Wheat Bread

On this fine Labor Day weekend, I knew I'd be making some of this vegetable soup. But when I woke up this morning, I realized I had no bread or croutons of any kind.

In addition to being Labor Day weekend, it was also the University of Minnesota's Welcome Week. I've lived in this area long enough to know to shun all things related to U of M students moving in. Unfortunately, this includes the entire Quarry Place Shopping Center, which happens to contain my closest grocery store.

So I just decided to avoid that clusterf*ck entirely and make my own bread. This is only like the third time I've made bread from scratch, and it's getting better each time. This was actually pretty good, as I followed some foolproof Smitten Kitchen instructions. Bellow is my recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup crushed bran cereal

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon turmeric

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm milk and/or water

Add the yeast to the warm water/milk. Combine all other ingredients and mix well. Add yeast mixture and mix well with your hands or an electric mixer. Once all the bumps are out. Form a ball with the dough. Cover and let sit somewhere for several hours. When you see that it has risen, knead the dough well. Let sit for another hour. Knead well and then form a loaf with three slits on top. Bake in bread pan at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 425 degrees and cook for another 15 minutes or so.