Barley and Wheat

Why buy sandwich bread when you can make it yourself? All it takes is a little time and care. This week found me with strange work hours and long mornings, so I figured I'd skip the grocery store bread (I know, aren't you appalled? I buy my bread at the grocery store sometimes. That's right. I'm a schmoe.) But I was (again) unsatisfied with the recipes I found for wheat bread (or rather, my honey crystallized so honey-wheat was sort of out of the question) So, my good dear people.. I present to you for the second week in a row, a totally made-up recipe. Regardless of the risk, this is one tasty bread, if I do say so myself and the first non-sweet one I've actually used a bread pan for.

the ingredients are pretty basic, minus maybe the barley flour. For this one, I used an active dry yeast rather than my tried and true starter.

ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup of warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup barley flour (my actual measurement was about two handfuls so it might be closer to half a cup)

1/2-1 cup wheat flour
2-3 cups white flour

what to do: I started by combining the yeast with warm water. Give it a minute or two to activate and then add the salt, sugar, oil, molasses. Slowly integrate the barley flour and then the wheat flour. Add the white flour gradually while kneading until you reach a good consistency. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place it back in your mixing bowl, cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about two hours. Once risen, punch it down and knead for a few minutes longer. Grease your bread pan and place your loaf in it, again covered with a damp towel to rise once more in a warm place (this time for about an hour or so until doubled in size). Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. If it starts to get too brown on the top after 15, then cover with foil and continue baking.