Try Something New Thursdays~ Honey Wheat Bread

There are actually four things that I could share with you today.  Four NEW things that I am trying/have made.

1.  Valentine's gift that the kid's and I made for their Daddy.

I had taken the pictures of them hanging from ropes at a playground last summer and the more that I looked at them, the more inspired I became.  The caption says "We love Hanging Out with you, Daddy!"


2.  Memorizing a passage of scripture with Lindsay.

I distinctly remember the first passage of scripture that I ever memorized.  I was in third grade at a Christian school and our teacher had us memorize Psalm 1.  Linds has memorized verses, but not a passage, so it's time!  I wanted to use something that would talk about the resurrection of Jesus, so that she could memorize the passage for Easter.  I will be joining her in memorizing Luke 24:1-6a.  Anyone want to join us?!!!

3.  Celebrating Purim- TODAY!

The Bible study that I am involved in right now is on Esther.  The timing of the Jewish Purim celebration is perfect!  We will be throwing a party tonight, making Hamantaschen cookies , and teaching the kids the story of Esther.  It should be fun!

4.  Making Honey Wheat Bread

I love baking bread.  I have a dream to make all of my own bread for our family.  I was reminded last week as my sister and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory that I love their honey wheat bread.  And then I remembered that I found a recipe for this bread on Pinterest.  A few days ago, I looked up the recipe and then headed to the store to get the ingredients.

You can find the recipe here , but I made some changes to it, so I thought I would share those with you as well.

I am not a food blogger, so I don't think to take pictures along the way.  But this recipe is a complete success, so it needs to be recorded so I can make it again.  Probably tomorrrow...

Here is the only picture that I have of this delicious bread.  It's almost gone.  If you make it, you will understand why...

Honey Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups of warm water
4 Tbsp. of butter, margarine or vegetable oil (I used oil)
1/2 cup honey
3 1/2 cups of wheat flour
3 to 4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. of Cocoa
2 Tbsp. active dry yeast (2 packages)
2 tsp. salt
cornmeal
oats

Combine first three ingredients and one package of yeast.  Mix well.  Pour the wheat flour on top of the wet ingredients.  Add remaining yeast, cocoa and salt.  Let "sponge" for 10 minutes.

Stir in all purpose flour, one cup at a time, until you have a semi-thick dough.  Stir/knead in bowl, until a smooth dough is formed.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to double in size- 20 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle flour on your work surface and divide the dough into 8 balls.  Let rest for 4 minutes.  Shape dough into small loaves.  Roll in cornmeal and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and allow bread to rise in the preheating oven covered with aluminum foil.  Take the pan out of the oven when it has reached the desired temperature and remove the foil.  Sprinkle oats on top of dough and gently press down.  Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

This bread is best served warm with butter and honey, but it also makes for great, kid-sized sandwiches!

My favorite thing about this bread (besides the fact that it is YUMMY!) is that it makes several loaves.  We have enjoyed it with two different meals, the kids have enjoyed turkey sandwiches in their lunches and Gibson keeps sneaking bread for a snack.

There are two things that I left out from the original recipe.  One was the caramel coloring simply because I couldn't find it.  I am not really interested in getting the bread to be dark- I am much more interested in how it tastes.  The second was the vital wheat gluten.  I feel a little guilty for that.  Because anything with "vital" in the name somehow compels it to be used.  Alas, I couldn't find that ingredient either, but since the bread turned out perfectly, I think it might not be as vital as one might assume...

Have you tried something new this week?  Please share!