Despite the yeast and white flour, it’s a sturdy, fairly heavy loaf, but the flavor is incredible. To lighten it more, I once tried using lard instead of butter. That was a mistake. This is about the only whole wheat bread I bake these days, mainly because I love it sliced thin and toasted for breakfast—usually with a fried egg on top.
Makes 2 loaves
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1⁄3 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 2 envelopes active dry yeast
- 4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) butter
- 11⁄2 cups water
- 3⁄4 cup whole or 2 percent milk
INSTRUCTIONS:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, pecans, sugar, salt, and yeast and blend well. In a saucepan, heat the butter, water, and milk till hot. Stir into the dry ingredients, let stand 5 minutes, then stir with a wooden spoon to form a smooth ball of dough. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 8 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in a wellgreased bowl, turn to coat all surfaces, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm area till doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour.
- Grease two 9 by 5 by 3–inch loaf pans with butter and set aside. Punch the dough down, transfer back to the work surface, cut in half, and shape each half into a loaf. Fit the loaves snugly into the prepared loaf pans, cover again, and let rise till doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, then bake the loaves till hollow-sounding when thumped, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
