Ha Ha! Success! Buckwheat Bran Bread

Hello everyone! You may know the story of how bad I am at making yeast bread. That yeasty beast has been tangling with me for some time. I've had a break through I think. I made a more than edible, actually tasty loaf of hearty whole wheat bread. Check it out!

This bread contained a lot of fun ingredients such as buckwheat flour, whole buckwheat (kasha), bran flakes, milled flax seed, whole wheat flour, etc. Those ingredients gave the bread a distinct earthy, nutty flavor WITHOUT tasting like dirt. I'm so happy!
This was a very sticky stage. I decided to hand knead this bread - a test to see if hand kneading gets better results than a stand mixer. I tossed on quite a bit more flour. No need to get crazy messy.
Lookin' good right before the first rise. This dough is very easy to work with and has a nice color.
The second rise: it rose just like the recipe said it would, and while it was uncovered, too. The mysteries of bread! I'll never get over it.
I will never bake bread again without this thermometer. It really does take all of the guess work out. No more tapping on the bottom of the loaf. No more poking it with a fork. Thank you, thermometer, thank you.
I didn't burn it! A great success! A slathering of butter gave it this nice shine.
And it has an even crumb as well! I attribute that to hand kneading. I don't doubt that a stand mixer can do the job, I just haven't figured out how to do it. Besides, a little muscle work never hurt.
Ahhh, delicious! It tastes slightly nutty like a whole wheat bread should. I love how the little kashas give a little crunch. I am very pleased! This will be a bread to make again. Maybe next time I'll throw in some herbs, spices, or nuts. Oh, the possibilities!

Adapted from The Book of Bread by Judith & Evan Jones

• 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup bran flakes
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup milled flax seed
• 1/4 cup kasha (whole buckwheat)
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 -2 1/2 cups white flour

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast and honey in warm water. Stir in the bran, buckwheat flour, oil, salt, flax seed, kasha, and about 1 cup each of the whole wheat flour and the white flour. Stir together - should be quite stiff.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface to rest while you clean and grease your large bowl.

Knead the dough, adding more of the whole wheat and white flour as necessary. Knead for about 10 minutes. Put the dough into the greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise and double in bulk for about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

Turn the dough out and punch down. Form into a loaf and place in a greased 8 inch bread pan. Leave it uncovered and let it rise for exactly 35 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Makes 1 loaf, and can easily be doubled!