Homemade White Wheat Honey Bread

One of my favorite foods to make is bread. There is something about making bread that is so satisfying. It is something that most people eat everyday, it is often overlooked (except when you are out of it) and is useful in so many recipes/foods. I always wanted to have nothing but homemade bread in the house. Ever since I got married, except the first week of marriage (when the house was not set up yet) I have made fresh bread for my husband and myself.

For days when I have time, I make bread using my kitchen aid. It takes hardly any active time at all, my kitchen aid doing all the heavy work. For busy days, I use my bread machine. My mother-in-law had purchased me a wonderful, small bread machine, many years ago and I have found that it makes a perfect small loaf of bread. It’s just enough for the two of us. Best part, I can set up the machine to finish baking, by the time we wake up. Can you imagine waking up to the smell of fresh bread?

Bread machine or not, nothing is more wonderful than homemade bread. You can monitor what goes into it and make many variations. Today I am going to share with you my White Wheat Bread. Its my everyday bread. I have been working on this loaf. I wanted to make a wheat bread that was not hard and too dense. I have found that 100% Whole Wheat bread makes such a hard dense bread (especially second day) that it ends up going to waste, as no one eats it. (Never waste! Make it into breadcrumbs or croutons!). I have changed the ratio of Whole Wheat to White Flour and I think I have found a good combination.

This recipe will make a soft, not too crumbly bread that has a slightly sweet taste. It makes a 1.5 lb small loaf of bread. If you are making this in a bread machine, please follow your bread machine’s directions. I am going to post the non-bread machine directions here.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup of all-purpose Unbleached Flour

3/4 cup of wheat flour

2/3rd cup of warm water

2 1/2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of dry milk

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of butter

1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

Directions:

1. Combine water, honey and yeast in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes
2. Add the remaining ingredients and knead until bread is smooth and elastic
3. Place in greased bowl and cover with a towel and let it sit for 1 hour
4. Punch down dough and cover again. Let it sit for 1 hour
5. Shape dough into a loaf
6. Place dough, seem side down, into a greased loaf pan, cover and let it rise for 1 hour (or double its size)
7. Preheat oven to 350F, make sure oven is hot for best results!
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes, bread will be gold brown and have a hollow sound when tapped

Fresh Loaf of Bread

Slice Bread, What could be better?