PassionHoney Whole Wheat Lemon Bread

When the bread was rising, I walked outside and looked at some gardening and when I walked back into the house I remembered why I made the bread. It smelled so good and sweet that I was excited to have a slice of the warm bread when it came out of the oven. This recipe was created by my friend Susanna and her sister. They did an amazing job and I love getting the chance to make all sorts of honey recipes with them!

What you need:
5 cups of Whole-Wheat Flour (3 cups for initial mix, 2 cups for mix in)
2 Tablespoons Dry Yeast
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 1/4 Cup of Hot Water
1/2 Cup PassionHoney
3 Tablespoons of Shortening, room temperature
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
Glaze:
1/4 Cup of PassionHoney
1/2 Cup of Vegetable Oil
Grease 2 large 9x5 inch pans, set aside.


How you do it:

In a large mixing bowl, combine the 3 cups of flour, yeast, salt, hot water, PassionHoney, shortening, and lemon juice. Stir briskly with a wooden spoon to blend. Add in 1 more cup of flour. Beat for 1 minute. The batter should be thick and rubber-like, and you should be able to pull it away from the spoon in strands. If it does not, add in another cup of flour or until the dough is moist and elastic.

If kneading by hand, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead with the rhythmic motion of push-turn-fold for about 10 minutes. Occasionally, change the kneading rhythm by throwing the dough down hard against the work surface. If using the dough hook, knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl.

Form each loaf by pressing a ball under your palms or with a rolling pin into flat oval, roughly the length of the baking pan. Fold the oval in half, pinch the seam tight to seal, tuck under the ends, and place in the pan. Brush the surface with the glaze of PassionHoney and vegetable oil.

Place the pans in the refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours to double the volume. Letting the pans rise in the refrigerator lets the bread rise slowly and increases the lemon and honey flavors. The bread can also be left to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or 1 hour.

If rise in the refrigerator, remove the bread pans from the refrigerator and let warm to room temperature while the oven heats to 400* F. If risen in a warm place at room temperature, the bread can be placed into the oven as soon as it is done preheating.

Bake on the low rack for about 25 minutes. When the loaves are brown and tapping the bottom crust yields a hard, hollow sound when they are done. If not, return the loaves to their pans, and let cook for another 10 minutes.

It was amazing! Everyone in our house loved the bread and is excited to have this recipe added to our family cookbook! Give it a try and let us know what YOUR family thinks about it!



Sarah