I'm not Annie or mom but I make WW bread every week and use convection bake. I bake till a thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads 195 F. After a while you learn to recognise when the bread is ready by the small.

I use regular bake. I'm not quite as comfortable with the subtleties of convection bake. I've been baking bread since the '70's, old habits are hard to break!!

thanks for the answers. I've been using regular bake at 375 for 35 minutes but after fifteen minutes I find I have to put a tent of foil over the top or it gets too dark for my personal preference. I thought I remembered momj47or annie saying they used regular bake but I wanted to be certain.

loves2cook - I have a miele and if I remember correctly I think you do too. Do you bake your bread at 375? and on what rack in the oven?

If you need to tent the loaf after 15 minutes, either you have the oven rack too near the top or your oven's too hot.

I found with this recipe the top crust was getting to brown also. I use an electric oven, lower middle rack, so now I bake it at 350 for about 35 minutes and it comes out perfect. I am really disappointed with the electric oven I wish I would have stayed with gas it was so much easier to control but everyone over at the kitchen forum said electric was so much better for baking. I had the service guy come out and check it because it takes forever to heat up, regardless when it beep, he said the temperature was fine but I still think it cooks on the high side.

Claudia

I place my bread on the rack so that the TOP OF THE PAN is about in the middle of the oven and i make sure there is no rack above it that can impeded oven rise.

I bake on convection, usually two or three loaf pans at a time although I have done as many as 6. I bake at 350 for about 35 minutes but I double check with an instant read thermometer stuck through a crack for internal temps of 195.

I don't have a convection oven and I've never had one so I can't conjecture on the differences.

If the top is getting too brown too fast (as it does in Elery's oven), I turn the heat down to 350F and bake at that temperature. The honey does help brown, so this loaf is kind of "fussy" that way. Be sure it's not too close to the top of the oven, I bake on the 2nd rack up from the bottom.

Annie

I made 2 loaves today and my family nearly polished off the first loaf by this evening. I'll make 2 more tomorrow for Easter dinner so I'm going to follow your suggestions regarding the 2nd to bottom rack and temp. I love this recipe because it is so delicious and if these suggestions work, it'll be perfect every time without having to "tent" the bread. Thanks for answering my questions.

When I make regular white bread, it doesn't get too dark, but when I make the honey wheat bread, it does get dark quickly, I, too, tent the loaves. I think it must have something to do with the "extra" ingredients, like Annie said. I may try her suggestion and turn down the oven after 15 minutes - I think I can actually set mine to do that!

My oven has 3 racks and 6 (??) possible levels for them. I use only one rack (the one that launches turkeys) on the next to the bottom, and everything comes out "right".

Holy smokes, 6 levels? Mine has three levels and two racks. I usually leave one rack on the bottom and bake everything on that middle rack, although it's not right in the middle of the oven.

Annie

As always, you guys had great advice. I baked this morning, put the pans on the 2nd to bottom rack, on convection, at 355 and the loaves are beautiful. Had to take a picture to share . . .

{{gwi:1513526}}

But, I admit, this time after 20 minutes I saw they were the brown color I wanted so I placed some foil on the top. I'm convinced, as others have said, it's the extra special ingredients that darken it, but as long as the loaves turn out like this, I can live with keeping foil nearby. Thanks again!

country smile, those look perfect and delicious. I have dinner rolls from that dough baking in the oven right now!

Annie

I made two loaves today, too. I turned the oven down to 350 after 15 minutes - they came out perfect. I only used one cup of whole wheat flour this time. I love the taste and texture of this bread. My grandson helped me make bread today.

One loaf went to my neighbor, she fed the cats this week while I was with my DD and grandchildren. My SIL was back from Iraq for a somewhat unexpected week of training at the Pentagon, so we all stayed at a nice condo in Pentagon City so the kids could see their dad. He'll be back in July for R&R and then back for good in October. He flew back to Iraq tonight, my daughter and the kids fly back to Texas tomorrow morning.

We ate the other one at dinner, tonight. I may make half a recipe tomorrow, my DS and his fiance have invited me to dinner tomorrow, so I'll bring the rolls.

Ok, so now you guys have to share your recipes, pretty please.

That bread looks so good. I will make some as soon as Passover is over.

Ilana, this is the recipe I've been using, I like the addition of honey. I don't do this by hand, I put the wet ingredients into the bread machine, add the dry ones and set it on "dough". I normally start with 3 cups of white and 3 of wheat, and adjust by adding more flour if the dough is too wet.

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

· 3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
· 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
· 2 pkg. active dry yeast
· 2 tsp. salt
· 1 cup milk
· 1 cup water
· 1/2 cup honey
· 3 Tbsp. oil
· 1 egg

In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, the yeast, and salt and mix well.
In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until a thermometer reads 120-130 degrees F (warm) Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine. Beat this batter for 3 minutes. Then, gradually stir in rest of whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose four to form a firm dough.

Sprinkle work surface with flour and knead dough, adding more flour if necessary, for 5-8 minutes until smooth and satiny. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough in the bowl to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, until double in bulk.

Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll or press each piece of dough to a 14x7" rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal and place dough, seam-side down, into greased 9x5" bread pans, making sure short ends of bread are snugly fitted against the sides of the pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until the dough fills the corners of the pans and is double in bulk, 30-40 minutes.
Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I like to brush the bread with butter when it's still hot from the oven for a softer crust.

This has become my "go to" wheat bread recipe, even the grandkids like it.

Annie