So I’ve updated my bread recipe. Interested?
Oh, and there are, embedded within this recipe, some works-for-me tips on bread-making. Like how to make it moist(er?) and keep it fresher longer. And all-around-better. So ya know.
Honey Oat Flax Bread
Ingredients:
1 c warm water (not hot, slightly warmer than room temp)
2 tsp yeast
1/4 c honey
2 Tbs oil
1 1/2 c Bread flour
1 1/2 c Whole wheat flour
1/2 c rolled oats
2 Tbs ground flaxseed meal
1 tsp salt
- While warming up the water (this takes a while at our kitchen sink), take yeast out of fridge, measure 2 tsp, place in small bowl, return yeast to fridge. Room temperature yeast makes for happier bread.
- Adjust the water that is surely boiling hot by now. When it’s room temperature, measure out a cup. Too cold and the yeast won’t activate (or whatever it does). Too hot and you’ll kill it (is it alive?!).
- Pour in [the bread machine] water, oil, honey, salt… all of it except the yeast.
- Add yeast. (Goes in last to keep it from activating prematurely. Think this makes more of a difference if you’re setting a timer. But I do it everytime anyway.)
- Set bread machine to dough cycle.
- When it’s done rising and beeps loud enough to wake the dead, let alone your napping children, remove from bread machine.
- Turn oven to 350 and set timer for 2 min. Set chosen loaf pan (I heart my stoneware loaf pan. SO STINKIN’ EASY TO CLEAN!) in oven. When timer goes off, turn OFF oven and remove pan.
- Sprinkle flour on the table. Dig one hand into the flour bag. (Restaurants totally wouldn’t let you do this.) Use floured hand to remove dough from pan onto floured table.
- Now dig other hand into flour bag. Sprinkle flour on dough. (Bread machine dough is STICKY.) Use both floured hands to knead the bread til all bubbles are gone.
- Flatten dough, then roll up and shape into loaf shape.
- Place dough in your slightly warmed loaf pan. A cold pan will be unfriendly to a rising yeast loaf. A hot pan will cook the outside of your dough prematurely. Your pan will be juuuuuuuuuust right.
- Place loaf pan into your slightly warmed oven. (BE SURE IT IS OFF.) Set timer for 30 minutes.
- When timer goes off, turn oven on to 350 again. Set timer for 30 minutes again.
- If bread is getting too brown, cover with foil for the last 10-15 minutes. (I reuse the same piece of foil. For both yeast and quick breads. Conserve your earth! (My shirt actually says that! Right now!))
- When timer beeps, remove bread. Set loaf pan on a cooling rack. KEEP BREAD IN PAN. Cover bread with a towel.
- Forget about bread.
- When the bread pan is cool enough to handle (think, like, at least an hour later. I’ve forgotten it for much longer.), turn pan upside down and bread should slide right out. ‘Cuz by keeping that hot bread in the pan, moisture has condensed within it somehow. Yah, moist bread!
- Bag the bread. I use a green produce bag. You know, the type that’s supposed to breathe, or something, keeping your produce fresher longer? On a whim, I tried it once on my bread and found it works on more than just celery! Bag it before it’s cooled completely for moist(er?) bread. The warmer it is when you bag it, the moist(er?) it’ll be. But you don’t want soggy bread! So… experiment, I guess. Sorry, I don’t time things like this…
And THAT’S how you make bread! Refined-sugar free, all natural, high fiber, high protein, omega-3 rich bread!
Did I mention yummy?
‘Cuz my hubby won’t eat store-bought bread anymore.
*Beams*
This sounds amazing! I’m going to have to try it!!
Or you can take this really yummy bread and free form a loaf on a sheet pan, make a couple of diagonal slashes, brush it with butter, THEN bake it. Makes those fancy bakery bread loaves cry in shame for being so over priced and not as good for you. Try it sometime. I brought my Hubs home from eating out with they guys after work with a loaf like that . Well, the bread and homemade corn chowder. Both are his faves.
I found this blog post searching for healthy bread recipes, and this one looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
Since I’m a geek, I will answer your question in step #2, although you might actually already know the answer.
Yes, yeast is alive. Yeast is a tiny organism that responds to warm water, which begins to wake the little cells up. Then when exposed to sugars in bread and in flour, it begins to eat, digesting portions of these sugars. The digestion process causes them to expel gas, which is what causes the bread to rise. The yeast will die within a few hours, especially if the dough is allowed to grow cold or exposed to too much air. Don’t feel too sorry for it when you have a slice of bread, as its life would be short under any circumstances. At least by using it for bread, you get to give the little guys a happy and full life.
Ive been reading your blog for a few months (love it!). I finally made this bread today and am so glad i did! no more store bought bread for us!! thank you!
I just got this started in the bread machine and I absolutely cannot wait for breakfast tomorrow to try it with some homemade strawberry/ blueberry jam. I had to substitute maple syrup for the honey because I was out, but other than that I followed the recipe as written. I just wonder why you don’t let the bread bake in your machine as well?
You’ll have to let me know how it turns out with maple syrup; it sounds yummy!
The reasons I don’t bake it in the machine are, firstly, I don’t like the hole in the bottom that the kneading bar leaves, and secondly, the shape of the loaf when baked in the pan is not conducive for toast! And the slices are too large for a normal sandwich.
It still tastes great and all, it’s just aesthetic, I guess!
It turned out great! The kids liked it and so did I. I see what you mean about the shape not being conducive to toast, but since I have a toaster oven I hadn’t really thougt of that before. Thanks for the great recipe!
.-= Trisha´s last blog ..Jingle, Jangle =-.
I made this last week and it is phenomenal! Very light with a great flavor. The kids have been devouring it all week.
I would love to try and just do the whole thing in the breadmaker to make it easier. Do you know if this is considered a 1.5 or 2 lb bread?
I’m new to blogging and having material out there. Your site here is pretty helpful and provides me with much more awareness concerning creating an effect when leaving comments. Make sure you keep up your posts and I will continue to go through all of them.
I also prefer to made the dough in the machine and bake in the oven. She’s a smart girl because her stoneware loaf pan is much less toxic than any of the non stick pans … including the one that comes in your bread machine. Definitely better to oven bake your bread in a stoneware/glass pan.
great blog by the way and i will try your recipe.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. We have been using it for about a year now. It also was one of the factors in deciding to add bees to our garden. (free honey!) one of the things I’m wondering about is if you or anyone has had issues with the bread not rising as well when using local or non-store bought honey. When I make this with honey from the supermarket labled as 100% clover honey I get a nice rise and uniform crumb. However, when I use honey from our bees or from the farmer’s market the bread turns out more dense with one huge air bubble along the top. I have done side by side tests with exact measurements on each with the same results. Our honey is raw honey extracted from the comb with nothing added. 100% honey. Thanks!
Jon, I have never tried this recipe with raw honey. I prefer to spread raw honey on the finished product. 🙂 I don’t know the chemical makeup of raw vs. processed honey, other than the fact that raw is better for you. Perhaps since the honey itself is more dense, it makes the bread more dense? Glad you like the bread!
Thanks for your response. I talked to some friends and we did some experiments and research. (I’m a firefighter, not a scientist, so it was probably not very scientific!) We discovered that the difference is that the natural bacteria and yeasts in the raw honey do something to attack the bread yeast. The USDA allows honey to be heated to 115 degrees and still be “Raw” anything over that can change the flavor of the honey. Most commercial producers heat their honey to 145-160 degrees (or more)!?! This kills most of the “Raw” stuff in the honey. It also slows the natural crystallization of the honey and gives it a more uniform and consistent appearance. I heated a small batch of our honey to 145 degrees in a double boiler and let it cool before using it in the bread. Problem solved! I agree that our honey is much better raw and used on the finished product but now I can use it to make your bread instead of buying processed stuff.
That makes sense! I wouldn’t have thought of it on my own, not being a scientist, either. So, thanks for sharing!
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!! this is delicious & moist & soft & SO DANG good. made it this afternoon, having it tonight with dinner. new favorite, I think so! thanks for sharing – glad I stumbled upon your blog today, too!
Hi there! This article could not be written much better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He constantly kept preaching about this. I most certainly will
forward this information to him. Pretty sure he’s going to have
a great read. Thanks for sharing!