Frank Lad's Honey Bread a 2 loaf recipe

Equipment:
A BIG mixing bowl
A strong wooden paddle for mixing
2 glass bread pans
flour sifter (remember that tin with screen at bottom and the crank?)
large wooden board or bench top to "knead" the dough on

Comments: The sifter is always a big help with any baking. But it is not absolutely necessary. I use glass bread pans for the baking, but metal ones are ok too.

1. Start up by mixing a good soupspoon full of dry yeast with a soupspoon full of white sugar (a little less than the yeast) in a broad, short glass (like a whiskey glass) mixed with about 3.5 cm of hot water from the tap.
2.In the big mixing bowl, mix 2.5 cups sifted white flour (unbleached) or ½ whole wheat, 1 Tablespoon of salt, and some sunflower or pumpkin seeds if you wish

Comments: All these measurements are approximate, and you don't need cups once you have the idea. You can try to use other kinds of flour after you have tried several times with only white flour. White flour is the easiest to use. You always want some white flour, not a whole wheat, because the dough would be too heavy otherwise. Once you have made 10 good batches, you can experiment with putting in parts of other types of flour too, such as soy or millet, etc., but these flours add to the difficulty of the dough in terms of heaviness, so wait a while till you try. You can always throw in some wheat germ if you like.

3. Using your wooden spoon, make a "well", (dig a pit) into the center of all these dry ingredients. Into this hole, now pour in one half litre(1/2 litre) of hot water. Mix all this together into a thick, wet batter. Then stir down the yeast mixture which has been bubbling in the glass, and mix the yeast into the bread batter. Rinse out the yeast glass with a little hot water, and put that into the bread mixture too.

4. Cover the bowl with a wet hot towel, and let it rest in a warm place about 45 minutes to an hour. (All the times in this discussion are approximate. It doesn't really matter too much how long you let various stages sit. Do it when it is convenient for you.) The thing is that now you have ALL the liquid ingredients for the bread, and all the dry too except for the flour, of which you have about half. This first rise will be easy on the yeast, and it will make a nice bubbly batter.

5. When you see the beautiful bubbled batter, first dribble in ½ cup of honey, and then beat the batter down well with your spoon. Then sift in another 2.5 cups of flour.) If you find you can't quite beat in that much smoothly, you may stop short. The important thing is that it should be beaten in well. One technique is to use your stick scraping down the sides and into the bottom as you turn, turn, turn the bowl. When all is done ...

6. Sift out a thick square of 3 more cups flour onto your breadboard or countertop. Pour out the dough onto this flour bed. (I use a big plastic scraper to scrape it all out quickly and cleanly.) Then using your floured hands, go around and around "flipping" the outside edges in toward the middle. Around and around you go, flipping and pushing with your never sticky hands, in - push, in-push, in- push, until the dough is "right". The dough will be adding flour to itself as you are doing this, because as you do it the dough begins to stretch and the wet innards of the stretch is grabbing flour off the bed. When it is ready, get your hands under the dough and flip it over. Smooth the edges under and around until you have a nice big smooth topped dough. Get you hands around the edges, lift the whole thing up while shaking the loose flour off, and drop it into the bowl again. Cover the bowl again with a hot, wet (not dripping) towel, and let it sit to raise up to the top of the bowl. Takes about 1 and a half hour or so. Leave the bowl sitting in a warm place, maybe in the sun somewhere.

7. Smooth out the flour on the board again, and scrape all the dough onto it. Again from the outside edges inward, flip and push, flip and push, flip and push. You are mainly just pushing the air out of the dough, not really adding flour now. The flour on the board is just keeping the dough from sticking. Again, when ready, flip it over, smooth the top, and lift it, shaking off excess flour, into the bowl. Again, cover with the wet towel and let rise to the top again.

8. Grease well your 2 bread pans with margarine or CRISCO or butter. When you scrape the raised dough again onto the board and push out all the air again (never getting your hands gooey), flip it over. Using a big knife, cut the smoothed dough in half. One at a time, lift each piece, folding the wet edges together. Put it floured side down onto the board, again squeeze out the air, and shape it into a loaf shape. Score the top with a sharp knife, and set the loaf into the greased pan. When the two loaves are ready, sit them side by side, covered with the wet towel, letting them sit and rise until they raise to just above the top of the pans. This is the time to clean off your breadboard and any mess. You can sift any excess flour into the whole wheat flour bag. Remove any wet little lumps. Preheat your oven to 375 F degrees (equals 190 C degrees).

9. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 F. BUT turn the temperature down to 350 F (equals 175 C). They will bake for about 40 minutes. At 40 minutes you can open the oven door check the bottoms of the bread to see if it is done. It should be well baked so it gives a hollow knock when you knock it. That is how you know it is done. When they are done, put the loaves onto a cooling rack with space between them, and cover them all with a dry kitchen towel until they cool.

10. When you cut hot or warm bread with a serrated knife, be sure you are largely sawing lightly with broad strokes, not pushing down with the knife.