Rosemary Sea Salt Whole Wheat Bread

Apologies for being away from the blog world for so long! I've been working busily, and then, on Friday, driving up to the Carolinas to visit my friend Emily for the weekend!

Me...



and Emily!



I like to think we look a little bit like sisters... :-)

And with what have we been amusing ourselves, in addition to giggling, wedding planning, watching nostalgic childhood movies, and still trying to be dutiful and accomplish our weekend to-do lists? Why baking bread, of course... Whole wheat bread, fragrant with rosemary and gilded with sea salt, no less...

Rosemary Sea Salt Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 envelopes rapid-rising yeast
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 baking soda
2 T rosemary
1/2 cup water
2 cups 1% milk or soymilk (use the soymilk, or almond milk, etc for the vegan version!)
Cornmeal for dusting the baking pan

~ Coat an 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray, and dust the inside of the pan with cornmeal.
~ In a large mixing bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, salt, baking soda, and rosemary.
~ Combine the water and the milk or soymilk, and warm up the mixture a bit (30 seconds in the microwave does the trick).
~ Gradually pour the warm liquid into the dry ingredients, and knead with your hands or a dough hook until the dough begins to feel smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
~ Transfer the dough into the prepared baking pan.
~ Cover the dough, place it in a warm spot, and allow it to rise for an hour. Towards the end of the rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
~ Bake the bread for approx.25 minutes - until the outside of the bread is golden brown.
~ Serve warm, or allow the bread to cool on wire racks...

On the blog this time last year... Maple Pecan Baked Apples!