Midnight Wheat Bread

Due to whacked out unforeseeable circumstances I won't go into here, I'm winding up making bread at 11:00+ PM.  In the Breadman.  Which is sitting on top of my portable ironing board, which is sitting on top of a large towel, to lessen the noise and also to prevent any possible heat/friction damage to the fake-linoleum flooring below it.  I'm going to shape the dough into little bun-thingamajigs and see how those bake up.

I'm using the Compiled Breadman Portion of the all-inclusive recipe below:


Single Loaf Wheat Bread Recipe
(Augmented from breadbaking.about.com)

Ingredients:

2 T Honey
1 T Vegetable Oil
1 C Warm Water
1/2 pkt Instant Yeast
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C White Flour
1/3 C Soy Protein Isolate
1/4 tsp Salt

Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Cleanup: Use a dish soap & salt-water mixture and rinse thoroughly before drying immediately.

Hand Kneading Method:

1. In small microwave friendly glass bowl, add honey, vegetable oil, and warm water. Stir.
2. Stir together yeast and ¼ C White Flour in a small separate bowl or cup, then stir into warm wet mixture.  If wet mixture has cooled down, microwave again in 15 sec increments until around 105 degrees before pouring it into a medium bowl.  Allow the new growing yeast mixture to proof.
3. Mix in all but 1/4 C of the remaining flour. Any extra seasonings, spices, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, berries, or dried ingredients should be mixed into it now.
4. Turn dough out onto lightly floured board and knead the remaining 1/4 cup plus tablespoon of bread flour into the dough for about 5 minutes. When finished, the dough will be slightly sticky.
5. Grease medium size bowl. Put dough into bowl and turn dough over so that the top of dough is lightly greased. Cover with clean cloth and let dough rise in warm place for about 45 minutes or until double in size.

Breadman Kneading Method
(Note that this is only for kneading, not for baking.)

1. Remove the bread pan (known from here on as the bread bucket) from the machine.  Make sure it and the paddle are both thoroughly clean and dry, and that the paddle is firmly placed in position over the spoke on the inside bottom of the bread bucket.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients: the flours, the soy protein isolate, and the salt in a medium bowl with a fork.  Any extra seasonings, spices, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, berries, or dried ingredients should be mixed into it now.
3. With the bread bucket sitting on the counter, pour the yeast into the bottom, making sure it’s evenly distributed.  Then mix the warm water, honey, and oil in a microwave friendly glass bowl, and if necessary, reheat this mixture in 15 second increments until 105 degrees.  Have a wooden spoon ready.  In one quick, fluid, circular motion, pour the warm liquid mixture over the yeast, and quickly mix the yeast from the bottom and the corners into the liquid mixture.  Close the lid and turn the machine to “Dough, 2 lbs.”  It will immediately and slowly start mixing the dough.
4. Once the yeast mixture is completely wet and rising, about 1/3 of a C at a time, slowly sift the dry ingredient mixture to the yeast mixture in the bread bucket while the paddle is still turning.  Don’t be tempted to use a 1 C measure to save time,  forgo the sifting, or dump all the flour in at once.  Yeast is a live plant and particularly with instant yeast, once it’s gotten started (it’ll proof while you’re grabbing the flour mixture after starting the machine), it’s best to slowly feed it and allow it to continue growing.  Yet, you only have a few short minutes before the paddle will start turning wildly fast, at which time you don’t want to be still adding flour!  The 1/3 C sifting method seems to have the best timing for this step.  Any remaining time left should be used to (carefully) use (only a narrow rubber) spatula to push any dry ingredients out of the corners of the bread bucket to be better mixed in to the dough while the paddle is still turning slowly.  Close the lid and let the machine work until it’s finished.

Baking

6. Turn dough out onto board and knead out air bubbles for about 3 minutes.
7. Shape dough into bread loaf.
8. Grease a medium to large sized bread pan. Place loaf in pan. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes or until double in size.
9. Bake bread at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Turn out on rack or onto clean kitchen towel and allow to cool.
10. Bread can be frozen in a sealed freezer bag for up to 3 months.

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Alright, well, the "bun thingamajigs" turned out more like sand-dollars!  LOL.  Kinda mini-pita-pockets.