I wish you all a lovely holiday and good luck with all your cooking and baking.
This is my Simple Easter Bread that I’m making on Sunday. Of course I had to test it out today to make sure it turns out so I guess we’ll just have to eat it. ? I love baking for any holiday and sweet breads (my favorite kind of bread) are most popular at Easter time. It’s an easy one-rise recipe with lots of golden raisins and a light glaze. If you want to try this easy homemade raisin bread recipe click here.
I found a better way to make my 100% whole wheat no knead bread. I’m using the same ingredients but I recently found that you don’t always need the resting period for no knead breads while the oven heats up so I tried it with this whole wheat version and it turned out great. And it saves time. I plan to experiment with all my other no knead breads and will report back on each one if they are just as good without the resting time.
I get the best result in my 3 1/2-quart Dutch oven so the bread can not spread too much. Keep in mind that this is a heavier, more dense loaf than the original white flour version but if you want an easy, healthy, high fiber bread recipe, this is it. The only difference between this recipe and the old one is that the old one had a 2-hour resting period before baking. So the total time for this recipe just went from 13 hours to 11 (but you’re sleeping most of this time anyway).
For my new and improved, faster 100% whole wheat no knead bread, click here for the recipe.
It must be Sunday because I’m making my favorite no knead bread, the one I love having for breakfast. This easy mulitgrain loaf has two kinds of fiber, one from the oats and the other from whole wheat flour. Oats have soluble fiber and whole wheat has insoluble fiber, the perfect combination of whole grains. No knead loaves made with whole grains don’t form the lovely cracks we see in the white versions but they still form a beautifully crunchy crust.
This recipe uses the overnight method with cold water so I put it together last night before bed and baked it this morning. I’ll be saving a couple of slices and freezing the remaining slices that will last me all week, and then next Sunday….. well…. I’ll make it again. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Guess what? You can make healthier hot dog buns at home and it’s super easy. I made soft whole wheat hot dog buns using my Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe (the popular one that’s soft and delicious and takes 90 minutes) and this takes even less time because they bake in 12 minutes.
I made the dough and instead of shaping it into a loaf, I cut it into 8 pieces. I decided to make 4 sandwich rolls and 4 hot dog buns so I shaped four into circles and four into about 7-inch long rolls. I covered them with a towel and let them rise in a warm spot until doubled (about 35-40 minutes).
Here’s how beautifully they doubled in size.
Then I baked them for 12 minutes at 375° F. If you want to make easy, soft whole wheat hot dog buns that are healthier than any you can buy, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
GOOD NEWS! There is an even faster way to make my 2-Hour No Knead Bread. Thanks to a comment by fellow baker, Terry, who simply forgot the 15-minute rest, it turns out you can do without it. So the 2-hour recipe now can be made in 1 3/4 hours! When I saw Terry’s comment I immediately tried it myself. And it worked. I just left out the 15-minute rest and took it straight from the mixing bowl after the one-hour rise, folded it over a few times on a floured surface, and placed in on a sheet of parchment paper. I lifted the parchment and dough, placed it in my preheated Dutch oven, and baked as usual. Look at how well it turned out!
Most bread connoisseurs will agree that the longer the dough rests, the better flavor the bread will develop. This is true but some days I want bread and don’t have much time and I thought this loaf tasted really good. I’m not sure if I should adjust the recipe so in the meantime, here is all you need to do: 1) Preheat your oven 15 minutes earlier. 2) Skip the 15-minute rest before baking.
I never knew such a healthy, hearty bread could be so good and so easy to make. It’s probably the no knead bread I make the most because it’s just so easy. I haven’t bought bread in years. All of the bread recipes I post here are ones I make at home and it’s usually the Dutch oven breads because they are so easy to put together.
The prep is barely 5 minutes as you just combine the oats and flour(s) with yeast, salt, and water in a bowl. You cover the dough and let it rest overnight and the next day you fold the dough over a few times, let it rest a while, and bake in a Dutch oven. It’s foolproof. And you get a hearty, crusty loaf of bread you could never buy anywhere that’s so fresh and delicious. This multigrain no knead loaf is usually part of my breakfast and I also love it with a bowl of vegetable soup.
I started the dough last night but I was impatient this morning and didn’t wait the full 2 hours before baking. It was actually 1 hour and 15 minutes so I saved 45 minutes off the resting time. I will try it again with the shorter resting time and if it works once more (and was not a flook) I will adjust the recipe so you can make it faster. To try my multigrain no knead artisan bread, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
This soft and sweet egg bread is easier to make than it looks. It’s fast. It’s beautiful. And it’s full of golden raisins. My simple recipe needs only one rise so it’s ready in just over two hours. You start with a simple but sweet egg bread and divide it into two. Roll each half into a 24-inch rope. Twist the ropes together like this…
Place the rope on your baking sheet and shape it onto a wreath, pinching and tucking the edges in the best you can. Here it is ready to rise…
After it rises in a warm spot and had doubled in size, it will look like this…
Now, just bake and finish. To ensure success have all your ingredients at room temperature, including the egg + yolk. Adding a cold egg will slow down the rise time. Make the powdered sugar glaze as thin or thick as you like. In the photo at the top I made a slightly thinner glaze than the one on the recipe page. Enjoy this delicious sweet holiday bread on any special occasion. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I’m so excited to share this new recipe. It’s very similar to my hugely popular simple whole wheat bread recipe. I’ve been curious about baking with sprouted wheat flour and finally decided to give it a try. What a wonderful surprise!
This loaf is soft and delicious with a great texture, and definitely softer than the regular whole wheat version. The dough is a little softer too so I was afraid it might not turn out, but I love it not just for the great taste and texture but because I researched the benefits of sprouted whole wheat flour compared to whole wheat flour. Sprouted whole wheat flour has…
More fiber
More protein
Less gluten
More vitamins than regular whole wheat flour, like B, C & carotene
More minerals than regular whole wheat flour, like calcium, iron, magnesium & zinc
Enzymes that make it easier to digest
More flavor because the grains are sprouted
WHAT IS SPROUTED WHEAT FLOUR? Wheat grains are allowed to sprout before milling, producing a living, nutrient-rich food because vitamins & minerals develop that enhance nutrition and digestibility. The major benefit is that those nutrients are in a state that can be more readily absorbed. (I find sprouted wheat flour at Whole Foods and it’s also available online. Once opened, be sure to keep it refrigerated.)
If you like my simple whole wheat bread, this sprouted wheat loaf is just as easy to make. I’m so glad I decided to experiment with sprouted wheat flour. This loaf is softer than the similar whole wheat loaf so if it’s too flimsy for you, try making it with half whole wheat flour and half sprouted whole wheat flour. It will have more body and a really great taste. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I’ve been reading about how sprouted whole wheat flour is healthier than regular whole wheat flour. Sprouted flour has more fiber, more protein, more vitamins and minerals, and they are absorbed better than from plain wheat flour. It has less fat and less gluten so I had to try it. I was skeptical – too good to be true, right? With less gluten, the loaf would surely be a dud.
Well, lookie here! I made my simple whole wheat bread and just swapped the whole wheat flour with sprouted whole wheat flour and I love it. It rose even faster than my regular wheat loaf. This bread is soft and moist and makes a good sandwich bread. I even made French toast with it this morning.
To make sure it wasn’t a fluke, I will bake a few more loaves and then post it as a new recipe. Meantime, if you want to try it, just use my Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe and swap the whole wheat flour with sprouted whole wheat flour. – Jenny Jones
p.s. One of my visitors (Monita) beat me to it and posted her own loaf made with sprouted whole wheat flour. It worked for her too! See it here.
Happy Easter, everyone!
