Maple Honey Wheat Bread with Apricot Spread
Homemade wheat bread with a touch of maple syrup and honey - for sandwiches or just a simple summer fruit spread ~Â by Deanna Segrave-Daly, RD
Disclosure: I do project work for Libby's but was not paid to create this recipe even though I used their product for my fruit spread. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
The months are flying by (which always seems to happen in summer IMHO) and it's time for another Secret Recipe Club post. We members are assigned a food blogger in secret and then on the reveal day, we all post about who we had and which recipe from his/her blog we chose to make - it's like having a Secret Santa every month!
My assignment: Rhonda @ The Kitchen Witch - I've admired Rhonda's recipes and style over past SRC roundups and was excited to be assigned to her this month. I really like how she cooks from all different cuisines, from breakfast, to dessert, to hearty entrées, to vegetables, to breads - she's got it all here. A self-proclaimed biker chick, Rhonda has traveled the world thanks to her 22 years with the Air Force as a "spit sucker" (dental hygienist) and now as veteran, she's settled in Great Falls, Montana with her husband where she loves to cook along with dabbling in food photography (she has her own photography website!) and works with her community's garden organization.
It was rewarding to see how her food photography has evolved - check out this magazine cover worthy Banana Cake with Maple Caramel Sauce (I almost made this from the photo alone.) I also enjoyed this post about how she taught food photography 101 to a sixth grade photo club (their results were rather impressive.)
Other recipes of hers I considered making (and probably will soon): Easy Cheese Bread Sticks, Top Shelf Marjitos , Chile Lime Shrimp Cocktail and Venison Lo Mein. In the end, I had a hankering for some homemade bread and went with this Maple Wheat Bread she adpated from a local blogger (which won a blue ribbon at their state fair no less!)
I make a few tweaks: I used less maple syrup and honey (½ cup honey & ½ cup maple syrup) but was happy that the result was still a slightly sweet bread. I also used a combination of bread flour and white whole wheat flour. I also made 4 loaves vs. 3 loaves.
PrintMaple Honey Wheat Bread with Apricot Spread – Secret Recipe Club
- Yield: 4 loaves 1x
Ingredients
- 3 cups warm water (110 -120 degrees F)
- ½ cup honey
- 2 packets of yeast (2 tablespoons)
- 5 cups bread flour
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 (14.75 ounce) Libby's Apricot Halves No Sugar Added, drained
Instructions
- In a stand-up mixer bowl, stir together water and honey. Pour yeast on top, add 5 cups bread flour and mix together. Let sit (proof) for 30 minutes.
- Add maple syrup, salt and butter. Mix on low with a dough hook. Add 3 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, ½ cup at a time with mixer still on. Keep mixer going until dough starts to form a ball (it will be a little sticky.) Either "knead" by having the mixer continue to mix the dough or turn out onto a floured surface and knead with your hands for about 5 minutes. Divide dough in two and place in two greased mixing bowls. Cover both with towels and keep in a warm, draft free place. Let rise about 1 -2 hours (until double in size.)
- Punch down dough and divide again so you have four balls of dough. Form into loaves to fit 8x5-inch greased loaf pans (or you can place on two greased baking sheets instead.) Cover with towels and let rise another hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool 10 minutes then remove from pans onto a rack. Cool completely before slicing.
- To make apricot spread, simple add apricots to blender and process until pureed and smooth. Store in the refrigerator until bread is ready to be sliced.
Notes
Adapted from The Kitchen Witch's Maple Wheat Bread
The apricot spread was a last minute "aha" when I went to photograph the breads. I had been developing a recipe for Libby's with their canned apricots and realized that a simple whirl in my blender (after draining out the juice) resulted in a gorgeous, one-ingredient, super easy, not too sweet, spread for bread! Let's just call it super lazy woman's jam.
Do you ever make homemade bread? What's your favorite kind to make or eat?Â
How brave of you to make bread. We need to try that one of these days!!!
You can do it! Once you make it once, you'll be hooked - it's not hard to do, it just takes a bit of time 🙂
I love this bread look absolutely delicious!!
What marvelous wheat loaves! And that apricot spread has taken my breath away!
Thanks Angie - that spread is the easy thing ever 🙂
What a beautiful color your apricot spread is! It looks very summery.
What gorgeous loaves, Deanna! I love the simple apricot spread, too!
THIS is what I want for dinner! I love the color and it just looks so satisfying and delicious 🙂
Thanks Sues - BTW I adore your recent post about summer NOT being over yet - word 🙂
I have yet to make my own bread at home - this just might have to be the recipe I use. This is what I would love to have for breakfast tomorrow. Delish!! Glad to be part of SRC group C with you!
You can do it, Lisa! It's not hard, just takes a little bit of time - then you can freeze the extra loaves and have it for endless breakfasts 🙂
What a lovely write up, thank you! The bread looks like perfection and your photos are divine. I will have to try your simple apricot spread, the color is truly beautiful. I'll have to keep a can stocked of apricots now so I can whip this up whenever. I'm already imagining how it would taste on a toasted English Muffin.
It's really was fun getting to know you, Rhonda, through your enjoyable blog! My biz partner and co-blogger, Serena is from Montana and after reading my post realized she's read about you in Great Falls magazine before 🙂
Yum, I love homemade bread. This looks good- love the apricot spread too!
I haven't made bread in the longest time. This sounds delicious and perfect for PBJs!
Love this! I haven't made a sweet bread, I so have to try this. I just printed it!
Love making bread and this one looks delicious.
I made this last night and when we sliced into it this morning, I was THRILLED with how it looked. Then I ate a bite - and it was even more delicious than I expected. Hands down this is my new favorite bread recipe 😀
Thank you!
Glo - love hearing this!! It's totally my new favorite bread recipe and I've been enjoying the extra loaves I made, pulling slices from the freezer every morning for breakfast - thanks so much for sharing 🙂
The bread recipe looks great, I can't wait to try it. But a warning on the apricots...the 'no sugar' is actually Splenda, for those of us not wanting to use chemical sweeteners...