Tasty Tuesday - My Favorite Honey Wheat Bread

   Here's my all-time favorite bread recipe!  This can be made as loaves or rolls and I guarantee your family will love it!

Ingredients:
3 cups of unbleached flour
2 pkgs. of dry yeast
1 & 1/2 tsp. of salt
1 cup of water
1 cup of small curd cottage cheese
4 tbsp. of butter
1/2 cup of honey
2 eggs
2 & 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2  cup regular oats (uncooked oatmeal)

Directions:
Step 1-
  In a large bowl, mix two cups of the unbleached flour, salt and dry yeast together.

Step 2-
In a saucepan, heat the water, butter, honey and cottage cheese, stirring constantly until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm.  The temperature should be about 120 degrees if you have a thermometer or just stick your finger in and it should be warm, but not hot.
Heat this only until the butter is melted.  Do not boil or let it get too hot!  If it gets too hot, it will kill your yeast and the dough won't rise.

Step 3 -                                                                                                                                                  

Add warm liquid and slightly beaten eggs to the flour mixture.  Mix well.

I also added 2 tablespoons of milled flax seed. That's the dark stuff you see.  Someone told me it was healthy, so I threw some in. You could also add sunflower seeds or nuts for a little more texture.

Step 4 -

Next, add the oatmeal.  Then add the whole wheat flour and the rest of the unbleached flour and mix.  Your dough will be pretty thick now and ready to turn out on a floured surface.

Step 5 -

Turn out on the floured surface and add more flour, as you knead the bread, until the dough is no longer sticky and forms a nice mound.

Step 6 -

Place the mound of dough in a large greased bowl.  I usually spray my bowl with Pam and then I spray the Pam on the top of the dough after I place it in the bowl.

Step 7 -

Now cover the dough with a towel and let it rise until it's double in size. This usually takes about 45 minutes.

Try to set it where it's warm and it will rise a little faster. I usually put it on the stove top ( don't turn on the stove) and turn the vent hood light on to make it a little warmer.

Step 8 -

When the bread has doubled in size, punch it down several times with your fist.

Step 9 -

Divide the sough into two pieces with your hands and place each one into a greased loaf pan, shaping as you go.

Step 10 -

Now cover these and, once more, let them rise until double in size.

Step 11 -

Next, place the loaves in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Hint: If the bread sounds hollow when you tap it with the handle end of a table knife, then you know it's done.  Remove from the oven and  enjoy!  I like to take a stick of butter and run it over the top of the loaf while it's still hot.  This gives it a nice, tasty crust that stays soft.

The white you see on top of the loaves is the melting butter.  Yum-m-m!