1/2 Whole Wheat Bread Recipe Turned Out GREAT!!
by Raquel
(New Orleans, LA)
2 Mini Homemade Bread Loaves And 8" Round Loaf
This is the first time I've baked homemade bread and BOY! Am I glad I did this!! My husband is very happy, too!
I started by cutting the recipe in half because I thought 5 or 6 loaves may be too many, especially if they didn't turn out right.
I added less water than your recipe calls for, but it was still "water-logged" after soaking for 18 hours. I had to add another 4 cups of freshly milled whole wheat to get it to the right consistency for kneading.
Unfortunately, I do not have a Bosch (but I will soon!) so I kneaded the dough with my mixer's dough hooks, which didn't work very well, so I ended up finishing the kneading by hand. This worked well enough, although I was very worried because I let it rise twice in the bowl and once again after shaping, and it didn't seem much bigger. However, after baking it, it did rise nicely. We sampled a loaf and it's quite light (much lighter than we expected for 100% whole wheat) and DELICIOUS! Even has a sweet taste from the honey!
Half of the dough was baked in 4 mini bread loaves, about 5.5"L x 3"W x 3"H each, for about 25 minutes. The other half was baked in a round 8" springform pan which took about 35 minutes. In the pic you see 2 of the 4 mini loaves and the round loaf...the other 2 mini loaves are eaten already!
I will bake this bread again soon, starting with less water in the original soak, and post my results.
Thanks for this outstanding recipe! It was quite easy to follow, especially for novices like me!
