Rising Again: Whole Wheat Bread

In my efforts to write more, I've decide my goal should also include updating the good ol' Domestic Engineer blog; even if few visit. So here I am, trying to resurrect this sorry little baking blog of mine yet again! And isn't it fitting that I begin with a bread recipe?

I used to be too afraid to make homemade bread. Yeast was such a fragile and expensive ingredient, in my mind. And I naively assumed one must knead of the dough by hand and let it rise multiple times. Geez, bread must be such a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Why does anyone bother?

And then one day, I decided to confront those fears. Make homemade bread? Challenge accepted! I researched the making of bread. I chose a recipe. I bought yeast. I made bread!

And...I failed:

So what do you think I did next? I quit...until I went home for Christmas and took proper lessons from a master bread maker - my mother.

And I succeeded! Further proof:

So I am passing along my lessons in bread-making to you. It's not as daunting as one thinks! So I dare you to try your own hand at it!

Whole Wheat Bread (2 loaves)

2 1/2 cups hot water
2 TBSP oil
2 TSBP honey
1 TBSP yeast
+/- 6 cups wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP dough enhancer or conditioner
1/4 cup gluten
(I have a cool Amish grocery store where I get these last two unusual ingredients but I'm sure you can find them around your town.)

First, pull out your trusty rusty 60's avocado green kitchen aid mixer, named Ethel. Oh, yours isn't green and named Ethel? Oh well. As long as you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment.

Measure in the hot water and sprinkle in the yeast. Momma says it likes a nice hot bath! Mixing on a low speed, add in the oil, honey, salt, dough enhancer, and gluten. One cup at a time, slowly add enough wheat flour until a dough ball begins to form and pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. The amount of flour you use depends on the season and your local climate. My mother used more flour in Utah than I do here in Iowa, it seems.

Mix on a medium speed for about 6 minutes. This is the kneading part I was so afraid of when, ending up, most of it's done by the mixer, hah! While that's going on, prepare two loaf pans by greasing them with some crisco and a paper towel. Grease a little of your counter too since you're going to knead out any last air bubbles before splitting the dough in half. My mother takes out some of her pent up aggression out by slapping the dough on the counter. A good smack or two...or even four, if necessary, ought to do it. Divide the dough into two and roll into oblong loafs just the right size to fit into your pans.

Cover the loaves with some greased saran wrap and let them rise until the dough peeks above the rim of the pan (probably about a half hour or so, depending on how warm the spot is). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When ready to bake, put the loaves in, and then turn the oven down to 375 degrees. My oven tends to be a little hotter than my mother's so I knocked it down a few degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes, till golden brown. Pop one out onto a cooling rack and tap it on the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it's done. If not, pop back in and bake a little longer.

Attempt to let the loaves cool before cutting and consuming, but I won't tell anyone if one of the loaves barely survives five minutes out of the oven. It happens. Jam helps.