Fresh Milled Honey Wheat Sandwich Loaf
A not-sourdough fresh milled bread recipe. From the mixer to loaves in under 3 hours
Good morning and happy Saturday. We woke up in Virginia to a dusting of snow. It’s a rare occasion here, so I am enjoying sitting by the fire - looking out at the landscape covered in white.
My mom, sister, and I have a group chat that we are active in daily - it bridges the gap of the miles between us and makes for a sweet transcript of memories to look back on. We are constantly sharing links, typing recipes into the group chat, and sending photos of our culinary masterpieces back and forth. If you don’t have a foodie chat thread with your mom, sister, or close friends, I highly recommend it. The connection that is forged and inspiration that is gained, even in sharing food from afar, is so worthwhile.
For Christmas, I mailed both my mom and sister a bag of fresh milled flour. A few days after the package arrived, a photo popped into the group chat of two loaves of sandwich bread, fresh from my mom’s oven. It felt extra special to see the flour I milled in Virginia transformed into nourishing bread for my family in Oregon, and reminded me how simple bread making can be. While artisan sourdough loaves with beautiful patterns scored into the top are lovely, sometimes you just need a quick recipe that will nourish your family in a jiffy.
The speed at which instant yeast rises a loaf of bread is pretty amazing. Going from mixing the dough to baking the loaves in under 3 hours is such a game changer. This is precisely why it was all the rage when it was introduced in the 1970’s.
I also want to note that here is a difference between active dry yeast and instant yeast. Instant yeast does not need to be dissolved in water as active yeast does, and can simply be added to the dry ingredients before mixing the bread dough. This is the brand of yeast I’ve been using lately have been happy with it. I plan to research and test a variety of brands before deciding on my favorite.
Enjoy the recipe and have a great weekend.
p.s. If you don’t follow my mom’s Substack page, head over there now. She is a gifted writer, an incredible woman, and I am blessed everyday to call her my mom. She shared a delicious recipe for chicken and veggie bowls with coconut rice earlier this week. I cannot wait to try it.
Fresh Milled Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
makes 2 loaves
Ingredients
1000 grams fresh milled hard wheat flour (my go-to is 50/50 hard red and hard white)
760 grams room temp water
80 grams honey
20 grams salt
1 Tbsp or 10 grams instant yeast
Method
Combine dry ingredients. Combine flour, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook attachment - or add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
Add remaining ingredients and mix dough. Add the water and honey and mix with the dough hook on low speed for 7-8 minutes. Stop the mixer every 2-3 minutes to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl so that all the dry ingredients are incorporated evenly into the dough. If kneading by hand, combine well, until dough is sticky but smooth.
Proof dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a bowl scraper and gather dough into a ball. Let sit 1 - 1.5 hours on the counter, or until dough has doubled.
Prepare bread pans and shape loaves. When dough has doubled, remove it from the bowl and dump it onto the counter top. Generously butter two glass loaf pans. Using a bench scraper, divide dough into two equal parts. Stretch each loaf out so that it’s as long as the loaf pans, then roll tightly and tuck ends under. You don’t have to be too particular about the shaping.
Cover for second proof and preheat oven. Cover your bread pans with a dish towel or bowl covers and set a timer for 30 minutes . When the timer goes off, preheat the oven to 350º and set timer for another 30 minutes.
Bake. After one hour of proof time in the bread pans, loaves should look puffy and have risen just over the top of the pans. Place the loaves into the oven on the center rack and bake for 30-35 minutes, depending on your oven. Loaves should be dark golden on top when done baking.
Butter and let cool. When loaves come out of the oven, butter each with about 1 tsp of butter. Let bread sit in pans for 15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack or cutting board and let cool an additional 15-30 minutes before slicing.
Store unused bread in a covered cake stand or bread box.
Hi Hannah! I am brand new to milling flour. I made this recipe yesterday and my first rise was fantastic, but once I divided into two loaves then shaped and put in bread loaves, I didn’t get much more of a rise. Bread flavor was amazing but it didn’t rise and therefore was small and a little dense. What are your thoughts? Also, how do you store your second loaf so it doesn’t get hard on the counter? Thanks!
Do you need to sprout the berries first or does the instant yeast/fermenting time do that? I'm still trying to understand if I need to buy sprouted berries or not. :)