Tony's Wheat Bread

Tony used to make this when he was in college and I was working two or three jobs to keep him there. We could not afford much in the way of groceries and he literally made our daily bread. It made awesome sandwiches and toast! The nutrition facts are set for thin slices.

Tony's Wheat Bread 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 packages instant yeast
1 t salt
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (vegetable oil is good)
2 eggs
3-3/12 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 - 1 1/2 cups more flour - your choice white or whole wheat, Tony used whole wheat

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.

When measuring flour by cups, lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup. DO NOT PACK. Or your bread will be dry and crumbly. I cannot give you the weights for measurements as we never did such a thing. So just go lightly with the flour.

Heat the water, milk, and oil in a sauce pan over low heat until it is very warm - not hot, just warmer than your own body temperature. If it gets hot, allow it to cool a bit. Heat and time are the only two things that will kill the yeast which means your bread won't rise - but don't make a federal case out of it, just shoot for very warm.

Add the heated liquid and two eggs to the flour mixture and blend at low speed with a mixer until it is moistened. Then beat three minutes at medium speed.

With a nice large wooden spoon, stir in the additional whole wheat flour until it forms a sticky dough. Then either in a large bowl or on a board or other cleanable firm surface, gradually add in another 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cup more flour as you knead and work the dough until it is very smooth and pliable. Keep kneading and flouring until it is no longer sticky. This should take about five minutes or so depending on how strong your kneading fingers are. Me, it would take ten minutes, Tony does it in five which is why it is his bread.

Return to the mixing bowl which has been cleaned and very lightly oiled. Cover and place out of the way of cool drafts until it has risen to about double in size.

Divide into two portions. Shape for loaf pans and allow to rise again.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

If you like it crusty, just pop in the oven. If you like a softer crust, brush with melted butter before baking.

Bake until the loaf is done. This will be about 30 minutes - it has been a while since we've made this, and I never did write down the length of time on my recipe card, just the word Bake. 30 minutes is pretty standard for this type of bread.

When it browns a bit, is firm, and smells wonderful, give it a thump in the center with the flick of a finger. If it sounds hollow, it's done.

If it does not seem done when it is browning, tent it with aluminum foil to stop the browning.

Cool, slice, and consume.