Honey Whole-WHAT? Bread

Honey. Whole wheat. Yogurt. Wait, what? Well, we had some good yogurt that was going to go bad soon, and I didn’t want it to go to waste. I searched for interesting-looking baking recipes that used yogurt - cakes, muffins, pastries, anything was game. I came across this recipe for a honey bread that used yogurt for its liquid constituent, and it looked delicious. After some minor tweaks of my own, I ended up with a bread that was both sweet and tangy and relatively healthy to boot.

Ingredients:

1 cup fat-free plain yogurt

¼ cup honey

2 ¼ cup whole wheat flour (divide in half)

2 ¼ TSP yeast

pinch of salt

2 TBSP butter(unsalted) at room temperature

Pour the honey and yogurt together in a small bowl and microwave on high for about 30 seconds to soften. Stir together until the honey is well-mixed with the yogurt. In a large bowl, combine half the flour with the yeast and yogurt-honey mixture and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Add the remaining flour and knead until incorporated. Then add the salt and butter and continue kneading, adding additional flour (about a tablespoon at a time) until the dough no longer feels greasy. Sprinkle some flour on a baking sheet and place dough on it in the desired shape. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 2¼ to 2½ hours.

Heat oven to 325°F. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the crust has browned. Let cool, then slice and serve. It tastes great warm with fruit preserves, or simply on its own!

~Karla