Week 32 - Vee's Homemade Bread

 Vee's Homemade Bread

Week 32 of 52

Bread #5

    So I was a big fan of the show "Orange Is The New Black" and when I saw a copy of the Orange Is The New Black cookbook, published in 2014, at Half Price Books a couple years ago, I had to get it. In the show, the character Vee, was not a pleasant person, but I think the thing about that show, was no matter how bad a character was, you pretty much saw at least some shred of humanity/decency in them. I can't remember what that was about Vee, but there was something there to you remind, you that she was a person.

    I want to say that this bead smelled good while it was baking. It took a long time to make (over 3 hrs), but it was worth it. It's made from a mixture of whole-wheat flour and flour, with flax seeds (I used ground flax seeds) and honey, so it felt healthy-ish.  I'm planning to make some grilled cheese sandwiches with it this week.  Can't wait. So, let me know how you like this.  Modifications/Notes in italics.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons, olive oil, plus a little more for oiling the bowl and pan (Honestly, I just used cooking spray for oiling the pan, the bowl, the parchment and the foil I used)

1/4 cup honey

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup flax seeds (I used ground flax seeds)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

You can use an electric mixer or mix with a spoon (like I did). If using an electric mixer, use the dough hook. Combine all of the dry ingredients with the water, to form a "rough" dough. Rest the dough for 20 minutes, then knead by machine or by hand for 10 minutes, until it is smooth. It will stay a bit sticky-ish. 

Grease a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. 

Grease a loaf pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch). Shape the dough into a log shape, place in the loaf pan and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap (I used parchment paper, because I didn't have plastic; you could use parchment also as it worked just fine) lightly greased and let the dough rise for another hour. It could rise about 1 inch above the rim of the loaf pan. Mine didn't seem like it was an inch above the rim of the pan, but I think it turned out fine). Towards the end of this "rising", pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Remove the plastic wrap/parchment paper and place your pan in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes and then "tent" a piece of lightly oiled foil over your loaf and continue baking for another 25 minutes, or until firm and browned on top. Remove from oven, remove the loaf from the pan and cool on a wire rack, to cool completely (or at least 15-20 minutes, because you don't want to burn yourself) before slicing.

Vee's Homemade Bread