We have bread!

We've been on a serious bread making spree at home. It started with MrM's parents' visit and the fact that Austin doesn't have great bread to boast of. So I pulled a wheat recipe off the web and made this.  I let my breadmaker do the initial kneading & rising, and did the second iteration myself, setting it on a pizza pan to bake:

After the second rising I made slits on top, flour dusted it and sprinkled it with oats and sunflower kernels.
After 50 minutes of baking, voila!

And then my mom got really hooked on it. She cut all the all-purpose flour out of the original recipe (used to maintain gluten balance) and added some baking powder (because I didn't have any soda at hand) and hand made these loaves (she rejected my bread machine). When I get home from work, there is often a surprise like this

Once I buy some real soda we'll make this a soda bread of sorts and start experimenting with other whole grain flours. So far so good! Here is the recipe, with annotations where we changed it.

3c of flour (recipe called for wheat/all-purp 1.5c/1.5c. I made 2c/1c. Mom makes 3c/0c)

3 tbsp honey (yummy local honey from farmer's market)

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 tsp dry yeast

1 & 1/8 cup warm water.

For the bread machine I layer them as flour, salt, honey, warm water, yeast.

For hand kneading, we let the yeast, honey, water combo rise for 15 mins before kneading the first time. Let it rest covered with a damp cloth for 45 mins. Knead again, shape or place in tin. Slit & decorate. Mom's been letting it rise for up to 1.5 hours. Bake at 350 degF for 50 minutes.

Notes: My bread (2c wheat, 1c AP flour) was baked with a small bowl of water in the oven. The crust was thick and .. crusty :) Mom's bread is baked without water, has a softer crust and is heavier owing to the 100% whole wheat composition.

If food is your thing, watch out for the feta cheese frittata coming up soon :)