Now that i have been baking cakes and desserts for a while, it was time for me to take the next step. Incidentally, i got that chance pretty early in my baking days.
Montreal is having lovely rains past few days and i love how the colors around me change to celebrate the glory of the rain god. Though i am not a person who loves to get drenched in rains or venture out, i have my own ways of having fun. My perfect rainy day schedule involves staying indoors, cooking myself a comfort meal snug under my sheets watching some old timer classics and a long hot cup of Indian Chai.
What i really wanted for my comfort food on one of those awesome rainy days was Garlic Bread. In pursuit of making myself some, i fished in my fridge but i realised i had run out of bread. I was so eager to have garlic bread that i decided to bake my own bread !
What i really love about baking is the journey one takes to have an end product and the little joy i get every time i see my baking dough/ batter rise and take form. Its a lovely feeling to be a creator and the love & passion of the baker really gets infused in the food he/she creates. No wonders there is a different aroma and taste in the home made foods – its personally, emotionally and passionately enriched !
Here is my first ever attempt of baking a bread and trust me, it was just like the ones we buy in the market – Soft, perfect looking and ‘oh so aromatic’. My garlic bread has never tasted better !
Try baking this simple lovely bread at home yourself and you’ll understand what joy it gives 🙂
Whole Wheat Bread Loaf
Whole wheat bread loaf
Recipe
Preparation time (including dough resting time) : 2.5 hrs
Baking Time : 40-45 minutes
Makes – 1 bread loaf (about 650 gms)
- 2 cups Wheat flour
- 50 gms butter –softened (you can also use vegetable oil though i prefer butter for baking goods)
- 1.5 tsp active dried yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2/3 cup warm water
Method
- In a bowl, take about 1/4 th cup warm water (warm to boiling water). To this, add the sugar and add the dry active yeast. Stir and allow the yeast to froth.
- Now, take a big bowl and sieve in flour and add salt and butter to this.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour and add more warm water to form a soft dough.
- Place this dough in a well oiled deep bowl and cover the bowl with clear film. Let it stand for about 1 hour. The dough will rise to double the size.
- Remove the clear film and punch down the dough. Knead for a couple of minutes. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about a thickness of 3/4 inch thick in a rectangular shape (add the flour on the working surface to knead out the dough).
- Roll the dough sheet to form a bread loaf. Place in greased loaf tin. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and paprika on top if desired.
- Cover with clear film and let it rest and rise for about 45 minutes. Make sure the tin is deep enough that the dough is placed till about half the depth of the tin as the dough is rise to double the volume when left for rising.
- Bake at 400 F for about 25-30 minutes or till golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let it cool down completely before cutting into slices.
Fresh home made – home baked bread is ready !!
This changes your whole perception about baking and makes you feel so elated that its definitely worth the efforts !
The result was a beautiful, light, fluffy fresh bread loaf. I was so excited to cut through the slices that i could not stop smiling 🙂 This really infused me with so much motivation and encouragement that its tough to describe. If u are really enthusiastic about cooking and feel intimidated about baking, try baking this simple bread at home and u won’t be disappointed at all 🙂
I did make myself some some yummy garlic bread that evening and i used a home made breaded bread version for the same. Keep reading the blog for that recipe is going to come around soon!!
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Lovely. I normally make normal white bread because it just seems to work better for me (and the boyfriend prefers that) but will have to give this a try because I prefer whole wheat 🙂 Just have to find a good flour!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for reading the recipe. I prefer using wheat myself. You can also try and combine both the flours (all purpose flour and wheat flour in 1:1 ratio), that comes out great too and would have a much neutral taste. You may also like to see my another bread recipe – Golden Onion Bread . The recipe can be found here : http://divinespicebox.com/2013/07/31/golden-onion-bread/
I’ll check it out 😉 thank you for the suggestion on the flour!
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Awesome Prachi !! wanna to try this soon !!
Thanks a lot Preethi ! please do… i make these every week .. comes out just fine ! 🙂
Thank you for this wonder recipe !!
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I’m bemused by the oven temp., Prachi – that’s only medium heat … in fact, 190° celsius !
Yes. U don’t want too much heat but it has to be cooked for longer time.. that way the bread won’t dry out.
What should be the temp as per your past experience?
“Past experience’ not relevant: I can make only one loaf, and that’s a no-knead that never fails to turn out brilliant but takes nearly an hour of oven temperature at 250° !!! – part of which is heating the overn up …
Oh wow ! Thats a lot of temperature… i hope we both are talking about celcius here. I make bread every week and follow this same recipe, maybe u can give this a try as well. My recipe needs pre-heat too but that takes 5-7 minutes, no more.
I am going to give this a try – largely because you suggest it as a recipe for your buns. But I should love to see how a loaf turns out, first ! 🙂
Thanks a lot for the recipe Prachi… the bread came out so well. Very fluffy and tastes yummy. Only thing was it didnt rise like the one in your picture above. Have you doubled the ingredients for this? But one this is for sure, i am not buying a store bought Wheat bread from now on.. this is soo gud!!! Thanks again 🙂
Thanks a lot Nidhi. I am really happy to know that you gave my recipe a go and it came out well. Well i actually used the same amount of ingredients. Sometimes it is just the quality of the yeast, or the fact if you knead the dough well and let it rise enough. The rising is an important phase and factors like surrounding weather makes all the difference in the degree of the rise.
I am sure since the recipe came out well, u would give it many more trials 🙂 I suggest in case you think the dough has not risen the first time, u can keep it for upto 2 hours and see if that helps. Also, make sure the bowl u keep the dough in is deep enough (atleast half empty)when u put the dough to rest and cover the mouth of the bowl with cling film really well. Usually in my case, the cling film swells up and forms a dome on the bowl after rising.
Hope these tips help!
Thanks again Prachi for taking out time and replying. I did some research and got to know that the yeast which i got here in Japan, is a little different and does not need to be dissolved in water and sugar before. this can be directly mixed with the flour mixture. So maybe thats where i was wrong. But, you ll be glad to know that I an left with only 1/4 of the bread I baked yesterday… thats how wonderful it was. And yes, you bet, i am going to try this again very soon and shall update you about the results 🙂 Thanks again!!!
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hi Prachi,
Tried your wheat bread recipe. My bread flattened when baking in the oven. Could you tell me what I could have done wrong??
Thanks,
Ravali
Hi Ravali,
Thanks for trying the recipe. I am sorry to hear that the recipe did not work for you. I am not entirely sure what might have gone wrong as i have never had such a situation myself but let us look at your situation here and try to sort this out together. Do not get dis-heartened as i know baking a bread is a herculean task and can be intimidating the first couple of times but stick in there till you get it perfect, it is so worth the efforts ! 🙂
As per the rules of baking with yeast go, there are few things you can answer for me to see if things went fine.
1) What type of yeast did you use? Did your yeast proof well when you put it in the warm water + sugar solution?
2) Did you let the bread rest 2 times as said in the recipe? Did your dough rise to double quantity both the times ? Depending on the temperature inside your kitchen, sometimes it takes more than the prescribed time for the dough to rise?
3) Did you pre-heat the oven before putting the bread for baking?
Please answer the following for me. If you can send me a picture of the flattened bread, it would easier to figure out the problem.
Thanks for writing in !
I hope we can sort out this issue 🙂
Can I use Sujata brand 100% whole wheat flour?
Malini i have never used Sujata brand Atta but it seems to me that it should work either way. Give it a go 🙂
What could be the substitute for yeast?
I would say maybe baking soda but i am not sure if it would yield similar results. I have personally not tried it. Maybe you give it a go and let me know. Thanks 🙂
What did you do with 50gms of butter. Did not mention any in the recipe direction.
Nevermind just saw it. Sorry
i was just about to write… refer step 2 😛
Hope u try the bread recipe.. it does work !Thank u 🙂
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