Two-Tone Yeast Bread

Yeast smells so good they should make a candle sent out of it. I would buy it, wouldn’t you? Over the weekend I was reminded just how intoxicating that smell was. I haven’t made bread since… well this cinnamon swirl bread I made last year.

Last week (or was it longer? I haven’t added anything new to the blog in a while and I apologize.) I mentioned that my cookbooks and magazines were feeling neglected because all of the recipes I have been using come from the Internet. Let’s face it though, the Internet is a handy gadget. So, I made a promise to my hardback recipes that I would use them, and it’s amazing how many recipes I have tagged and never thought of again. I really should keep better track records of what I flag.

This little gem of a recipe comes from the Taste of Home Fall Baking 2011 edition magazine. I had forgotten how long it takes to make bread, at least when you’re still a novice, and thankfully I had the time change to help me for once. (I got up at 5am because of that stupid time change.)

This is a two-tone bread and I was kind of nervous and excited for this recipe. Nervous because this is only my second time working with yeast, but excited because I was baking bread, and homemade bread is one of the tastiest things ever! The only tricky part about making this was getting the second dough to catch up to the first dough. It calls for an hour rising time and by the time I was done with the second dough, the first one had almost doubled in size.

The end product was so tasty. It was soft and moist and kinda sweet with a hint of whole grain. Not to mention, there is molasses in this, and with various holidays coming up, I think it would make a great bread for Thanksgiving. You could probably bake it in a pretty loaf pan and tie it with a bow to give to someone as a holiday gift. Or, you know, you could keep it all to yourself and slather it with some butter or jam to have for breakfast or afternoon snack, your choice.

Two-Tone Yeast Bread
slightly adapted from Taste of Home Fall Baking
makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
1 package (¼ oz) active dry yeast
1 ½ cups warm milk (110-115° F)
2 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp butter, very soft
1 ½ tsp salt
3 ¼ - 4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 package (¼ oz) active dry yeast
1 ½ cups warm milk (110-115° F)
3 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp + 1 ½ tsp butter, very soft
1 ½ tsp salt
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, then transfer into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the soft butter, sugar, salt, and 2 cups of flour. Beat with the paddle attachment for 3 minutes. Add in more flour until the dough has become soft and just a tad sticky (I used about 3 ½-3 ¾ cups flour).
2. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 6 minutes or until dough has become smooth and elastic. Place dough in a large glass bowl greased with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to double in size, about an hour.
3. For the molasses dough, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in another bowl. Once the yeast has dissolved, place in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the molasses, sugar, soft butter, salt and all purpose flour. Beat until smooth. Gently beat in enough of the whole wheat flour to form a soft and slightly sticky dough (I used about 1 ¾ cups of whole wheat flour).
4. Turn dough onto a slightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes (for some reason, this one came together faster). Place in a large glass bowl greased with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to double in size, about an hour and a half.
5. Punch each dough down and divide in half (so you have four balls of dough total). Roll one of the white portions out into a 12 in x 8 inch rectangle. Roll one of the molasses portions out into the same sized rectangle. Place one dough on top of the other, it doesn’t matter which. Roll up jelly-roll style and pinch seams and ends together so the inside dough doesn’t peak through.  
6. Place seam side down in an 8 in x 4 in loaf pan (Do this is you want a giant mound. I used an 8 in x 4 in and a 9 in x 5 in loaf pan and I think the second one fit better.). Repeat with the two remaining doughs. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for another 30-45 minutes. 
7. Bake at 375°F for 30-40 minutes or until the tops are a golden brown and the bottom of the pan makes a hollow sound when tapped. Cool in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes before removing. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.