Honey Whole Wheat Bread

1 C lukewarm milk
1 C lukewarm water
1 ½ Tbl. Yeast
1 Tabl. + 1 tsp. Kosher salt
¾ C Honey
5 Tbls. melted butter
6 -7 C whole wheat flour (I use a mix of Hard white wheat and Hard winter red wheat)

Combine the yeast, salt, and about half of the lukewarm water and milk mixture, and then the honey, and butter.Using a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook, start to mix in about 5 C of the flour. Add in the remaining flour and water and milk mixture slowly, until you get the desired consistency (you may not need all of the water and milk). If you’re making free-form loaves, like I do, the dough should be tacky, but not sticky.Place the dough in a bowl with a lid, but not airtight. Let the dough rise for about 3-4 hours. Separate the dough into two equal pieces. Take one of the pieces of dough, and shape into a loaf. Place the loaf on a bread peel that has been generously dusted with corn meal. Or put it in a loaf pan that has been lightly greased. Do the same with the remaining dough. Let the dough rise again for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350F (with the pizza stone in the oven if you’re doing the free-form method).Bake for about 35 minutes. The internal temperature of bread should reach 180 F. Allow to cool before slicing.

(You can substitute Olive oil for the butter, but it will mask some of the honey flavor.)
(Hint: if you’re having trouble getting the dough to rise properly, add in 1 Tbl. of wheat gluten.)

Makes 2 loaves

(Recipe and Photo courtesy of Pirijo Silver.)