Homemade Complex Carbohydrates

This morning I taught Chris, the cutest two year old in the world, how to swim. Well, at least, the first part of swimming: being comfortable in the water and kicking. Afterwards, I decided that I just couldn't wait until the weekend to try making homemade bread, so I stopped at Kroger and bought some bread flour and active dry yeast. After the rapid rise yeast fiasco with the cinnamon goop, I wasn't taking any chances.

Even with it being my first time making bread, this is absolutely delicious. I couldn't help but sneak a slice before dinner time -it smelled way too good! The honey subtly flavors the bread and makes it just the perfect amount of sweet.

I ate it for dinner as a vanilla-almond-honey sandwich tonight (mix almond butter with vanilla extract, spread on bread, drizzle with honey). If I had the time to bake this every week, I might consider never buying store-bought bread again. Also, it was very easy, which is good, since I was quite scared to attempt anything with yeast again, just in case I happened to waste perfectly good flour and such like I did with the cinnamon goop.

I received this recipe from Grace, one of my hall moms on First Glide at Asbury University. She and Judy are one of the many reasons why Asbury is such a priceless experience. They truly love us First Glide girls. One of my favorite Asbury memories is the First Glide Brunch that they would host every year. So much delicious food and so much fun!

Allen's Simple Honey Wheat Bread

Grace calls this "Allen's Bread" because Allen, her husband, makes it so often.

Ingredients

3 cups warm water

2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast

2/3 cup honey, divided

5 cups bread flour (white)

5 tablespoons, divided, melted

1 tablespoon salt

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Preparation

In a LARGE bowl, mix warm water, yeast and 1/3 cup honey.

Add 5 cups bread flour and stir to combine.

Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt.

Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour.

Flour a flat surface, or use a flour pastry cloth, and knead with whole wheat flour.

The dough dough should no longer be too sticky, just pulling away from the counter.

This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour.

Place in a greased bowl. turning once to coat the surface of the dough.

Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm for half an hour or so.

For a warm place, I heat the oven to 200F, turn off and let cool down for 5 minutes, then put the dough in.

Punch down and divide into 2 loaves. Place in greased 9x5 inch loaf pans and allow to rise for an hour.

Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake.

Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

Cool completely.

The butter prevents the crust from getting too hard.