Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil and Brewer’s Yeast

Making homemade whole wheat bread is a pleasure. Whole wheat flour is sold in any store, and it is very fashionable now for all kinds of “healthy” diets. We mix it with a little regular flour, the kind used for most dishes. Brewer’s yeast lets the dough rise well and avoids the typical yeasty smell. The dough has some olive oil, which keeps the bread soft and the crust from drying out.

Sift both kinds of flour into a large bowl, add a pinch of salt, the sugar and the brewer’s yeast. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork so they are evenly distributed. By the way, brewer’s yeast is available in stores, so it is worth looking for. If you can’t find it, you can use regular instant dry yeast, but then you will notice its smell.

Warm 300 ml of water slightly in the microwave, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and whisk with a fork. Pour the liquid into the flour and knead a very soft dough that sticks to your hands only a little. If needed, add a little regular flour in small portions. Roll the dough into a ball, dust it with flour and put it in a deep bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave the dough in a warm place for 45 minutes. In that time the dough will double in volume. Then knead it down a little by hand, adding flour in small portions. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for another 45 minutes.

Prepare a small square or round metal pan with high sides. Grease the sides with vegetable oil (leave a little for brushing the dough) and put the dough in. Level it with your hands so it fills the pan from edge to edge. Cover the pan, for example with a towel, and leave it for another 30 minutes. The dough will rise noticeably. Meanwhile, preheat the oven well to 180-190 °C.

It is worth dividing the dough into squares or a “honeycomb”. This is easy to do with a plastic dough scraper. Just press to mark the dividing lines about halfway down the layer, so the finished whole wheat bread breaks easily into pieces by hand. If you like, you can simply make lots of dimples with your fingers, as you do when baking focaccia. Brush the surface of the dough with all the remaining olive oil.

Baking takes 35-40 minutes. Go by the browning of the surface. It also helps to pierce the dough with a toothpick: if no dough sticks to it, the bread is done. Take it out of the oven, move it to a board and cover with a towel. Once cooled, you can eat the bread as is or cut it into strips and make sandwiches.

Before baking, you can sprinkle the dough with coarse salt and rosemary for a pretty decent focaccia. Olives or small tomatoes can be pressed into the dimples. If you like, 5 minutes before the end of baking, brush the surface with garlic ground with salt and herbs. Fresh oregano and thyme go well. The bread keeps for 1-2 days, best in a paper bag or covered with a cloth. Soft sausages, mozzarella, fresh vegetables and so on are great for sandwiches.