Honey Whole Wheat Bread

 Lately, I have been experimenting with baking whole wheat, high fiber bread (like Harper's Bran Bread). This has proved to be a tricky challenge. The more fiber you add into the bread the denser it becomes. My family has issues with dense bread. They have only been eating  whole wheat bread, if it is mainly made from white flour with a little whole wheat sprinkled in (the big babies). I came across a recipe for Honey Wheat Bread in this month's issue of Taste Of Homes Healthy Cooking magazine. It looked promising! I baked up a batch, and it was fabulous! The family ate it without complaint (Woo Hoo)!  I did tweak it a little bit to add more fiber ( I calculated it at 5 grams of fiber per slice).  Here is the recipe after I tweaked it (of course, you can find the original recipe HERE):

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

(makes two loaves - 16 slices each)

4 1/2 teaspoons yeast

3 cups warm water; divided

1/2 powdered milk

1/2 cup honey (you could substitute brown sugar)

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon wheat bran

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed ( I like Bob's Red Mill Ground Flax Meal)

2 tablespoons butter or canola oil

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups whole wheat flour

4 tablespoon wheat gluten

3 - 3 1/2 cups bread (or all purpose flour)

1. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water (add 1 teaspoon of sugar to feed the yeast). Let yeast sit for 5 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups very warm water, powdered milk, honey (or brown sugar), oil (or butter), and salt.
3. Add whole wheat flour, wheat bran, ground flax seed, wheat gluten, and one cup of bread flour to the liquid mixture.
4. Pour dissolved yeast on top of flours.
5. Beat together until smooth batter forms (about 3 minutes)
6. Stir in the remaining flour until a soft dough forms (it will be sticky)
7. Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead (about 6 - 8 minutes) until a dough is smooth and elastic; adding white flour as necessary to keep it from sticking.
8. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover with a dishtowel, and let rise until double (about 1 hour).
9. Punch down dough, divide in half, and shape into two loaves.
10. Place loaves in two greased 9x5 bread pans 
11. Cover loaf pans and let rise until dough has risen 1 inch above the rim of the bread pan (about 30 minutes).
12. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown
13. Remove baked bread from pans (lay loaves on their sides) and cool completely.