Alive and Well in Kahului carries Bob’s Red Mill products, including two bread mixes. This week I picked up the Hearty Whole Grain Bread Mix and baked myself a loaf. It’s been quite a while since I’ve actually had any bread, so it’s a nice treat to have this week.
The yeast that came with the bread didn’t foam, so I was a little worried. The yeast not foaming could mean that the package had been on the shelf for far too long. If the yeast won’t foam, often times the bread won’t rise. You’re supposed to throw the yeast water out and try again, but I decided to just give it a shot anyway.
I let the dough rise on the counter top by the window, and it didn’t rise a lot, but it rose enough for me to be fine with it.
The bread rose more in the oven, and after 25 minutes of baking I covered the pan loosely with foil to prevent over browning.
When the timer went off I checked the internal temperature with my instant read thermometer and decided to let the bread have another 3 minutes in the oven. By then the bread was ready and I took it out to cool.
Here in Hawaii the humidity dictates storing bread in the refrigerator. Luckily I have some larger freezer bags that I use for bread storage.
My final measurements on my loaf of bread were:
2 1/4 inches in height
10 inches in length
5 1/4 inches in width
The bread wasn’t too short to make sandwiches or Holy Eggs/Bird in a Nest.
I like the nutty texture and flavor to the bread. It’s like a delicious brown bread. I really like that it’s whole grain, and very few gluten-free breads are. This makes it a lot healthier for me, and if I am going to eat bread then I want it to be good for me and not just a treat that does me no good. I recommend it highly.
What’s nice about mixes is that you don’t have to keep around a bunch of flours to make up some bread unless that’s something you do all of the time. Because I don’t make bread consistently, I’ll buy this mix again to make up a single loaf every once in a while.
It was SO yummy! And hearty!!