We eat a lot of bread at my (2 person) home, so I bake bread just about every week. Over winter break I was hoping to be a bit more adventurous (does anyone have a sour dough starter they would like to share with me?) but found myself engrossed in other activities. Also, sometimes its comforting to make a recipe you know well, especially this whole wheat bread that is great for everything from eating plain with butter, to making panini and french toast. This recipe comes from one of the first cookbooks I ever received, "The New Doubleday Cookbook", which was a hand-me-down from my older sister. This book is a great "all-around" reference and I think it has reached classic status (at least at my house), and I reach for it as often as I do "Joy of Cooking".
Whole Wheat Bread:
1 c. milk
1 1/2 c. cold water
1/4 c. molasses
2 T. light brown sugar
1 T. butter
1 T. salt
1/2 c. warm water
2 T. active dry yeast
4 c. a-p flour
5 c. ww flour
Bring milk and cold water to just under a boil and remove from heat. Stir in molasses, brown sugar, butter and salt, and let cool to lukewarm.
Place warm water in bowl of a mixer and sprinkle in yeast.
Stir in cooled milk mixture.
Beat in a-p flour 1 cup at a time, then ww flour 1 cup at a time (it will start getting stiff at the end).
Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a cloth and let rise for about an hour (until it has doubled).
Punch down dough and kneed a couple of times, then divide this into 2.
Kneed into loaf shape and place each half into a well oiled loaf pan (9"x5"x3"), and again cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and bake for another 45-50 minutes.
Let cool on a wire rack.
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