Homemade Honey Wheat Bread Recipe

A few months ago I was thinking, which never leads to anything easy, and I wondered what do they put in store bought bread. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in the bread you buy? Well, you should. I couldn't tell you what at least three of the ingredients were.

So, I got even more curious. What's the point of these mystery ingredients? Can't you just make bread with some simple ingredients in your fridge? People seem to have managed just fine before we had all these big words that nobody, except people with a bachelor's in science, really knows what it is. As a result of my curiosity I left the bread in the cabinet to see what it would do. I left it for two weeks.

If we all think back to lower levels in school what do they teach you will happen to bread, or food in general, if you let it sit for a long period of time? It will get stale and grow mold, right? Wrong.

I checked that loaf of bread two weeks later and it was still the exact same bread as when I bought it at the store. How utterly UNNATURAL is that? Gross. To me that is more disgusting than if I had found a unidentifiable green loaf. And I'm eating this? I'm feeding this to my family?

No. No way, this has to change. If I can't pronounce it, it doesn't have a place in my food.

So, as a consequence of that horrifying experiment, I now make my own bread; which is not as difficult as one would imagine. Below is my favorite recipe for honey wheat bread, all natural. I make it by hand but you can just as easily use a bread-maker.

Honey Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

1 Tbsp milk

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tsp salt

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp instant active dry yeast

1. Combine the first six ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
2. Add flours and yeast to mixture. Lightly flour surface to knead dough on.
3. Knead the mixture until dough is smooth and elastic (about 10-15 min)
4. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled. (about 40 min)
5. Punch dough down and knead for a few minutes until it is smooth. Then, form into a loaf shape. 
6. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size (about 30 min)
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min.
8. If the loaf starts to brown too so, lightly layer a piece of foil on top of the bread to prevent too much darkening.
9. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes.
10. Remove to wire rack and cover with a cloth.

**TIP: For a warm place to let the dough rise you can use where the sun is shining in through a window or place in an oven on the WARM setting**

Bug and Tig LOVE this bread. If I'm not careful, the bread will be completely gone in just a few minutes because they sneak into the kitchen to eat it. But of all the things they could be sneaking to eat, I'm not going to complain about homemade bread. 

Be prepared for your house to smell like the wonderful aroma of baking bread. Another thing I will add is that this honey wheat bread is delicious when it's warm with some honey butter. To make honey butter just whip/mix together equal parts honey and equal parts butter. I use a 1/4c to1/4c mixture.

So there you have it. A completely homemade and natural bread for you and your family. With an added bonus of being half wheat you get some yummy grain nutrition in your diet! Go ahead give it a try! Everything is better when it's HOMEMADE!