Honey Wheat Bread

On my quest to get out some of my baking frustrations this weekend, I tackled a wheat loaf. I haven't been able to bake anything from the book I recieved at Christmas (The Professional Pastry Chef - Bo Friberg) and I thought that now is as good of time as any.

RECIPE: (as followed from page 123 of the book) - I scaled the recipe in 1/2 which yieled 2 loaves.

1 3/4 c milk (240ml)
4 tsp salt (20g)
1 c honey (340g)
7 oz unsalted butter, room temperature (200g)
1 oz fresh compressed yeast (30g)*
1 c warm water, 105-115 degrees F
1 lb 4 oz whole wheat flour (570g)
1 lb 4 oz brea flour (570g)
Egg wash
Wheat bran (optional - I didn't use it; I used oatmeal flakes)

1 In a saucepan, combine milk, salt, honey and butter. Heat to 115 degrees, set aside.
2 In a mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk mixture, wheat flour and all but 1/2 cup of bread flour. Knead dough on low speed, using a dough hook, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add bread flour while kneading if necessary.
3 Cover dough and allow to rise until double in volume (approx. 2-3 hours)
4 Punch dough down (literally), cover, and proof again until double in volume (another 2-3 hours).
5 Punch dough down again, then scale dough into 4 equal pieces (570g each).
6 Form each piece into a loaf.

7 Egg wash all loaves, invert them in wheat bran; place loaves bran side up in pans.
8 Let loaves rest and rise until they are slightly less than double in volume.

9 Bake at 400 degrees, using steam** for 10 minutes. Continue baking for another 25-30 minutes; until golden brown and until you hear a hollow sound when you knock on the bottom of the loaf.***



Notes:
* when using dry, instant yeast, always reduce the recipe by 1/2. Dry yeast is twice as potent as fresh yeast (eg. 5g fresh yeast = 2.5g dry yeast)

** using steam - just place a pan filled with water in the bottom of so to create stem during baking.

*** the "hollow" sound means that air is present in the loaf of bread and the moisture is gone. The perfect loaf has no moisture present.