Source: adapted from Ina Garten's Honey Bread
Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup warm water (110F)
- 1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 1/2 cup lukewarm milk (room temperature)
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey (or agave syrup)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp salt
- 5 - 6 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp milk with 1/2 tsp sugar to brush the top of the bread
Total: 2 loaves
Directions:
1. Add the yeast and the sugar to the warm water and let rest for 5 minutes until the yeast blooms.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook mix the liquid ingredients, until uniform.
3. Add 3 cups of flour and salt and mix on med-low speed for 3 minutes.
4. Add 2 more cups of flour, continue kneading the dough gradually adding more flour, until the dough starts coming off the sides of the bowl. In my case I used about 5 3/4 cups of flour total. Keep kneading for 8 minutes.
5. Grease a clean bowl with butter or oil. Knead the dough with your hands for 1 more minute, roll into a ball and transfer to the greased bowl. Cover with a wet towel or a wet paper towel and leave in a warm place for an hour, until the dough doubles in volume (this time I actually left my dough in the dryer, switched off, of course. I don't know if it made much difference, but the dough rose quite nicely.)
6. Grease 2 9x5 inch loaf pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper (the bread tends to stick to the pan, especially in the corners.) Punch the dough, or knead for 1/2 more minute to remove large air bubbles. Divide the dough in half, shape into 2 ovals and place into the pans. Cover the pans with wet paper towels and leave to rest for another hour. The dough should double in volume again.
7. Half way through the second rise, start preheating the oven to 350F. (For my oven I preheated it to 375F, my oven temperature tends to be lower than is indicated.)
8. Right before baking, brush the tops of the loaves with milk/sugar mixture and bake for 40-45 minutes. I baked @375F for about 20 minutes, and then @365 for another 25 minutes.
9. The bread should be golden brown and should sound hollow when you tap on the top. Flip the loaves onto a cooling rack and wait until completely cools to room temperature.
Afterthoughts:
- The crust is soft, this is not one of the artisan breads, which I usually prefer. It's great for sandwiches though, be in cheese or Nutella :-).
- It's ready in about 3 hours. A nice way to relax on a cold weekend afternoon with warm oven and smell of fresh bread.
Posts
