Whether you’re a BreezyNotes customer or not, you probably already know how much we appreciate our customers and employees. Having just celebrated one year on the market, we are so grateful for their support.
Some bread baked by BreezyNotes COO Paul Jonas.
But this post isn’t about thanking customers and employees. Not directly, anyways.
No, it’s about sharing.
In addition to giving thanks, Thanksgiving is really marked by sharing–food and stories being the key currency exchanged among families, friends and strangers across America. Food defines so much of who we are as humans.
So today I’m going to share a bit about myself through a bread recipe I’ve come up with.
From the days when my prerogative was licking the cookie-dough off the mixers, to my love of baking bread today, I have my mother to thank for my love of measuring ingredients into fantastic creations.
This recipe is an adaptation of what I’ve learned from helping Mom make her bread, which is a combination of two recipes. The first is a recipe she was lucky enough to receive from the now-closed St. Martin’s Table. The second is her great-grandmother’s bread recipe that was made using coffee cans.
Paul with his mom and sister.
I grew up eating Mom’s bread. There is nothing better than cutting into a fresh loaf and watching the steam rise off your slice as the butter melts into the crumb. If we were lucky, there’d still be some strawberry-rhubarb jam Mom had made over the summer to coat it with. Then we were set.
I’ve combined Mom’s recipe with some personal tastes and a few tricks I’ve picked up along the way–specifically from a book called Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Ken Forkish. Mom and I still bake bread. And now my boys are old enough to get in the mix, too.
Here’s to family traditions. Happy Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
- 4 C Whole Wheat Flour
- 4 C White Bread Flour
- 2 Tbl Salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. of dry active yeast
- 3 ½ C water @ 100℉ Water
- 1 C Honey, warmed
- Olive Oil
Directions
Getting Started
- Fill large mixing bowl with white and wheat flour.
- Pour ½ cup of the water into a small bowl. Mix in the yeast and sugar and set to the side.
- Add the honey to the remaining 3 cups of water and mix until dissolved.
- Create a well in the flour. Pour in the liquids and mix until everything is incorporated.
- Knead with flour for 10 minutes
The Rise
This recipe makes at least two loaves depending on how you bake it. After the initial rise, cut it to fit bread pans, use cast iron dutch ovens, or like my great-great-grandmother, use coffee cans
- Coat the inside of a large bowl (I usually just use my mixing bowl) with Olive Oil. Add the dough, making sure it has a coating of Olive Oil and let rise in a warm place until it’s roughly triple the size. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 5 hours or until the dough has tripled in size.
- Cut the dough to the sizes you need for baking. Place in non-stick-coated bread pans or in two bowls for proofing. Let rise for another 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Baking
- Pre-heat the oven to 400℉ (when you do this depends on how you’re baking the bread). You’ll want your dutch ovens to heat for a good half-hour before baking. Bread pans and coffee cans can go right in.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 400℉
- Reduce heat to 375℉ (if you’re using dutch ovens, remove the lids) and bake for another 10 minutes.
Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then cut in, spread on some butter, and maybe if you’re lucky a bit of strawberry-rhubarb jam.