Wheat bread Wednesday

After yesterday's fairly successful foray into making wheat bread I decided to give it another try today...I searched for wheat bread recipes on Google and found a winner. This. Bread. Is. Awesome.

I found it on cdkitchen. com - and thanks to a few rave reviews and helpful hints from reviewers, I decided to give it a go. I changed a few of the original ingredients and amounts(sorry, I'm not putting instant coffee into bread).

Outback Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bushman Bread (Bread Machine)

1/2 cup water
1 cup evaporated milk (or combine liquids to 1 1/2 cups water and add 1/4 cup powdered milk)
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon molasses
2 1/4 cup bread flour
2 1/4 cup wheat flour
4 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
cornmeal for dusting

Place all ingredients into the bread machine and process on dough setting. I opened it up after a few minutes and scraped down the sides. Let rise for 1 hour (I just let the dough cycle run its course). I then turned the bread machine back on to let it knead for a minute.

Remove from pan and divide into 8 portion. Form portions into tubular shaped loaves. Place on two cookie sheets (I have silicone mats that I use on my cookie sheets). Spray lightly with Pam, then sprinkle cornmeal on loaves. Cover and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Bake at 350' for 25-30 minutes. Be prepared for some pretty awesome aromas emanating from your oven. Makes 8 small loaves (about the equivalent of 3 dinner rolls each).

Verdict:

Nathan: 8.8 out of 10. A solid B+. "It looks like Artisan bread".
Alex: 8.5.
Danny: 11. Yes, 11.
Steve: 9.5
Me: I'm going with Steve on this one - 9.5. I didn't even have to make honey butter - you could taste the honey in it. The loaves were easy to cut - Danny was able to cut fairly thin slices with a steak knife. Dense texture without being heavy. This is a great, slightly sweet, wheat bread. Next week: I'm going to try and adapt my garlic-herb bread. Mmmm.