Yesterday I spent half the day looking for a recipe for a whole wheat bread that would not take 12 hours to proof. It took some doing but I stumbled on a recipe that I modified and it turned out pretty darn good if you ask me.

I love a fresh bread especially if it does not take forever for the dough to proof and there are not a ton of steps involved, let’s face it my ADHD and energy levels are not what they should be let alone able to deal with a two day process bread.

The smell of this lovely warm bread filled the house with its notes of honey, wheat, & hemp. I got excited about having a slice or two with the stew I had made, and boy I was not disappointed once it was dinner time. This is a rather heavy and dense bread but it is perfect with a stew or even a soup on a chilly day. Its slightly sweet, a touch salty, and best severed warm. It would be amazing with some hemp butter or even honey butter to accent both in the bread… or even some hemp butter with a drizzle of honey as a sweet treat. I am for sure going to have to add this recipe into my Make Again category. It was so simple and very yummy!

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 package quick-rise yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 3/4 cup water

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, hemp seeds, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and honey, stirring with a wooden spoon or Danish Dough Hook until the ingredients are combined. The dough will be very sticky. Cover with plastic wrap; let the dough rise in a warm place until covered with bubbles; about 4 hours.- For fast proofing you can heat your oven to about 250 degrees and cut your rise time in half to about 2 hours. To do this once your oven reaches 250 degrees turn it off and quickly pop your dough into the oven and leave it alone for two hours.
2. With floured hands, punch down the dough and fold over onto itself twice. The dough will still be very sticky. Shape the dough into a rectangle if making in a loaf pan. If you’re making a round country loaf, shape into a domed circle. Place the dough into a 5 x 9-inch loaf pan or a parchment-lined Dutch Oven. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. [ if you fast proofed you can cut this down to about 30 mins]
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Remove plastic wrap; bake until browned, about 40 minutes. Remove bread from the pan and let cool completely before slicing.

Crockpot Irish Pork Stew with Stout