Best Whole Wheat Fennel Bread Recipes

AROMA BREAD WITH CORIANDER AND FENNEL

Steps:

• 1 To prepare the dough, start at least 12 hours ahead. Whisk together all the ingredients except the whole grain berries and the water in a large bowl. Scatter the grain berries on top and add almost all the water. Stir with a dough whisk or a wooden spoon until the flour is incorporated. The dough should be wet and sticky to the touch, like firm oatmeal; otherwise, add a bit more water. But don't worry too much about the liquid-to-flour ratio, as this is a forgiving dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature to ferment for at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours.
• 2 The next day, finish the bread. Sprinkle a linen or cotton kitchen towel (not terry cloth) with cornmeal and generously flour your work surface. Using a bench scraper or a rubber spatula, scrape the stringy, bubbly dough onto the work surface. Using floured hands, fold it exactly 4 times, always toward the center - from the right and from the left, as well as from the top and the bottom. Turn the loaf upside down so the fold is at the bottom, and set it on the kitchen towel. Fold the towel over the loaf to cover, and let sit for about 1 hour.
• 3 After about 30 minutes, position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 475°F. Place a 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-quart cast-iron pot or Dutch oven with its lid in the center of the rack. After about 1 hour, your loaf should have nicely risen. (When you press it with your finger about 1/4 inch deep, the dimple should remain; if not, wait 15 more minutes.) But again, don't worry too much - I have sometimes been less than precise and still succeeded.
• 4 Using thick pot holders, carefully remove the cast-iron pot from the oven and place it on a couple of folded kitchen towels (to avoid cracking); uncover. Unwrap the dough, sprinkle with a bit more cornmeal, and invert directly from the kitchen towel into the pot, seam side up (it might look a bit wiggly; that's normal). If the dough doesn't drop into the center, shake the pot once or twice (use caution, it is hot!).
• 5 Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the loaf is nicely browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 200°F, 20 to 25 minutes. Using thick pot holders, remove the loaf from the cast-iron pot and transfer to a wire rack. If you can resist, allow to cool completely, about 3 hours, before cutting the loaf with a sharp serrated knife. And a sharp knife it must be - this is a German-style bread, after all.

WHOLE WHEAT FENNEL BREAD

Steps:

• Grease large bowl and set aside.
• Combine first 3 ingredients (molasses-salt) in large bowl.
• Add hot water and beat with an electric mixer until well blended.
• Add 2 cups white flour and 4 cups whole wheat flour, blending at medium speed or stirring with a wooden spoon until well blended.
• Add dissolved yeast and fennel.
• Stir in enough remaining white flour to make a stiff dough.
• Gather dough into a ball and transfer to floured bread board and knead for several minutes.
• Gather into ball and put in prepared greased bowl, turning to coat both sides of ball.
• Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise in draft-free area (I use an unheated microwave) for about 2 hours or until doubled.
• Punch dough down and reshape into ball.
• Let rise again until double (1 hour).
• Grease 12-cup bundt pan and set aside.
• Turn dough onto floured bread board and roll into a cylinder (24 inches long).
• Put cylinder in prepared pan, pinching ends together to seal.
• Let rise for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375- degree oven.
• Bake loaf for 1 hour or unti lightly browned.
• Let cool on rack before slicing.