Soaked Whole Wheat Bread

 I have been searching for a sandwich bread recipe that I love. Ohhhh, I think this is it! I have made it a couple of times, changing things a bit and, today, I think I have achieved success. The original recipe comes from Shaye at The Elliott Homestead. Please check out her blog. It is AMAZING and her writing is so much fun. Anyway, I had to change the recipe a bit because the original calls for more flour than my mixer can handle. Here is my version:

SOAKED WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

5 1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour-You will add up to 2 more cups on baking day (I use White Whole Wheat)

1/2  C. Cultured Buttermilk

1 1/2 C. Warm Water

1 C. Oats (old fashioned)

1/2 C. Honey

1/3 C. Melted Coconut Oil or Butter

The afternoon before you want to bake, do the following:

Combine the ingredients in the bowl of your mixer. Cover with a damp cloth (I cheat and use a damp paper towel) and plastic wrap. Let it sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours.

Baking Day:

Combine the following in a small bowl-

1/2 C. Warm water

1 tsp. Honey

2 1/2 Tbsp. Dry Active yeast

(If you are looking at Shaye's recipe, you will notice that I didn't make changes to this part of the recipe. I have found that leaving this the same as the original makes the bread rise much better than cutting the amounts in half)

Let this sit for about 5 minutes until nice and foamy.

Add yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix until all combined. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp. Sea Salt and mix it in. Add more flour if needed to make the dough come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Let mixer do the kneading work for you for about 5 minutes.  Dump out dough into a large bowl that has been oiled all over. Turn dough over to oil the top. Cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size. Punch dough down and turn over. Cover and let rise a second time until doubled, about 30 minutes. Punch down again and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf and put in oiled baking pans. Let rise for another 30 minutes until doubled and then put in a preheated to 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.

*NOTE*

I have kinda large loaf pans so I only get 2 loaves. If you have regular sized loaf pans you can divide the dough into 3 loaves.   This recipe is being shared at Frugally Sustainable.