Author Notes
When our family health kick was challenged by a bout of fried chicken, my sisters and I ran off to Panera to try to temper the impending damage, and there we discovered their heavenly honey-wheat bread. But even perfection has room for improvement – our version has more flavor and more whole wheat, while still retaining their perfect pillowy quality. You'd never guess this was a whole wheat bread – we actually can't stop eating it. If you're new to bread making, check out our detailed tutorial at www.figtestkitchen.com —Fig Test Kitchen
Ingredients
- For Starter
-
1 cup
whole wheat flour
-
1 cup
water, room temperature
-
3/4 teaspoon
instant yeast
- For Dough
-
3/4 cup
water, room temperature
-
5 tablespoons
honey
-
1 1/4 teaspoons
instant yeast
-
2 ounces
vegetable shortening (about 1/4 cup)
-
4 3/4 cups
whole wheat flour
-
1 tablespoon
salt
Directions
-
Make starter first, by whisking yeast into water, and then whisking in flour. Cover with dish towel or plastic wrap, and leave to ferment for 45 minutes to an hour.
-
Meanwhile measure out other ingredients, and whisk flour and salt together in a large bowl.
-
When starter is done fermenting, whisk honey and water together in the bowl of a kitchenaid mixer.
-
Add shortening, yeast, flour-salt mixture and starter to bowl. Mix on low (setting #2) with a dough hook attachment for 1 to 1.5 minutes, until it forms a rough dough. Let rest for 20 minutes.
-
Cover dough with a warm, moist towel and let rise in a warm area for about 40 minutes.
-
If you plan on baking dough in loaf pans, transfer each dough to one loaf pan now. You can also bake the dough directly on a sheet pan (with a layer of parchment paper underneath so it won't stick) if you don't have a loaf pan.
-
Preheat oven to 350°F convection/375° conventional, and let dough rise for about 45 more minutes, covering again with a moist, warm towel and letting rise in a warm area.
-
Place bread in heated oven, and let bake for about 25-35 minutes (25 if not using a loaf pan, closer to 35 if you are) or until a thermometer inserted into the center reads 190-200°F.
-
Let cool for about 10 minutes, slice, and eat!
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