Monday, April 28, 2008

Bread Recipe--for Lindsey R. & Dana

We looooooooooove homemade bread! It's called "Mama Mary Bread" at our house (it's Kelly's mom's recipe). The problem is (for me, anyway) is that it is TOO good. It's a honey wheat bread so I like it with honey butter smothered on it but I don't necessarily like it for sandwiches. I made it today using less honey (3/4 c. instead of 1 c.) and it was just perfect "sandwich-y bread" to me! Last week I used Hope's recipe (using my larger bread pans).

Here is the recipe I usually use. I make it with my KitchenAid mixer but it can be made without a mixer.....you just have to do more work (kneading it by hand).

Mama Mary Bread
Add the following to the mixing bowl:
1 heaping T. baking yeast
3/4c. - 1 c. honey (depending on how sweet you want your bread)
4 c. very warm water

Stir with wire whip.
Let rise approx. 15 min. until yeast pops to the top (don't go longer than 20-25 min.)

Put mixing bowl on the mixer and add:
1 T. salt
1 c. Canola oil

Using the wire beater start mixer on 2nd/3rd speed and slowly pour in 8-12 c. whole-wheat flour (you can use all ww flour or a mixture of ww and all-purpose....today I even added some oat flour). I know that's a pretty big cup-age range but it just depends on the weather/humidity. It usually takes me close to 12 cups, if not more. Lindsey, it might not take as much for you in IA. Mix in flour until it's no longer sticky.

Scrape dough from wire beater. Sprinkle top of dough with flour and cover with plastic lid, plastic wrap, or a towel. Let rise for 1 hour.
After 1 hr., knead with hook shaped attachment for 5 min. (2nd/3rd speed)

Dump dough on counter, divide and shape into 4 loaves. Put in greased bread pans (I have 2 different sizes....for this recipe I use the slightly smaller one). Cover with towel and let rise for 35 min. Put in cold oven(make sure pans don't touch) and bake for at least 30 min. at 350 degrees. Remove from oven, dump out loaves, and wrap in towel til cool. I store mine in gallon sized Ziplocs in the freezer or refrigerator.

When you're all done, you should have something that looks a little like this!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jen! I will definitely try this recipe...it sounds delicious! I guess if I'm going to make my own bread, then maybe a stand mixer would be a good mother's day gift to myself??? By the way...we did our weekly shopping yesterday after church and I spent a whopping $47 on groceries!!!! (It helps that we have a 1/2 of a beef in the freezer already) It felt so good to see that Wal-Mart bill under $200 for once! Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful ideas!

Anonymous said...

That's a month's worth of sacrament bread! LOL fyi ~ you can use sugar in place of honey ~ that was the "original" recipe. I prefer the honey however. Jen, you are amazing. That's it ~ just amazing. OXOXOXOXO

kg said...

YUM!!

gretchen said...

ok are you saying you used 3/4 cup of honey instead of 1 cup for mama mary's recipe. That is the recipe we use too from mckenzie...so I wanted to make double sure...

Anonymous said...

Okay Jen...I made the bread yesterday and it is delicious! I love sweet bread! Mine still turned out pretty dense though, not really like a sandwich bread. Is this how yours was too? Did I maybe not let it rise long enough? I am so clueless when it comes to bread making!

Jen said...

Gretchen--yes, I used 3/4 c. (intstead of 1 c.) honey in Mama Mary Bread. It was the first time I have done that and I thought it was really good. I used about 4 c. ww flour, 4 c. all-purp. flour and 2 c. oat flour. I also added 1/4 c. ground flax seed. I normally use more ww flour but that's all I had ground at the time.

Lindsey--My bread is always quite dense, esp. compared to store-bought bread. I think the longer you let it rise, the better. Depending on how warm my kitchen is on a given day, I have let it rise for up to double the amount of time that the recipe says. It really just takes practice and you'll "know" when it's right. I love sweet bread, too, but I was super happy with my results yesterday. Good luck!

danakat said...

Thanks Jen!
I am so excited to make this...but a little apprehensive too. I think I might eat the whole thing. Seriously.

I think you made this for me a year or so ago. You brought over some honey butter with it. Yep, It's all coming back to me now.
THAT was the BEST bread!! I shared some with the girls, but I begrudged every single bite and swallow.

Anonymous said...

Probably because I grew up with it but I love Mama Marys bread for sandwiches. You just can't beat it. Toast is good too. I may try to lessen the honey for some variety next time. Just all know that no one makes it quite like Mama Mary she adds that special love ingredient for sure!!

Dawn, said...

You're my hero! I am so very tempted to try this, thanks for sharing. Now that I have a stand mixer AND a decent oven, I guess I have no excuses.

Heather said...

Hey Jen,
I just had to get on here and let you know that I DID IT...I MADE WHEAT BREAD.

I have always thought this sounded so hard to do. I know nothing about bread making, but I DID IT!!! I EVEN GROUND MY OWN WHEAT! (Can you believe I have been a member all my life and never bought wheat.)

Anyway thank you for inspiring me to do this. My kids were in heaven this morning as they got their little bellies full of wheat bread! I felt so domestic too! :)