I have no earthly idea why I have never posted this particular recipe before now.
Most likely, it’s because I haven’t actually baked homemade bread since my boys were in their teens–and that–was a million years ago.
So, it was quite a lovely exercise to pull out my daddy’s old bread pans and the ancient bread cookbook–that was written in the stone age, before microwaves, dough hooks, and bread machines–and show myself that a pretty little loaf of the most scrumptious bread, can indeed be made without all of that fal-da-rall.
I’m really good at run-on sentences. Be brave.
I was waiting around, hoping to find my “I’ll-knead-that-for-you-ma’am” mixer–when it dawned on me that people have been making bread for a very long time, without a mixer.
Der.
Silly me.
How does it taste, you ask? This stuff is light and fluffy with just the right amount of crusty, chewyness around the edges, that’s liable to make your eyes roll back in your head.
That’s how it tastes. Uh-huh.
I’m not kidding.
You’ll need to sit down for this.
You can thank me later.
- 2 Tbsp active dry yeast
- ½ c warm water
- ⅓ c honey
- 1 Tbsp salt
- ¼ c shortenting
- 1-3/4 c warm water
- 3 c whole wheat flour
- 3-4 c unbleached flour
- Dissolve yeast in ½ cup warm water in large mixing bowl.
- Stir in honey, salt, shortening, and 1-3/4 c water, and whole wheat flour.
- Mix till smooth.
- Stir in enough unbleached flour to make dough easy to handle.
- Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic--about 10 minutes.
- Place in greased bowl; turn dough greased side up.
- Cove with warm damp towel.
- Let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 hour.
- Punch down dough and divide in half.
- Flatten each half with hands into a rectangle.
- Place loaves in 2 greased loaf pans.
- Brush lightly with butter
- Let rise until double, about 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 375.
- Place loaves on low rack so the tops of the pans are in the center of oven.
- Bake until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped--40-45 minutes.
- Remove from pans and let cool on wire rack.
