Thursday, March 21, 2013

Basic Whole Wheat Bread | Brown Bread


I remember, just over 6 months back when I was taking baby steps into the baking-with-yeast world and when I had successfully made my first batch of Stuffed Buns, I had bumped into Anisha's post on this simple wholewheat bread and I was simply awed by the simplicity and the ease with which she made it. Without wasting much time, I jumped right in and tried my hands at baking it... was so positive I would get it right! But Alas, it flopped... and flopped again the next day (yes! I did not give up, I tried to make it twice more the next day!). But sadly it did not work for me, I had no clue what was causing the failure. Disheartened, I just shelved the idea of baking bread for a while.



Then, eventually as I got introduced to Instant yeast, I gingerly experimented some more and went on to bake some fancy Breads and Buns... but this simple wholewheat bread recipe sat waiting to be tried out.. yet again! On retrospection, I figured what the problem was back then!! I was playing around with Active Dry yeast and it supposedly wasn't too good! No wonder, the bread turned out so hard! Sigh! It really wasn't a fault in my prep, the nasty yeast was the culprit! So all you newbie bakers, trying to get friendly with yeast, don't be hard on yourself if your bread did not turn out great... it may just be the yeast you are using! This post on yeast may be helpful.
So with renewed spirits, I gave it another shot a few weeks back... and boy, was I delighted! :) I made 3 small loaves, as I really loved the idea and these look adorable! :)



Adapted from: Flavours 
Makes : 3 mini loaves/1 medium sized loaf
Serves : 3-4
Prep Time & Waiting Time (for dough to rise) : 1 hour
Cooking Time : 20 mins
Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 2 and 1/2 cup
Warm Milk - 1 cup
Instant Yeast - 2.5 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tbsp
Olive Oil - 1/2 tbsp
Method

  • I followed this procedure [How to make yeast dough?] to prepare the yeast dough with the replacement of all purpose flour entirely with wheat flour.
  • After an hour the dough would have doubled.
  • Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
  • Dust the work floor with a bit of flour and toss the dough ball on it.
  • Knead for a minute and then divide into 3 balls.


  •  Make them into tiny logs and place them on a greases baking tray. (this is basically to get small manageable loaves. If you like one big loaf, you do not have to divide into 3 balls, just make one dough log)


  • Allow them to rise for another half hour or so. 


  • Smear with a little oil and bake at 170 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.


  • Take it out of the oven and smear a little milk on the top to make the crust soft and place on a wire rack to cool.


  • Slice the bread only when the bread has completely cooled down, else it will crumble.
  • Mildly heating in the microwave before eating would make it soft. It tastes great with Crunchy Peanut Butter!! :)

17 comments:

  1. lovely bread... and love that strawberry knife!!!

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  2. Healthy brown bread looks so soft too :) happy to see that you are back to baking

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  3. I have been waiting for this recipe!! Loved it to bits

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  4. Your perfectly baked loaves inspire me to bake mine. Will taste great with your homemade peanut butter!

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  5. Perfectly baked and healthy bread dear...

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  6. I have never used instant yeast..will try it soon..

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  7. Simple bread to start a great day|||

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  8. That looks brilliant Nandita, so perfect and love its texture.

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  9. Perfectly baked bread! I loved the cute knife too :)

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  10. lovely bread . can i ask u one question . your butter knifes is so beautiful. can you tell me from where u buy this lovely knife ?........

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    1. Thank you Prachi and welcome to my space :) This butter knife is one from a set of four butter knives that I got from US.

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  11. Hi nandita...first time going thru your blog...loved it
    Regarding ww bread I have some doubts...please can u help
    Whenever I bake wwb it is very heavy in weight,and does wheat flour takes more time to proof compared to maida

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    1. Hello Deeksha,
      Thanks for coming over and visiting my space :) Regarding your query related to wholewheat bread... yes, WW breads are denser than the ones that use maida. The texture is also more crumbly in nature than white bread. It does take a little more time to proof, not too much longer. Hope this helps.

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  12. Can I use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast... If yes, how much should I use

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    Replies
    1. Yes you may. Please check this post for details on active dry and instant yeast conversion: http://nansyumyums.blogspot.in/2012/10/yeast-basics-how-to-make-yeast-dough.html

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