Oh, hi month two. Now that I’m finally starting to get into the swing of things, I wanted to start December with a bang! So, fresh homemade bread it is…

I love wheat bread. It’s my favorite because of the nutritional value it has over breads of the white nature ( I’m sure most people are on the same page with me here). With the bread in stores today, you can hardly tell a difference in texture between wonderbread or a full fiber, whole wheat loaf. So why not? I’ll go for the latter, thank you.

Now, bread making is an art. It’s something that I’ve never wanted to deeply study, but I’d love to have my tofurkey on a couple of homemade, preservative free slices of bread every once in a while. After making this batch, I calculated that each loaf of bread costs about 50 cents! Even though it takes about 5 hours to craft the bread from start to finish, it’s a fun day-off project and ends up saving you money in the long run.

4 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all purpose flour, plus some for kneading
1 1/2 c. hot water
1 3/4 c. milk
1/3 c. maple syrup (molasses or honey would do, whatever you’ve got!)
2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. instant yeast
1 pair of really, really strong arms

Mix whole wheat flour with hot water and let sit until room temperature (should take about an hour. This is supposed to “release” tasty things in the wheat). Once cooled, mix all ingredients (minus the strong arms, that’d be gross) until loosely combined. Knead on floured surface until dough is tacky (you can see what it looks like in the picture below). Place in an oiled bowl to rise and cover with plastic wrap for 90 minutes.
before:

after:

Once risen, divide bread in two and place in separate oiled loaf pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 90 minutes.

In the last 30 minutes of it rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. After the bread is risen for the second time, place them in the oven and drop the temperature to 375 degrees. Let bake for 40-50 minutes, until the bread is hard on the outside and sounds hollow when tapped.

Note for making wonderful wheat bread: This recipe is pretty okay. For my first experience with yeast and all that jazz, it isn’t bad at all. It’s very dense and hearty and it’s great in the morning with my eggs. For a sandwich? Not so much. It would be perfect with soup or even with some jelly. I topped mine with a sprinkling of oats and froze one of the loaves for later!