Wednesday recipe - Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Since I was getting the kitchen dirty with the Buttermilk Banana bread, I decided to add to the mess with a Whole Wheat Honey bread from thefreshloaf.com

Honey Whole Wheat Bread  
makes two loaves

1 lb whole wheat flour
12 oz hot water
 8 ounces bread or all-purpose flour
15 oz can evaporated milk (or milk, or more water or soy if you are vegan)
(I used 15 oz of buttermilk and water, by weight, which probably necessitated the extra flour)
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons instant yeast
an additional 1/2-1 cup flour, as necessary, to achieve the desired consistency
(I ended up with 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour extra)

Mix the hot water and whole wheat flour together in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic and set aside until around room temperature, at least 1 hour.

Add the milk, honey, salt, yeast, and bread flour to the original mixture and mix until well combined. Add additional flour and knead by hand or in a stand mixer until a tacky but not completely sticky dough is formed.

Place the ball of dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to rise for 60 to 90 minutes.

Divide the dough in two and shape the loaves. Place the loaves in greased bread pans, cover the pans loosely with plastic, and set aside to rise again for 90 minutes. (I had them covered with plastic wrap, when I removed it, the loaves lost some of their rise.  Maybe they were over-proofed?  Not certain.)

During the final 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (My oven was still warm from the Buttermilk-Banana loaf)

Place the pans into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, rotating the pans once so that they brown evenly, until the internal temperature of the loaves is around 190 degrees and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

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These loaves turned out okay.  I need to try it again, use the evaporated milk, eliminate the negatives and see if I get a nice crown on the loaves.