Whole Wheat Bread

I finished my second project (well, I guess it's technically the fourth project because I started two others first but haven't finished them yet)! I made whole wheat bread, from scratch, without my bread machine! This is an accomplishment for me because I am a bit yeast bread-challenged. I had practiced making several yeast bread doughs (pretzels, pizza dough, bread, etc) with my bread machine before my big no-machine whole wheat bread debut, which I did yesterday. And guess what?! I succeeded! The bread rose just how it should (both times), I didn't under- or over- cook it, and it looked pretty, too (no bread machine kneader hole in the bottom of the loaf!)! AND-- it tasted great! I mean, really, really great. I've eaten half the (smallish) loaf already, all by myself. I baked one loaf and froze two rolls of dough for later. The recipe I used was super easy and I will definitely make it again and again (recipe will be posted below).

(By the way, I realized I should have made about 50 of my 101 things have to do with cooking, because I'm having a lot of fun with those goals, and actually doing them. The rest, well... not doing quite as well...)

I did start making felt food for the kids (goal number 40) but my sewing machine went the way of all the earth, so I'm not sure when that one will get finished... I managed to make 4 lettuce leaves, 3 tomato slices, 2 slices of Swiss cheese, 2 pieces of bread (wonky bread, but bread nonetheless), the top of a hamburger bun, 2 fried eggs, and I started on a taco, a hamburger patty, and the bottom bun before my machine crapped out.

I also started goal number 18, making Hungarian Chicken Paprikash with Nokedli, and I will be finishing it tonight. I made the Chicken Paprikash for our Easter lunch at my Dad's (he made the nokedli), and we have leftover paprikash so I will be making nokedli tonight for dinner. The paprikash turned out really yummy. Not quite like my grandma's (because she never used sour cream for some reason), but still delicious.

So anyway... I'm down with another migraine today so without further ado I will post the recipe, upload the yummy picture, and then, I don't know, maybe go die...

Goal Number 16: Make whole wheat bread from scratch, without using bread machine

I mostly followed this recipe for Simple Whole Wheat Bread from allrecipes, with some modifications.

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

2/3 cup honey, divided

8 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon salt

butter, melted

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups flour and stir to combine. Let sit for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with additional whole wheat flour until dough pulls away from the counter, but is still sticky to the touch (I used about an extra cup or two of flour). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

3. Punch down and divide into 3 loaves. I froze two and put the third in a greased loaf pan. Allow dough to rise again until it is about an inch over the top of the pan.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Remove bread from pan and brush with melted butter. Cool. Eat. Enjoy!