Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Dough

So the whole reason I started this blog a few months ago was because I joined a group that was cooking it’s way through the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  Click here to see what other people are doing with this dough over at Big Black Dog.

  It’s time for another HBin5 post.  This month’s challenge was soft whole wheat sandwich bread and apple strudel bread.  Also on the menu were  hamburger or hot dog buns but I didn’t make those because we’re not big burger or hot dog eaters around here.  Instead I made cinnamon rolls out of it. 

The bread was good, soft and perfect for sandwiches.  It didn’t really rise that much, so I think next time I would fill the pan up further, my slices weren’t exactly big enough for a real sandwich.  My kids pretty much made it all into cinnamon toast.  I put it under some lentils (and so did my 4 year old) too.   I’ll be posting about that shortly.

The apple strudel bread wasn’t really my cup of tea.  It was fun to make though.   I’m not that into stuffed breads.  One of my kids picked all the apples out, ate them and left the rest of his slice.  I dropped the rest of it off at my parents house and my dad claimed to have thoroughly enjoyed it – he’s likes stuffed breads.  

This was pretty classic HBin5.  Five minutes of mixing one day and five minutes of shaping the next.  Wait for a rise and bake it.  Since there was no butter in the dough I formed my cinnamon rolls and put them in the pan then covered it and put it  in the refrigerator overnight.  When my 10 year old got up the next morning he put the cold pan in the cold oven and set it to 350.  They were nicely done in a half an hour or so.  I find this works with breads with no butter in them.  If there is butter it hardens and prevents the bread from rising slowly in the fridge (that’s not science, it’s just my experience).

Because this book is new I have been asked not to post the recipe online.  But you can buy it here.

Apple Strudel Bread

Sliced apples

Chopped apples

Rolled out dough with apples, raw sugar, cinnamon and raisins waiting to be rolled up and formed into a loaf

I keep rolling whole wheat dough on my counter and noticing how little contrast there is between the color of my countertops and dough.  When I chose the countertops I really didn’t take that into consideration.   Actually I never would have chosen differently I LOVE my new countertops.

The loaf of apple bread rising

a well filled slice. . . actually so well filled it was kind

of hard to eat

Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

2 loaves of soft whole wheat sandwich bread freshly baked

a few slices of bread

Cinnamon Rolls

I rolled the dough, spread it with softened butter and sprinkled it generously with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Rolled and cut it and put it in the fridge for an overnight rise.  After baking it at 350 in the morning I frosted it with a coffee flavored frosting and spooned some of the leaky cinnamon filling on the top.  These were quite good.