Midweek Loaf: Martha Stewart's Honey Whole Wheat Bread

If you're a follower of The Mrs.'s personal blog (it's not really all that interesting... so I'm not hurt if you're not), you'll know that she recently left her day job in pursuit of a few other exciting work opportunities and to begin work on my PhD in musicology.  On the home front, this is going to result in either amazing healthy eating or complete gluttony.  This week, we've enjoyed margherita pizza, zucchini chocolate chip muffins, and Martha Stewart's Honey Whole Wheat Bread.  I actually followed the recipe out of Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, however, the linked version is just about the same.

Since we're just a family of two, I halved all the ingredients.  I know the purists out there will tell me I should have dragged out my kitchen scale and weighed for more accuracy (the Baking Handbook uses both weights and cup measures), but I was being lazy.

My favorite thing about this recipe was making the flour well.  It was a nice method, but to be honest, I'm not really sure what the purpose of it is.

I'm still not sure I have the crust quite right.  I'd like to try doing steam baths and water washes in the oven, but I don't know if my oven can be that fancy.  Since I'm not a big fan of whole wheat challah, but I am a fan of wheat bread, I'm hoping this will make the challah a lot special on Shabbat.

Do YOU save white flour for Shabbat?  Have any go-to non-challah breads or baked goods?

View of Shabbat - May 20th

I attempted a wheat challah again in addition to a Small Batch of white. Honestly, the wheat's a fail. Every. Time. What am I doing wrong? This time, I used the Small Batch Roll Method/Recipe with the following wheat proportion: 2 cups white flour, 2/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup wheat gluten. I also used sugar instead of honey to proof the yeast because a friend recommended it working better for whole wheat flour. Well, it certainly looks pretty but it's FLAT. FLAT FLAT FLAT. I don't understand. It rose so nicely in the bowl, it rose so nicely braided. :( Oh well, I'm sure it will be tasty.

Shabbat Shalom!


It's a lovely white though, isn't it? At least I'm doing something right.

Honey Wheat Challah - Cinnamon Roll Edition

For this recipe, you'll need the Honey Wheat Challah recipe. It's really, really, really simple modification that worked out oh so well, especially accompanying our Morrocan Couscous and Tofu Shabbat dinner. (On a total side note, I recently became allergic to cumin and cayenne pepper, so we've had to try to find fun and exciting recipes that DON'T involve some of my favorite flavors... sad...)

Method:

With dough of your choice (we used wheat, but I'm planning on trying it on white), separate three sections.  Flatten into wide, somewhat oblong rectangles.  I used a combination of hands and rolling pin.  They were each about 5 inches by 9 inches and around 1/4 inch thick.

Sprinkle with mixture of 1/2 c sugar and 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  You could also add chopped almonds or a dash of nutmeg.  Avoid the edges on all sides.

Roll together like a cinnamon roll.  I didn't roll in the short edges, just pinched them shut.  But you could fold them in to prevent cinnamon oozing out... but that's some of my favorite part.

Repeat for other two rolls.

Braid as normal challah.  Sprinkle with any left over cinnamon sugar after egg wash.

Pre-egg wash.  Try to keep the seams of the braids DOWN (against the rest of the bread).

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  (I'm sorry all of my oven times are so imprecise... our oven runs cool so I actually have to bake everything at 365 and pretend is 350 because that's the real temperature).

Don't worry if the braids break open; it'll still be delicious!

Enjoy!  Great for French toast on Sunday morning :)

Honey Wheat Challah

This recipe is a modification of my Basic Challah Recipe #1.  It contains 2 additional tablespoons of honey because I find that whole wheat isn't my favorite thing and can end up kind of cardboardy.  The verdict on this recipe... I'm still not totally convinced.  The Hazz really likes it, and I did munch on it this Shabbat morning with some added Nutella on top (I'm convinced Nutella makes everything better).

1 1/4 c water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
5 tbsp honey
3 eggs + 1 egg for wash
1/2 c vegetable oil
3 c white flour
2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c wheat germ
2 1/2 tsp salt

    

Don't skip out on the wheat gluten/wheat germ.

I think it makes a big difference and it contains lots of protein!

Follow the recipe for the Basic Challah Recipe #1. I added the extra 2 tablespoons of honey with the eggs, but I don't think it really matters all that much. Make sure to mix the flours and salt together dry otherwise you'll end of up with clumps. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.  I found this rose SLOWER than white flour for some reason, but it could have been the house temperature.

    

The Hazz is a lot stronger than me for punching out the air.

The second Challah we made this week was Cinnamon Wheat.  (same dough).

Method can be found here!