Honey Whole Wheat Loaf

My husband loves wheat loaves. He loves the texture and the chewiness. It also happens that my BIL/SIL have honeybees, so every year we get a good supply of homemade honey. One of the few loaves that hubby loves so much is honey whole wheawt loaf, which I found in breadworld.com in my search for loaves with honey and wheat. Everyone in the family loves this. If I can't get my stepdaughter to eat supper, she will gobble up any rolls or loaves I put on the table that are tender and warm.

Recipe courtesy of breadworld.
Ingredients:

Makes 1 Loaf

1-1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 envelope FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise Yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 large egg
1 egg (beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat milk, water, honey, and butter until very warm (120o to 130oF). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly oiled surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces; form each into a smooth ball. Place, side by side, in greased 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Brush top with beaten egg and water. Bake at 375oF for 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; cool wire rack.

Nutritional Information:
Per Serving :
Serving Size: 1 slice (1/12 of recipe)
Serving Weight: 2.2 ounces (62 g)
Calories 160; Total fat 3 g; Saturated fat 1.5 g;
Cholesterol 25 mg; Sodium 230 mg; Carbohydrates 30 g;
Dietary fiber 2 g (0.9 g / oz); Sugars 5 g; Protein 5 g

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Honey Mustard Sauce

This was what we had today for dinner.


Since I wanted to make use of pecans and honey that my SIL gave me, I made a search for recipes using both/either of them.

Also, since I have some mustard seeds left over from making my favorite cucumber pickles, bread and butter pickles, I searched for a recipe for the honey mustard sauce.

I first made my honey mustard sauce two days ago using this recipe for Basic Coarse Mustard Recipe from cdkitchen.com, with the help of the good old blender and a pint-sized Ball jar (yes, it fits perfectly, plus it had the advantage of storing the prepared mustard in the jar itself). If not for my desire to use my honey supply, and the mustard seeds left over from my pickling, I could have just bought Dijon mustard and followed the procedure for making honey mustard sauce as directed in the cdkitchen.com's Pecan Crusted Chicken recipe. Or, maybe it is available in grocery stores (it definitely is served in KFC, McDonald's or Friendly's.)

Basic Coarse Mustard

Ingredients:
1/3 cup mustard seed
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 clove garlic -- halved
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons liquid honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground cinnamon

Directions:

Combine mustard seeds, vinegar and garlic in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 36 hours.

Discard garlic. Process mixture in a food processor with water until coarse consistency. Stir in honey, salt and cinnamon.

Refrigerate in tightly sealed containers.

Among the variations, I tried

Dijonnaise Mustard: Add 1/3 cup mayonnaise

It was very very spicy. I stored that in the fridge until I was ready to make my honey mustard sauce for the chicken.

I came up today with this menu for our dinner:
Pecan Crusted Chicken with Honey Mustard Sauce
Honey Whole Wheat Loaf
Roasted Veggies and Potatoes

I started the bread in the bread machine at around 3:00 p.m. , then made my final honey mustard sauce by mixing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp Dijonnaise honey mustard (that I prepared)

I tasted that and adjusted the amounts until it was good to my taste (not too spicy).

I rested for about 2 hours, before preparing the potatoes/veggies and chicken. And here is the recipe for the

Honey Whole Wheat Loaf

Makes One (1-1/2 pound) Loaf

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons FLEISCHMANN'S Bread Machine Yeast

Directions
Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer. (Mine says to put all (room temperature) liquid ingredients first topped by the dry ingredients.) Select basic/white bread cycle; medium/normal color setting.

When cycle is complete, remove from pan; cool on wire rack.

I preheated the oven to 375 deg F. I washed thoroughly (with a brush) and cut 5 medium red potatoes into quarters and placed them in a bowl, then poured about 2 tbsp of olive oil and mixed to coat evenly, then sprinkled with 1/2 packet of Italian Dressing Mix. I then placed the potatoes on one side of the baking pan (would use the other half for the rest of the veggies) in the oven and let them cook while I prepared the chicken strips.

For Pecan Crusted Chicken, I revised the original recipe such that I used one packet of Italian Dressing Mix (available at Hannaford) instead of measuring the different spices called for. So, my final ingredients were:

dip:
2 eggs (room temp)
1/4 cup butter (melted and cooled to room temp)

coating:
1 cup pecans, finely chopped using chopper
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs (I used my own)
1 packet Italian Dressing mix

2.5 pounds chicken breast cut into strips

The chicken breast strips were dipped first then coated. I arranged them on a pan lined with parchment paper. I then placed them on the higher rack in the oven (and I placed the potatoes below). I set the timer at 20 minutes (only because my chicken strips were still a bit frozen).

Meanwhile, I got half of summer squash and half of small zucchini, and cut them into wedges same size as those of potatoes, coated with the same (olive oil and 1/2 packet of Italian dressing). I placed them alongside the potatoes, and let cooke for another 5 minutes. Then I set the temp to 400 for the last 5 minutes to make a good browning on the surface of the potatoes.

Everyone enjoyed the chicken strips. My boys said the honey mustard sauce was more spicy than that in restaurants, and hubby quipped, "because this is made with real honey and real mustard." My older son used it, though, despite it being different from what he was used to. Hubby, daughter and I liked it. Younger son used ketchup. It was a very satisfying hearty and healthy meal!

Hubby's comment: "Your chicken dinner was a success! Everyone enjoyed it!"

Later tonight, as I was posting this actually, he approached me to thank me again for that wonderful meal, and asked if there were enough left over for his lunch tomorrow to take to work. I said I prepared three strips for him, then he asked whether we still had that honey mustard sauce as well, because "that was very good!"

Honey

Last year, my SIL gave me honey in it's most raw form...still in honeycomb (see the hexagonal pattern made by these greatest natural architects called bees). She and her husband have just started having it for home-based business. I am lucky to have some form of benefit from it.

Every summer now I look at my garden full of flowers in bloom, surrounded by bees and butterflies and hummingbirds...I eagerly anticipate the honey that I know would follow.

This year, SIL gave me two pints of honey ready to be consumed.

Ah, the goodness of all-natural honey...