Wholemeal Loaf Bread

While we don't eat much bread (it's the carbs...), I love the process of making different types of loafs and the satisfaction at surprising guests with warm, hand crafted bread. Currently I'm trying to get a sourdough starter going but while that bubbles away I decided to make a wholemeal crusty bread loaf for a lunch get together recently.

Recently I purchased a new application called, "Bread Baking Basics" by Michael Ruhlman. It's a great app and has a number of simple-to-follow recipes and instructions. If you have an iPad and want to bake bread I'll highly recommend it.

You'll need:

• 397g bread flour
• 170g whole wheat flour
• 340g water
• 11g salt
• 3g active dry yeast

Add all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. Pour out onto your surface and knead for about 10 minutes. The dough should be strong and elastic. Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until is has doubled in size.

Knead to knock out any trapped gasses and shape the dough to match your bread pan. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for 10 minutes. Knead again into a tight cylinder and then place into your pan, cover, and rest for another 45 minutes.

Cut a slash down the centre of the dough. Bake for 45 minutes at 230C. Rest for 15 minutes and then cool. Serve with some of Tetsuya's truffle butter!