while you’re at it. What’s the worst that could happen?
Alyce