Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Half-Whole White/Wheat Bread

Has the title confused you? Me too. This one is a bread that's half regular white bread flour and half white whole wheat flour. It's all wheat, but half is whole wheat and half is refined flour. The half that's made from whole wheat is white wheat. The other half is made from red wheat, but since it's not whole wheat it's white flour.

If none of that makes any sense to you, don't worry about it. It's just two types of flour. Both are easy enough to find.

This recipe makes 2 loaves. It's easy enough to divide in half if you only want one.

Half-and-Half Bread

1/4 cup honey
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 cups water
2 1/2 cups (13 1/4 ounces) bread flour
2 1/2 cups (13 1/4 ounces) white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine honey, yeast, and water. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Add the flours and knead with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add the salt and olive oil and continue kneading until well combined.

Form the dough into a ball, drizzle with a bit of olive oil to coat, and return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled, about 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle some cornmeal on 2 baking sheets.

When the dough has doubled, remove it from the bowl, divide it in half, and form each loaf into your desired loaf shape. Place the loaves on the pans, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap, slash as desired, and bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 35 minutes.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.