Honey Wheat Berry Bread
A 70s era hearty honey bread made with chewy wheat berries folded right into the dough. Goes great with cozy soups, and makes fabulous toast!
Servings: 16
Equipment
- stand mixer optional but handy
Ingredients
wheat berries
- 1/2 cup dry wheat berries
bread
- 1 2/3 cups whole milk*, warm
- 4 1/2 tsp dry active yeast, (2 packets)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour**
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
for brushing the baked bread
Instructions
- Put the wheat berries and 2 cups of water in a saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil. Gently boil until they are tender but still firm and chewy. This may take an hour or more, add more water as needed. Drain and set aside. You can do this day or two ahead if you like.
- Warm the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds. You're just looking for lukewarm ~ It should feel warm to the touch, not hot. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you'll switch to the dough hook later) add the warm milk, dissolved yeast, the honey, melted butter, and the salt. Add 4 cups of the flour and mix until the dough is well combined.
- Switch to the dough nook and add the final 1 1/2 cups flour and wheat germ to the bowl. Knead for about 5-6 minutes on speed 2 ~ until the dough is smooth, elastic, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If kneading by hand this will take about 10-12 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Note: make sure your dough is in a warm spot or it will not rise properly.
- Punch down the dough and transfer to a lightly floured surface to knead in the wheat berries. Take a couple of minutes to get them well dispersed into the dough.
- Form into 2 loaves*** and place in greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled in bulk.
- Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 40-45 minutes. Note: my loaf and rolls were done a little quicker, but every oven is different.
- Brush the loaves or rolls with a bit of melted butter after they come out of the oven, this softens the crust and gives it a nice golden shine.
- The cooled bread can be kept in an airtight container for a couple of days, or frozen for up to 3 months.
Notes
*Older recipes including this one often call for scalding the milk, but with modern milk it isn’t strictly necessary. I tested it both ways and found little difference.
**The recipe calls for whole wheat or pastry whole wheat flour.
***Or you can form the second half of dough into rolls.
Recipe adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure
Nutrition
Calories: 242 kcal · Carbohydrates: 46 g · Protein: 7 g · Fat: 3 g · Saturated Fat: 2 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g · Trans Fat: 0.1 g · Cholesterol: 7 mg · Sodium: 314 mg · Potassium: 129 mg · Fiber: 3 g · Sugar: 7 g · Vitamin A: 85 IU · Vitamin C: 0.04 mg · Calcium: 43 mg · Iron: 2 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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