Honey Whole Wheat Bread

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1. Combine Dry Ingredients: Put the bread, wheat, and rye flours together in a large bowl or in a stand mixer with a kneading attachment and stir until combined.
2. Combine Wet Ingredients: Combine water and milk and heat in a pan over the stove until it is 110° to 115° or very warm but not hot when you test it with your finger.  Remove the pan from the heat and add in the yeast and stir, let sit for 5 minutes. Add in the salt, sugar, honey, and melted butter and stir to combine.
3. Combine and Knead Dough:
   • If using a stand mixer, turn it on to the lowest setting and slowly add the yeast mixture into the flour, once completely combined, turn the speed up to the 2nd or 3rd speed and let knead until it has formed a smooth dough, usually about 10 minutes.
   • If mixing by hand, add about 1/3 of the yeast mixture into the flour and stir with a large spoon.  Add another 1/3 of the yeast mixture and continue stirring until mostly combined.  Add the last 1/3 and mix using a spoon and your hands until the dough comes together.  Turn the dough onto a smooth surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough forms together.  The dough will likely feel quite sticky at first but try not to add any additional flour.  Scrape any dough that has stuck to the surface and mix it back in.
   • By the time you are finished kneading, using either method, the dough should be tacky but not stick to your fingers.  This will allow for the dough to rise well and be fluffy as opposed to dry.
4. Raise and Shape Dough: Once you have finished kneading the dough, lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough into it, flipping it over once.  Cover it with a towel and let it sit at room temperature for 1-1.5 hours until it has more than doubled in size.  Once it has risen, punch the dough down and divide it into two equal portions (these should weigh about 700-725 grams each if you are using a scale). Use your hands to fold and shape the dough into two, uniform loaves that are the length of your pans (usually about 8 inches long).
5. Raise and Bake: Preheat oven to 400°. Grease each loaf pan and place the loaves into them.  Cover the pans with a towel and let rise for another 30-40 minutes until the loaves have doubled in size again.  They should be slightly above the surface of the loaf pan at this point.  Place in the oven and bake for 22-28 minutes until the tops have reached a deep golden brown.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before running a knife along the outside of the loaves to remove them.  If you have enough self-control to not eat both loaves immediately, let cool completely on a wire rack and then store using plastic wrap as described below.

Meal Prep Tip:

Any loaves that are uneaten after cooling completely can be wrapped in 2-3 layers of plastic wrap and either stored at room temperature or frozen.  It usually lasts 3-4 days at room temperature. The bread can be frozen for 1-2 weeks before it begins to dry out but it is safe to eat for much longer than that (6 months or more if stored at 0° or below).

Notes: 

• This recipe makes 2 loaves, but, if you have a convection oven, you can make up to 4 at a time by doubling the recipe.  You will also need to lower the oven’s temperature to 375° if using convection.
• This recipe can also be made into dinner rolls by forming into 2 ounce balls instead of loaves.

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