Light Wheat Bread

When Bake Your Own Bread (BYOB) featured Bread Experience as the featured blog for the month of July, I wasted no time in selecting a bread recipe from Bread Experience's website. I had wheat bread in mind when I was browsing thru Bread Experience and when I found this recipe, I could not wait to give it a try. There are different types of bread recipes at Bread Experience, from wheat bread, white bread, flatbreads, bread machine breads, quick breads, gluten-free breads, no-knead breads and many, many, more! The person behind this awesome website is Cathy and she has step-by-step instructions on bread making which can be found on her blog.

Just as Cathy says, this is a delicious bread! Cathy adapted this recipe from the Peter Reinhart's, Bread Baker's Apprentice, a book on my wishlist!

This recipe uses the stand mixer to knead the dough,  but I decided to let my bread machine do the work for me! Haha! The dough is a pleasure to work with, it is not sticky and it rises rather quick. Perhaps the hot weather here and the high temperature plays a big role in cutting the rising time to almost half! The only changes I did was instead of using the full amount of water, which is 1-1/4 cups, I used slightly less than 1-1/8 cup, as I noticed that in our hot and humid weather, most times I got to add in more flour if the full amount of liquid is used. And I have reduced the salt amount from 1-1/2 teaspoons to 1 scant teaspoon, which I find is just the right amount of saltiness for me.

It bakes up beautifully.

This recipes makes a small loaf which is just the right size for me. And it is so simple and quick to make. One advantage in my hot kitchen, the rising time is cut almost by half for most of the breads that I've made, so time saving is a definite plus!

It has a soft crumb and a light dense interior but with a soft texture, that I really like. Since it uses only about a third of wheat flour and two thirds of bread flour, it makes a light wheat bread, without being too heavy. It stays soft too on the second and third day, my kinda bread! 

I really like this bread! Definitely one of my favourites now!  :)

I like it best, when spread with a generous serving of butter, with a cup of hot black coffee!

I have provided the recipe and the changes I've made using the bread machine, below. If you would like to make this bread using the stand mixer, please refer to the instructions that can be found from Cathy's post at Bread Experience.

Thanks to Cathy for the introduction to this lovely loaf of bread that I'll be making again in my kitchen!

I'm linking this with to :
Bake Your Own Bread (BYOB), hosted by Girlichef
Recipe Box hosted by Bizzy Bakes


Light Wheat Bread
(source from Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart, via Bread Experience)
2-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar or honey
1-1/2 teaspoons salt (I use 1 teaspoon)
3 tablespoons powdered milk
1-1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons shortening or unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/4 cups water, at room temperature (I use slightly less than 1-1/8 cups)

1. Add water, butter and honey (or sugar) into the bread pan. Spoon both flours over, covering the liquid completely. In one corner of the bread pan, add the powdered milk, and the salt at the opposite corner. Make a small indent in the center of the flour. Add in the yeast. Select Basic Dough setting, press Start. This setting will knead the dough right up to the first rising stage, which takes about 1 hour 35 minutes. Different bread machine varies, so select accordingly to the specifications on your bread machine.
2. At the end of the Cycle, remove dough and roll into a 3/4 thick, 6 inches wide by 9 inches long rectangle. Roll it up and pinch the seams at both ends to seal. Place in a greased 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" bread pan, with the seams facing down. Cover loosely with greased cling wrap. Leave to rise for about 90 minutes, or until the dough crests above the top of the pan. Mine took about 50-55 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F and place the oven rack on the middle shelf. Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees at 25 minutes into baking time. Continue baking until bread is golden brown and sound hollow when tapped at the bottom.
4. Remove it from the baking pan immediately and leave it to cool on a wire rack. Wait for at least 1 hour before slicing. Enjoy!