So I had these amazing whole-wheat cranberry walnut rolls from Whole Foods yesterday. Then I had a rainy Sunday afternoon. Guess what happens next.
Recipe from the back of the whole-wheat King Arthur Flour – I’d heard good reviews of it even though it does things I normally feel like are cheating, such as add oil and honey – with my comments in bold:
- 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast OR the equivalent in active dry yeast dissolved in 2 Tbs warm water
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup * I used honey
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil * I used olive oil – olives are not unlike vegetables?
- 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
- 1/4 cup nonfat dried milk * Having no dry milk, I used 1/4 cup (cold) nonfat milk, then filled it up to 1 1/3 cups with warm water.
- ~1/2 cup dried cranberries
- (~1/2 cup walnuts)
Combine all ingredients; stir till it starts to come together, then knead 6-8 minutes. Cover & let rise ~60 min or till nearly doubled.
Shape – I made two boules instead because I have no bread pan – into an 8-inch log and transfer to lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan. Cover again and let rise 30-60 min; preheat the oven during this time to 350F (or 400F, if you want to go for the oven spring, in which case turn oven down to 350 after ~10min.)
Bake about 40min, tenting lightly with aluminum foil (if you’re using the loaf pan) after 20min. Test for doneness by thumping the bottom of the loaf – it should sound hollow (<- pretty ingenious, no?) Remove from pan and cool before cutting.
I brushed some butter on top while it was still warm to add richness, since we were already cheating some (HONEY). Either I should’ve baked it a little longer, or should’ve tossed in some vinegar to make crust crunchier, I think. Otherwise I really wish it had walnuts in like those rolls, but it’s tasty nonetheless. The honey balances out the cranberries and, as proclaimed on the bag, the whole wheat does indeed have a “delightfully nutty flavour.” Thanks, flour!
I love how perfectly round and delicious they look! Also, cranberries and honey are a winning combination. Definitely will try this recipe if I feel up for making bread sometime!
Those are impressive looking, as Gloria said! Honey & butter aren’t cheating if it works; all’s fair in baking. After I form the first boule, all effort at shaping goes out the window & the rest appear as oddly strange & mysterious blobs. I need to work on this more.
On flour, do you have a preference on which to use? (Quick-Rising or Self-Rising vs. All-Purpose, etc.) Whole Wheat is distinct and it’s purpose makes sense but I’ve not dealt with the rest.
The key to shaping boules is to kind of pull the edges under, towards the center, and pinch them together – if the top isn’t smooth and round just keep pulling edges more towards the under-side center till it is. It looks kind of like a balloon before you plop it down on the tray. It’s much easier to shape kneaded bread, too, than, that unkneaded rosemary bread you tried, because it keeps its shape better.
There is such a thing as bread flour which is awesome – tastes like white but has more gluten or something due to magic – but I always just get all-purpose and whole wheat because having 3 types of flour seems excessive, and all-purpose is okay for sweeter, lighter baked goods too such as cakes and scones where bread flour would be bad (although cake flour for these purposes is double plus good! But again, I never buy it because of the lazy.) I’ve never tried self-rising because tbh it sounds not unlike dark magic and I don’t know how it would interact with regular leavening. For breads, to get something like the effect of bread flour, sometimes I substitute ~1/4-1/3 of the flour in a recipe for whole wheat and leave the rest all-purpose.
Also ask me questions about baking if you want me to NEVER SHUT UP
Hey, your Never-Shutting-Up helps out this house so I’m not complaining about it! Sigh, there is always more to experiment with, if the lazy doesn’t have anything to say about it, anyway.
I always use olive oil instead of vegetable oil. It’s just better!
Let’s have a bread-baking/X-Files party sometime. I need to bake more and have an even worse case of the lazy than you do.