Sunday, January 31, 2010

HBin5: Soft Whole Wheat Bread

I'm loving how easy it is to make the recipes in "Healthy Bread in 5."  This week's challenge was soft whole wheat bread and a few of its variations.  I mixed up a batch of the bread dough about a week ago and let it sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours, as directed.

The bread turned out great on my first attempt.


I enjoyed eating this bread with homemade apple butter.



A week later, I used the rest of the dough to make the apple struesel bread.  I was so excited about this recipe.  The bread has a swirl of diced apples, walnuts, raising and raw sugar.  It's like a healthier version of cinnamon-raisin bread.  It looked beautiful right out of the oven.



The only strange thing is that both loaves of bread ended up with a "crack" in the top crust.  It was especially noticeable with the apple struesel bread because the filling was oozing out.  I made sure to put the swirl's "seam" on the bottom of the loaf, so I'm not sure why it cracked.  Is anyone else having the same issue?  I'm wondering if it has to do with the "gluten cloak."

I didn't have time to make the hamburger/hot dog buns for this week's challenge.  Plus, I used up all the dough making the soft whole wheat bread loaf and the apple struesel loaf.  I must be making my loaves too big, because I usually can only get three loaves out of a batch of dough, not the four that the book calls for.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the apple struesel bread for an afternoon snack today, with a cut up pear on the side.  So good!




Really enjoyed this week's project.  I'm pretty excited about the next project: red beet buns and chocolate tangerine bars.  It will be quite a culinary adventure! 

12 comments:

  1. Your loaves look delicious! I had a tunnel in my loaf so your crack is no big deal. I think it might be from too wet dough or overproofing. I'm still trying to put my finger on the tunnel problem.

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  2. Your bread looks delicious! Great job!

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  3. Both your breads look wonderful. I love the crumb and filling in the apple bread and the apple butter looks delicious!

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  4. Both of your breads look wonderful. It seems like a lot of the breads had cracks. I think it makes them look pretty:D

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  5. My loaves are different every time - but looks don't matter once it is in your mouth. Great job!

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  6. There were a few other members that had their breads "crack" just like yours did. I wonder if maybe the oven was not heating evenly. Have you tested it? Sometimes an oven will be hotter towards the back or on a side and the uneven heat can cause cakes and breads to bake faster on one side and crack.

    But your bread looks fabulous and I bet it was over the top GOOD with the apple butter!

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  7. Great looking bread. I also ate mine with homemade apple butter. Delish!

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  8. they both look fab, oh wow with homemade apple butter is the recipe on here?
    Rebecca

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  9. Both your breads look great. I'm looking forward to the next challenge as well, but I've got to get some spelt flour somewhere...
    ~Jenny~

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  10. The bread looks delicious! I would love that apple butter recipe as well...I am a sucker for fruit/veggie butters. Especially on a sandwich with PB!

    Many of my loaves have cracked as well and I have NO idea why. It doesn't really bother me though. I just chalk it up to my own inadequacy :p

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  11. I got those same cracks! some people suggested that it was a temp issue in my oven. another suggested it was a lack of release of gases or something in the dough and that if I had made a slit down the middle prior to cooking, then the crack wouldn't happen. It didn't really matter cuz it all tasted great anyway.
    Your bread looks wonderful!!!

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  12. Wow! That is the nicest HBin5 bread loaf I have ever seen! You've inspired me to dive into this!

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