Honey Whey Bread
This weekend had its ups and downs. And one of the best things that helps keep my family on an even keel is routine. Which means homemade bread, that I make once a week. This Honey Whey bread is a delicious, soft white sandwich bread. For the liquid, I tend to use whatever I have handy that week. Sometimes it’s whey, from draining skyr or another type of yogurt. Other times it’s actual buttermilk (left over from making butter). And if I don’t have either or don’t have enough of either, I can always make up the difference with a little cultured buttermilk.
This is my own variation of a popular recipe, but I find that it works best when baked at a lower temperature for a bit longer than most other directions will call for. Somewhere along the line, the idea got started that bread needs to be baked at a very high temperature. It really doesn’t. And turning down the oven a bit gives it a chance to develop better oven spring.
Give this recipe a try, and let me know what you think.
Honey Whey Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 950-1100 g AP flour About 7½ – 9 c.
- 9 g Active Dry Yeast 1 Tbsp
- 6 g kosher salt 1 tsp
- 6 g baking soda 1 tsp
- 170 g honey ½ c
- 1 Tbsp ginger syrup or 1 pinch powdered ginger
- 85 g unsalted butter, melted 6 Tbsp
- 3 c whey, warmed to around 110 F buttermilk may be substituted
Instructions
- Place about 850 g flour, salt, yeast, and baking soda in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the whey, ginger syrup, and butter. Mix until a smooth, shaggy dough comes together.
- Add additional flour, about 75 g or so at a time, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead in the mixer about 5-7 minutes, until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Or turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand about 10-15 minutes.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning once to cover, and allow to rise in a warm place for about 60 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Divide dough into three equal portions and shape into loaves. Place each loaf into a greased, 9"x5" loaf pan. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray, cover with a clean towel and allow to rise for about 45 minutes, or until the top of the dough is about an inch above the sides
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until tops are deep golden and an internal temperature of 190 F has been reached. Turn loaves out onto a cooling rack, and coat tops with butter.
I’m assuming that you’re familiar with how to shape a loaf. If bread making is new to you, hit youtube for some how-to videos. It’s fairly simple. Roll the dough into an oval about3/8″ thick. Roll it up along the short axis, jelly-roll style and pinch the seam closed. Then flatten the ends out and fold them over, pinching again. This will give you a nice, tucked in loaf shape.
The cultured dairy in this bread, combined with the baking soda (which is here more to counteract the acid than to provide leavening), result in a gently sweet, soft bread. Perfect warm with a bit of fresh butter, too.
Whether you make this as Honey Whey bread, Honey Buttermilk bread, or some combination, it would also be fabulous shaped as dinner rolls.
And I promise, next week I’ll share my method for making cultured butter.
Lovely! Can’t wait to try!
What a great bread recipe! Never thought of using whey in bread before, but I will now! Delicious
Looks great as always Holly! Thanks for sharing 😉