I have been on a quest lately to come up with a really good sandwich bread recipe that not only meets the requirement of being healthy but also edible by kid standards. Store bought bread is convenient without a doubt, it also has a lot of junk in it. Most supermarket brands have high fructose corn syrup in them. Did you know that when you make bread the amount of sweetener needed is very small, just enough to feed the yeast. My recipe has 2 tbs of honey for the entire loaf. So the bread companies are putting high fructose corn syrup in because they are too cheap to spring for the tiny amount of more expensive, better quality sweetener. Not to mention preservatives, that don't really seem to work that well considering my bread lately has been moldy after a couple of days.
Homemade bread may seem very daunting, but it really is easy, especially if you have a bread machine. You can do this in a kitchen aid mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand if you don't have a bread machine. With the machine it takes only a few minutes of my actual time. This recipe was adapted from The Bread Bible but I did change a few things.
2 2/3 c. all purpose unbleached flour
1c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/2 c. flax seed
2 c. warm water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs honey
In the pan of your bread machine or your bowl if not using the machine combine the flours and flax, make a well in the center and add the honey, yeast and salt followed by the water. Set the machine to the dough cycle and leave it alone. If mixing by hand or machine mix ingredients until a smooth ball of dough forms and let rise for 40 minutes. After the dough is done, remove from machine or bowl and punch down on a floured surface, the dough will be slightly sticky. Place in a well greased loaf pan and cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap.
Let rise for 50 minutes. Meanwhile heat oven to 375 and place racks on the lowest two positions, place a cookie sheet on each rack. When the dough has risen, very carefully remove the plastic wrap and gently but quickly score the top with a sharp knife.
Very gently place loaf pan on top of the top cookie sheet in oven, pour 1/2 c. ice cubes onto the lower pan and gently close the oven. Let bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and remove loaf fro pan to cool. Let cool two hours before cutting. Keep bread tightly wrapped and it will keep for 3 days.
