Super Soft Wheat Bread

Since I got my bread machine, I have been on a quest for the perfect bread.  I LOVE the wheat bread I posted here before, but the kids have been wanting some bread that is softer, fluffier, more like the packaged bread from the store to which they had become accustomed.  Don't get me wrong, they like the other bread, but, for sandwiches, they wanted a bread that was lighter in texture.  I can understand why. That other bread is delicious, but it is dense, moist, rich ~ almost a meal on its own.  That's why it makes great breakfast toast.

Well, not long ago, I found a recipe for a soft white bread made in the bread machine.  You can find it here:  Extremely Soft White Bread  It is a wonderfully simple recipe, and yields a delightful result.  I have made two loaves, and both have been gobbled up "like candy," as one of my daughters said.  I was pleased with the result, but I really prefer wheat bread.  As a parent, I would rather give my kids wheat bread.  It just seems more like real, healthy food.  I also happen to prefer the flavour and texture of wheat bread.  So, I decided to tweak this recipe just a tiny bit, to see if I could make a soft wheat bread that would satisfy the kids and me.  I decided to use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour, and I decided to sub honey for the sugar in the original recipe, because I like a good honey wheat bread best of all.

Here's what I came up with:

1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons yeast
3 generous tablespoons honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Place hot water, yeast and honey in bread machine.  Close the lid, and let stand for 12 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, set your bread machine to the white bread setting (I used the light crust setting) and press start.  That's it.  Your work here is done.  Come back later to remove the finished loaf, slice, make sandwiches, amaze your friends and family with your soft, fluffy homemade wheat bread.  

Doesn't that look yummy?  It is!

As you can see, I really didn't make many changes.  Kudos to the originator of the recipe.  It is really a great one.  

While my bread machine was doing its thing, I made a batch of raspberry jam to go with our lovely wheat bread.  Please refer to your canning book (I use Ball's Blue Book) for complete instructions. I'm just goign to give a quick rundown.  I put 9 cups of crushed raspberries and 6 cups of organic sugar into a saucepot, and heated slowly until the sugar dissolved.  Then, I cooked it quickly to the gelling point (this took a few tries, but I eventually got it there), stirring to prevent sticking. I ladled the hot jam into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace, wiped the rims, screwed the two-piece lids in place, lifted the jars carefully into my prepared water-bath canner and processed for 15 minutes.  Again, if you are going to do any canning, please refer to a reliable resource.  The only reason I brought it up here is that I wanted everyone to see just how relatively simple it is to make and can your own jam.  I'd say it's easy as pie, but I think it's even easier.