Riley Bread

Riley Whole Wheat Bread

    Dissolve in small bowl:

3 t dry yeast

1 t sugar

¼ C warm water

      Beat in a mixer bowl (or with a spoon) until smooth:          

3 ½ C whole wheat flour

2 ½ C hot tap water

      Add to bowl, along with dissolved yeast, then mix well:       .

1/3 C honey

1/3 C oil

1 T salt

    Add:  

1 C whole wheat flour (or 1 C quick oats)

2 C white flour (or whole wheat)

            Knead with kneading hook, or knead by hand.  Add more flour if dough is not pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

           Shape dough into 3 loaves (on a floured plate, with floured hands) and put into 3 greased loaf pans (2 of regular size, 1 of smaller size).  Let loaves rise for 45 minutes (if the house is too cold, turn the oven on for 1 ½ minutes, then turn it off and let the loaves rise in the warm oven), then bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  (Set a timer for the 45 minute rising; the bread is never as good when I let it rise too long.)

 Note:  this bread only has to rise ONCE, so it can be made start to finish in less than 2 hours.

Optional:  1 cup of cooked oatmeal can be added in place of 1 C of the water.

To make raisin breadL  knead raisins, walnuts, cinnamon and brown sugar (to taste, or about 2 T) into 1/3 of the dough

Our family loves this bread.  We make it once or twice a week.  We also use the dough for pizza, cinnamon rolls, fried scones, burger buns, calzones, and breadsticks.  The recipe is based on a Pillsbury bake-off recipe that I was given from master cook (and friend) Wendy Webb, who worked in a bakery and who taught me how to make bread in California in 1999.  When we lived in Guam in 2001, the bread at the commissary was awful after being stuffed with preservatives to survive the 2-month boat ride across the Pacific Ocean.  So I began making our bread regularly and my little ones loves playing with the bread "play-dough" and cooking and eating their creations.  This recipe is so easy, my 11-year-old Rachel was making our family's bread for a while.

Unfortunately, this recipe didn't work well when we moved to Colorado (4,500 ft altitude). I used this instead (and doubled the salt): https://highaltitudebakes.com/breads/2012/05/14/honey-wheat-bread/