Better-than-Basic Wheat Bread

This is a recipe I've modified to suit my own tastes. It has a great, tight crumb, wonderful texture, and full of flavor. This bread loaf is my default "every-day" loaf. Makes wonderful toast.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Yields: 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 2 1⁄2 cups water
• 1  tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1  tablespoon brown sugar
• 3  cups bread flour (approx.)
• 3  cups wheat flour
• 1  tablespoon kosher salt
• 2  ounces unsalted butter, room temperature,in chunks

Directions

1. Pour the yeast and 1/2 c.
2. of the water in the bowl of your mixer.
3. Let proof about 5-10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mix the flours, the salt and sugar together.
5. When the yeast has proofed, pour in the remaining 2 c.
6. water, and 1/2 the flour mixture, and with the dough hook attachment, mix on med-low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally until all is combined.
7. Add the remaining flour and mix on very low speed until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
8. This could take a while.
9. If the dough requires more flour, use bread flour.
10. Add the butter, a tablespoon at a time, and mix until incorporated.
11. Don't freak out if your dough comes apart with the addition of the butter.
12. Continue to mix it and after a while, it will come back together.
13. Either continue to knead in your machine until smooth and elastic, or remove from the mixer and knead by hand (I always do the last 5-10 minutes of kneading by hand.).
14. Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap then a towel, and set aside to rise (about 2- 3 hours- this dough seems to be slow to rise, but that's okay- slow rise is better than fast rise.) At this point, you could refrigerate the dough overnight before proceeding to panning.
15. Once the dough has more than doubled in bulk, punch it down and divide into two loaves.
16. Place the dough into greased loaf pans, and set aside to rise again.
17. I have noticed that this tends to take at least 1 1/2 hours, maybe 2.
18. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
19. When the loaves are ready, pop them in the oven and bake until done, about 45-50 minutes.
20. Remove from the oven and cool before wrapping.
21. *Note:You can certainly use regular wheat flour, but I've been using King Arthurs White Whole Wheat flour.
22. If you can get it, give it a try.
23. Great flavor.
24. You can substitute AP flour for the bread flour, but your texture will be different.
25. Bread flour gives this bread a much more sturdy texture and a better form.