Autumn honey bread

Recently, I made my first batch of pea soup for the fall. Pea soup is a favorite of mine and almost a ritual for me during the fall and winter. The one thing you need, when you serve pea soup, is warm homemade bread, fresh out of the oven. 

As I started making my bread, I remembered that I had couple jars of honey. Hmm. Why not add some of that? Honey adds a nice fragrant touch to fresh homemade bread. Here’s how I made it.

You could also use Maple syrup if you like. 

4 cups of unbleached bread flour

1 cup of honey

2 tbs. of room temperature butter

1 tsp. of sea salt

2 tbs. of instant yeast

2 cups of lukewarm water (approximate)

Additional butter for when the bread comes out of the oven

Preparation

Place the flour in your mixing bowl. Add the salt, honey, butter and yeast. Turn the dough hooks on and add the water. As the flour comes together, you may have to adjust it by adding a bit more flour or water. Don’t holler at me. I never measure this stuff. If you need to adjust it, do so quietly.

Once the dough comes together, knead it for a couple of minutes. Dust it with flour and let it rise in a warm place, for about a half hour or so. When the time is up, knead the dough again and divide it into two equal parts. Shape them into long thin loaves and let them rise for another twenty minutes or so.

Place a few slash marks across the top of the loaves and place them in a 460º oven. They’ll need about twenty to thirty minutes. You want the loaves to be dark golden brown. Remove the loaves to a cooling rack and rub the loaves with butter, getting a nice sheen on them. Let them cool for five or ten minutes before slicing.

Serving

Serve this bread with lots of butter, while you enjoy several bowls of pea soup. Warm homemade bread, slathered with melting butter, can turn pea soup into a feast. I know. I frequently wolf down half a loaf while enjoying several bowls. Now, open a bottle of Merlot and dinner is ready. It is a beautiful thing.