Whole wheat bread: Back to the earth 2012!

ne of the (many) kitcheny gifts husband brought to our marriage was a bread machine. He used it quite a bit in the bachelor days, I believe, but I haven't developed a knack for it, lo these six years of wedded bliss. I think I made a loaf or two and wasn't impressed with the results (this is all very foggy, being a number of years ago now). I blamed it on not finding the right recipe for the machine, or the right flour (I think it could have been that...) and I have always been loathe to go the bread mix route. That just seems like cheating. (No judgement if that's your thing, it's just not mine.)

This past fall, a local Facebook friend posted that she makes bread and even delivers, if needed. I tried a couple of her loaves and Seth fell in love. Raved about this bread. You'd think the bread has crack in it, the way he gobbled it up for his lunch sandwiches. But then (of course) I started thinking, how hard can this be (no offense, Sherrice)? I have a machine that purports to do all the work for me, right? So let's get this thing figured out.

And, as happenstance would have it, a blogger I follow every now and again posted just last week that her project for 2012 is "Back to the Land" (read her explanation for why she wants to get back to the land, it's a great project), and the first month would be bread baking. How very serendipitous! I commented to her that I would give bread making a whirl as well, did a little more investigation into recipes that might work, and arrived at the recipe below.

While the recipe as originally posted was tweaked so that it could be completely vegan, I did not choose to go that route. I was happy that this version used milk (not the dry powder as seems so common) and where she called for Earth Balance I used canola oil--though we often have Earth Balance around, just don't at the moment.

Whole Wheat Machine Bread
Yield: 1 2lb loaf
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours and 10 minutes

1 cup almond milk (or buttermilk, skim milk, any kind of milk)
2/3 cup water
2 tbsp Earth Balance (or butter, vegetable shortening, lard, etc.)
2 tbsp agave (or honey)
2 tsp salt
3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cereal or seeds (I used oats)
2 1/4 tsp (or 1 pkg) active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in the order they are listed into the baking pan of your bread machine.

Follow the directions on your machine for whole wheat bread.

Remove from machine when done and allow to cool on a baking rack for at least one hour.

Slice and enjoy!

Pretty lovely, if I do say so myself. Kinda kicking myself that I didn't get that going years ago! I envision some sandwich days ahead...

Warning: do not make this bread in the evening, when you'll be pulling a freshly baked loaf of bread out of the machine/oven just as you're going to bread. It will take all your willpower not to cut a few slices off and slather butter or whathaveyou all over it and go to sleep with sweet bread dreams...

 Frittata sandwich. Messy, but oh-so-good.