Shellie's Fool-Proof Honey Wheat Bread

My first loaves- the dough is sticky, so they look, um, rustic. I've gotten better at making smoother tops, but it won't ever get perfect...

I've become a bread maker since I moved to Texas. Crazy, right? We had a Relief Society activity where our RS Prez, Shellie, promised to show us how to make fool-proof, even I can't mess it up, bread. I've never had a lot of success with bread making before, but she was right. I can make this yummy bread and it turns out great EVERY TIME!   It is also really tasty- the inside is dense and soft, and it makes really, really good toast.

It makes three loaves, which is typically more than we can eat in a week, so it have been fun to figure out who we can give one to every time I bake.  Everyone who has gotten a loaf has talked about how yummy it was, so I'm not the only one that likes this bread. Birdy has declared she only wants to eat sandwiches made out of "home made bread".

So here is the recipe and instructions:

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

3 ½ cups very warm water
1/3 cup Honey
2 Tbs. yeast

Place all three in mixer bowl and whisk a few times.  TIP: Spray cooking spray in the measuring cup for the honey and it will slide right out. (keep that cup out and the tbs spoon for the oil and salt later).  Let sit for around 5 min. to allow yeast to become activated. It will get frothy-looking on top and smell bready- check out the picture below:

Add:

1 Tbs. salt
1/3 cup oil
4 cups wheat flour
4 cups white flour (I use bread flour, but AP is fine, too).

Mix all together until smooth-looking and you see the dough begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add some more flour.  Then mix on low for about 10 min. to activate the gluten. This dough is sticky- check out the pic below of it "pulling away from the sides"

After mixing, remove mixing hook and let the dough rise until double.  I'm crazy and always worried I won't know when it is "double" so for the first couple of times I made this, I actually marked the dough level with a dry-erase on the outside of the bowl so I'd know :)

After dough rises, turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times. Make it into a fat roll and cut off even sections. I can get 3 loaves with my pans, but if you have smallish ones you might get 4.

Turn oven on to 350. Let the loaves rest and rise while it is heating up. I get better loaves if I let them rise until they fill the bottom of the bread pan at least, but if you are in a hurry you can put them right in the oven once it’s up to temp and they’ll turn out just fine.

Bake 30-45 min. depending on the size of your loaves. Mine are great at exactly 28 min, so set your timer for 25 and check them. Bake until brown on top- you'll know it is almost done when it starts to smell really good and bread-y.

After removing from oven, rub the tops with butter or margarine to give the loaves a shiny and softer top (if you want).

This bread is seriously hard to mess up. I've left it rising until it spilled over the sides of the bowl, and it was just fine.  I probably bake about every week and we have it for breakfast as toast, or with our dinner with butter and jam. It usually doesn't make it to sandwiches, but it is super-yummy there, too!