Loafing Around: An adventure in bread

When life hands you lemons...well you know the rest. But what about when life hands you a broken air conditioner? Make yeast bread! This is what I decided yesterday when I was sweating in my sauna (aka house) waiting for various heating and air companies to call me back.

So I leafed through one of my favorite bread cookbooks and found a recipe to play with. Despite my belief that 82 degrees would be the ultimate rising temperature...it didn't double in size. I did go a little crazy with the whole wheat flour and wheat bran. But it still ended up pretty darn tasty...especially smothered in peanut butter for my breakfast this morning!

One warning. This recipe will use almost every one of your measuring cups. Don't ask me why I did that. It wasn't on purpose, I promise.

Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 1 loaf (about 10 servings)

1 1/4 cups white bread flour
1 3/4 cup whole wheat bread flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup wheat bran
2/3 cup lukewarm water (you may need more...depending on a lot of things)
1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp molasses

These are the bread flours I prefer to use:
Weisenberger Mills Whole Wheat Bread Flour
White Lily White Bread Flour

And this is what I use for wheat bran. It's great to throw in baked goods.

Bob's Red Mill Wheat Bran

1. Mix the flours and salt in a bowl. 

2. Stir in the yeast and wheat bran. 

3. Make a well in the middle and add the water, yogurt, oil, and molasses. Stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together. Add more water 1 tbsp at a time, if needed.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 10 minutes.

5. Spray a bowl with cooking spray. Shape the dough into a ball and put it in the bowl. Cover with a damp dish towel and leave in a warm place.

Now leave the floury mess on your counter because you'll need it again and do something for 1-2 hours. Like read my blog! :)

6. Brush a cookie sheet with oil.

7. Turn the dough out onto the floured counter (glad you didn't wipe it up now?), punch it for fun, and knead for about a minute.

8. Shape into a ball and put on the cookie sheet.

9. Cover with the damp dish towel and let rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees while you're waiting.

10. Slash the loaf how you want and bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown.

11. Transfer to wire rack to cool and don't cut into it for at least 10-15 minutes so it can finish cooking in the middle!

For some reason it reminds me of Jabba the Hutt.

Nutrition Facts

  10 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 166.8  

Total Fat 3.5 g     

  Saturated Fat 0.3 g     

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g     

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g  

Cholesterol 0.5 mg  

Sodium 238.7 mg  

Potassium 59.8 mg  

Total Carbohydrate 29.2 g     

  Dietary Fiber 3.6 g     

  Sugars 0.5 g  

Protein 6.2 g

You could easily make the servings smaller if you like. I just happened to slash the bread so it naturally fell into 10 servings. Enjoy!