Wednesday, May 5, 2010

HBinFive: Milk and Honey Raisin Bread

This challenge for the HBinFive baking group had two different doughs assigned, but I only did one of them. One of the doughs was the Chocolate Espresso Whole Wheat bread that we had also made mid-February. Although I found that bread particularly tasty, I didn't need the temptation of having it hanging around the house for my to polish off. I'm down almost 25 pounds since January thanks to Weight Watchers and decided not to blow the diet with it!

The milk and honey bread turned out very good, and definitely could have been a diet-breaker if I hadn't manage to muster up some self-control. Recently at the bulk foods store, I picked up a couple different kinds of wheat grains to try out with my grain mill. I looked them up online after I bought them to see how people liked to use them, and it turned out one (Prairie Gold) is used by lots of folks as an all-purpose flour. So I used that for my all-purpose flour in the recipe, and my white winter wheat for the whole wheat flour portion. Also, since everyone in my family seems to complain when I put raisins into baked goods, I subbed with a dried berry blend containing blueberries, cranberries and cherries. But in retrospect, I think I have eaten most of this loaf anyhow and I think the raisins would have had a bolder taste in it and wish I would have just gone with them. The blueberries are pretty tasty to get in a slice, though. And it made a delicious French toast that was definitely worth repeating!

I got a new toy that I was able to use for the first time on this bread--an electric knife. It's amazing! I can't recommend it enough if you are thinking of getting one. I noticed they were marked down to $9 when I was doing my grocery shopping, so I slipped one into the cart. Now that I've tried it, I would have paid twice that price for it! I gave it a trial run with my warm, just baked loaf because I had heard that an electric knife will neatly slice warm bread. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical and not sure what to expect. So to really test it out, I cut off a really thin slice of the warm loaf. It sliced beautifully without tearing up the bread in the least. I can't even slice cooled bread that nicely with my old bread knife. I restrained myself from slicing the whole loaf up then and there (barely!) I was able to cut myself very thin slices of this bread which were quite yummy when covered in the apple jelly that I also made last week.

See what others made this go around by visiting the HBin5 Bread Braid hosted at Big Black Dog.

8 comments:

Mama Peck May 5, 2010 at 9:47 PM  

Hi, Jenny,
Your bread looks delicious! I just mixed up 1/2 batch- sure hope mine turns out as well as yours. :)

Bonnie May 6, 2010 at 1:05 AM  

We loved this bread. I used raisins but doubled the amount. I am so impressed that you have lost 25 lbs. Good for you. That is ot easy to do, especially for us foodies.

Unknown May 6, 2010 at 1:13 PM  

This is one of my favorites so far! loved the flavor and the texture and the crumb. Your loaf came out beautifully :)
Thanks for the tip on the electric knife. I have one but have only used it for turkey...duh! I never dreamed that it would be good for bread. I can't wait to try it out...wooohooo

Anonymous May 6, 2010 at 4:04 PM  

OOOHHH, looks yummy.

Elwood May 7, 2010 at 7:46 AM  

The bread looks great. I have an electric knife but have never used it for bread, thanks for the suggestion.

Femalechef May 8, 2010 at 8:36 AM  

Looks soooooooooooo good!!! I want some of your french toast...........love my electric knife too!!!

Clarice May 13, 2010 at 10:14 AM  

There are no raisins going into things in our house, either. I wish our co-op sold dried blueberries. I would probably put them in my granola. Your bread looks great!

Judy's Bakery & Test Kitchen May 19, 2010 at 7:04 PM  

Look fabulous! Congrats on your weight loss. I, too, am a Weight Watcher. After several years of not counting points, I finally began counting points again. Somehow, writing things down keeps me in check. I am finally losing the weight--about 10 pounds that was climbing.

Great job! I don't think the electric knife would be good in our house, too hard to resist cutting more bread. But it sounds great.

About This Blogger

I am a thirty-something mother of two girls and a boy ranging from preschool to middle school. My husband and I keep working and reworking on our goal of raising our family healthier. Our house is a constant work under construction--adding on and remodeling. We're happy to have bought our property a few years ago, but as any homeowners know, owning a home just adds to your list of projects and chores because there's always improvements to be made and maintenance to be done. On our burgeoning homestead, we have chickens, guineas, a few goats, and our most recent additions-rabbits.
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I picked the name Petalz and Finz a couple years ago when I decided to try Etsy out. I wanted to custom make some baby related items and have things for girls and boys. I felt the name incorporated both my kids (at the time) into it--petalz for Ivy and finz for Finn.

I haven't had time to do much of anything with my Etsy for a while, but it's still my in my long term goals. In the mean time, I'm having fun with this blog thing. I've found some creative inspiration through my own posting, but also through many other wonderful blogs out there.
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