Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Healthy can be tasty too

Have been enjoying way too much good food while I was in Singapore vacationing. I guess that's natural for most people, since who would look out for healthy food when you are enjoying yourself? But now, guilt is slowly sinking in and besides exercising, I have better make something more healthy this time round instead of all those sweets stuff. Since I have been thinking of making wheat bread for a long time now, I immediately got in to bake it. There are so many whole wheat bread recipes out there, it's really hard to know which one is the right one....a tasty one more importantly. But I guess, only trying it out yourself can only solve this riddle. Anyway, I remembered I found a pretty good whole wheat bread recipe from a Taiwan blog awhile back and so I decided to give it to try.
The other good reason why I have chosen this recipe over others was my mom gave me some really good honey that she bought from Korea during her recent vacation. Cute looking container don't you agree, heehee. ;) My mom told me that this figuring is the symbol of the Earth God whom looks after the land and flowers which yield this delicious and nutritious honey. ;)She did instruct me to take a tablespoon whenever I want to smooth my throat. But I figured using some of the honey to bake this wheat loaf, it probably gonna yield a better tasting bread?! You bet! ;) But I guess if you don't have imported quality honey from Korea, you can still make this loaf with your usual honey, no problem.;0

I did make some changes to the original recipe, so here is my version:
Ingredients for Honey Whole Wheat Loaf:
250g bread flour
50g whole wheat flour
35g caster sugar
1 tbsp of quality honey
4g instant active yeast
3g salt
50ml fresh whipping cream
160ml fresh milk
20g unsalted butter, room temperature


Method:
  • Mix all ingredients except butter in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
  • Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes to 2hrs.
  • Punch out the air in the dough and divide it into 3 equal portions.
  • Roll out each portion into a long flat oval shape and roll up one end to make it into a swiss roll form.
  • Placed the dough into a greased loaf tin and repeat with the rest of the 2 portions.
  • Cover and let proof for another 2hrs or till the loaf fills 90% of the tin.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the top of loaf with egg wash.
  • Bake loaf in the oven for 35 minutes. If top browns too quickly, cover with aluminum foil till baking time is up.
  • When done, take out from oven and unmold immediately and let cool on rack before slicing.
Usually people that love white bread will not choose wheat bread since it's texture is slightly coarse. But this whole wheat bread I made is really not bad, it does have the grainy texture but yet it's soft and yummy. The ultimate test will be with my children since they don't like wheat bread. But guess what, even my little girls just devour it with just some butter and jam without giving it a second thought! Success! ! Not convinced? Okay okay, check out the photo below:
Need I say more? Hurry and go make a loaf for yourself and your family today! Cheerio!

14 comments:

  1. I think this is very healthy bread. I like the taste of wholemeal bread. Will try this recipe soon. Sometimes it's really hard to get something healthy yet tasty. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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  2. Thanks Grace, I totally agree on the dilemma b/w healthy and taste. But I bet you will like this recipe, enjoy!

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  3. Your whole-wheat bread looks very, very soft ... just like plain white bread. I personally prefer whole-wheat ones ... I've bookmarked this recipe. Hopefully, will get to try it in the future.

    Btw, good blog you've got here! Keep it up!

    Regards,
    Pei-Lin

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  4. Thanks Pei-Ling and welcome to my blog! Went to check out yours and saw that you are really good in your photography! Yes, do try out this delicious wheat loaf, it's already the 3rd day but the bread is still soft and yummy. :)

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  5. I will love to try this recipe :) Can I assume that you use dairy cream for this recipe? Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Hi Happy HomeBaker,

    Yes, it's dairy fresh whipping cream. Hmmm...so far I have yet to use non-dairy cream for bread baking. Let me know how u like this recipe HHB. ;) And you are most welcome!

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  7. This wheat bread is as soft as white bread.
    No wonder it is good as it is with no spread. It is the Honey :-)

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  8. Hi,

    May I know is instant active yeast the same as instant dry yeast? I've been looking around the baking shops in Singapore but mostly don't sell instant active yeast or dry active yeast, can only find instant dry yeast. Thanks so much!

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  9. Hi javsmama,
    Please go ahead and use instant dry yeast for this recipe. Instant dry yeast and active dry yeast are interchangeable so there's is no harm if you cannot find active dry yeast. Go to http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/yeastbreadtip.htm for more info. Hope that helps.

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  10. Hi HBS,
    I tried this yesterday and it turns out really nice and soft! I was thinking adding only 1 tbsp can taste the honey? But it sure can. There was a hint of honey taste. I added some multi-grains too! So this is really a healthy loaf of bread! I love it! If only I don't have to add dairy cream though...:p

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  11. Hi Jane,

    Glad you like this recipe! Actually you can replace the cream with full cream milk or low fat milk. I think the result will differ very little. So glad to see you baking more often now! ;)

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  12. Hi Honey Bee, I tried your recipe this morning and I was wondering what size of pan did you use? because my bread came out really short. I followed the recipe exactly. Can you tell me what went wrong. Thanks!

    -Uriel

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  13. Uriel, I used a 9x4.5x4.5 inch loaf pan. It's not a tall loaf so don't think it'll fill the whole pan completely. It's quite hard for me to troubleshoot for you, so I can't tell you what went wrong just base on what you said. Check your temperature and yeast again.

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