A Country style, whole-wheat loaf is a delicious and beginner-friendly bread to bake from pantry to oven in under 3 hours!
When I was little, bread and butter was my… well it was my bread and butter!
There’s something so comforting and timeless about a fresh loaf of bread- the crinkling of the crust, the fragrant smell from your oven that just screams home and safety as you eagerly watch your timer- ready and waiting for it to finally signal that your prize is ready.
I like to imagine that bread is one of the few unifiers of the world- because every culture has bread, and it’s been a staple in everyone’s homes for centuries. I like to imagine the millions, billions, of loaves in every size, shape, and flavor being placed on the table as millions, billions, of families dig in for a meal.
It’s comforting to know that humanity has its staples- that regardless of time or place or culture, flour salt, and water will always be there to remind us that we are all one. Even when we feel like many.
Bread has always been a comfort to me- the perfect companion for any meal, a constant treat on a hectic day, or just a warm hug on a chilly night. I started baking bread when I was in my early twenties and let me tell you- those first 10 or so loaves were completely crap!
Chefs and bakers will tell you that baking bread is a science- not an art. But I’m no scientist and given how prone I am to start freestyling my recipes you can see where my first attempts at baking the perfect loaf quickly fell apart.
Eventually, I learned, through so many trials and sooo many errors, how to make passable bread. Then passable turned into pretty good, and pretty good turned into some truly amazing loaves. The Scientific Bread Method probably has a line about something along those lines, but, again, I’m no scientist- just someone with a deep passion for carbs.
Anyway, this recipe is one that created because I was in need of a denser bread for stew, for butter and cheese, to eat when I wanted to feel like a Hobbit taking a break from farming and foraging (or whatever Hobbits do other than dress amazingly and throw perfectly nice rings into volcanos).
This is a bread that will stick to your bones and make your feel full. This is a bread that takes you back to a time before cars, before bills, and before capitalism- it’s just simply bread.
I wanted to incorporate a recipe that includes whole wheat flour into my rotation because of the benefits of including more fiber or whatever into my diet. More important that the health benefits though, is the unearned confidence I get to have from eating something I deem to be slightly healthier than it probably is- and not to mention it’s pretty darn good (if I do say so myself)!
Whole Wheat Country Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 1/2 cup Warm Water 100-110℉
- 1/3 cup Canola Oil
- 1 Egg
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the yeast and sugar to your warm water, stir, and then let sit for 5 minutes until bubbly.
- While your yeast is activating, mix the All Purpose Flour and Whole Wheat Flour together.
- Add oil, egg, salt, and enough mixed flour to form a soft dough and let rest for 5 minutes on the counter.
- Knead for 5 minutes, adding any leftover flour to the dough if needed. Once properly kneaded, form the dough into a ball and spray with oil, cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rest in a warm place until it's doubled in size (about an hour depending on your home temperature).
- Punch the dough and knead for a minute, then shape into a loaf and score. Then allow your loaf to rest while preheating the oven to 425° for 10 minutes.
- Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Once the internal temperature of the loaf is 200°, remove the bread from the oven and let cool.