Honey Whole Wheat Bread

This is another recipe from my friend Jill. She is so great! I did tweak this a little bit. I don't like using sugar or white flour so I have to adjust all recipes for whole wheat stuff. It is rare that I can find a recipe that claims to be whole wheat that actually is fully whole wheat. Oh well, I enjoy the process. It's fun for me! :) This bread is super yummy! The one thing that can be a challenge is that it calls for evaporated milk. If you are wanting organic, it can be hard to find it. Meijer does carry it sometimes if you are wondering. :) You can assume that my recipes are as organic as possible. I got tired of putting the word organic before each ingredient, so I decided to just take it out and make the statement that you can just assume it is organic if you are reading it on my blog! Also, people have been asking me questions on how to make their breads rise and be less dense. It took me throwing a whole lot of bread away before I got it right. Give yourself a break! ;) However, there are a few tips that should help significantly! 1~ Use a dough enhancer or conditioner. Adding about 3 Tbs to the dough at the same time as the flour will help tremendously. 2~ Be sure your water is between 110-130 degrees for your yeast. 3~ To help your dough rise, preheat your oven to 170 degrees while you are kneading your dough. When done Kneading, turn the oven off, cover dough and place it in the preheated oven. It isn't hot enough to bake it, but it is warm enough to help it to rise! 4~ Make sure you place a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven while baking your bread. It adds moisture and keeps it from getting too dry and dense.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs yeast
• 1 teaspoon raw honey
• 1/2 cup warm water (110-130 degrees)
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup kefir or plain greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 Tbs dough enhancer or conditioner
• butter to rub on top of finished loaves

Directions

1. Dissolve yeast and 1 tsp honey in 1/2 cup warm water.
2. Combine milk, 1/4 cup water, kefir/yogurt, honey, salt and 2 cups wheat flour in food processor or bowl. Mix in yeast mixture, and let rest 15 minutes. Add last 3 cups of flour and dough enhancer/conditioner. Process/mix until dough forms a ball. Knead dough by hand 10 minutes. Place the dough in a buttered bowl, and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with kitchen towel. Let dough rise for 45 minutes, or until almost doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide dough in half. Form into loaves, and place in buttered 9x5 inch bread pans. Cover loosely with kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm area until doubled; second rise should take about 30 minutes.
4. Place a small pan of water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until tops are dark golden brown. Butter crusts while warm and sprinkle wheat germ on top if you would like. Place on a cooling rack to cool. Slice when cool.