Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

I saw this bread recipe that looked so yummy on http://beingcindykitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/bread It ended up not being hard to make. Trust me when I say that because bread can be hard to make. What's also nice is it can be done all at once, or the dough can be stored for baking later. This is a must-make. Your kitchen and home will smell fantastic, and you will have some delicious homemade bread.

Easy Honey-Whole Wheat Bread

 3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 T yeast

1 generous T salt

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

  5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour* (see note at bottom)

Cornstarch

Warm water

Oatmeal, seeds, any desired toppings (I used oatmeal and wheat germ)

In a large bowl or stand mixer bowl, combine water, yeast, and salt. Add oil and honey and mix a little bit. Add in flour (holding back the last 1/4 cup to make sure your dough is not too dry) and mix ingredients together. Dough should NOT form a ball, and should still be fairly sticky, but you want it to be oozy, not runny! If needed, add more flour. Transfer into a 5-quart plastic container (or a metal bowl lined with wax paper/freezer paper/plastic wrap). Obviously, if you have a mixing bowl that is at least 5 quarts and plastic, you can do this all in one bowl! Cover with something that is not airtight (but DON'T use a towel, or the dough will stick to it... trust me!) and let rise for 2 hours on a draft-free countertop.

 At the end of the 2 hours, you can shape a loaf or store in the fridge. When you are ready to shape a loaf: Grease loaf pan. Sprinkle flour liberally on top of dough, and get plenty of flour on your hands. Remove a section of dough about the size of a canteloupe. Work into a loose ball (dough will not hold shape very well; that's okay). Set in bread pan. Turn oven to 375 degrees. While oven is heating, let dough rest for about 40 minutes if it has been refrigerated (if it hasn't been it doesn't really need any resting time at all). 

Just before baking, combine about 1 t. water with 1/2 t. cornstarch. Brush over top of loaf. Sprinkle with desired toppings--oatmeal, seeds, nuts, whatever you feel like (I used oatmeal and wheat germ.) With serrated knife, slash loaf three times diagonally across the top. Place on top rack in oven and bake 40-50 minutes, until the top of the loaf is a deep brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool on a rack. This makes 2 loaves--when I made it, I froze one for later and enjoyed the other with my roommates. This makes great thick sandwich bread (but it can get crumbly), or, as my favorite, good ol' toast with freezer jam. :)