(almost) whole wheat bread

I love to bake bread, and have been baking bread at various sporadic points for more than ten years.  Sadly, I had never, until recently, gotten the inspiration to "invest" (yes, I know that's ludicrous) in multiple kinds of flour.  White flour is what I always have in my kitchen, it's what everyone always has, right?  If I were to open the door into the realm of multiple flours, well, then obviously all would be chaos, right?

Bring on the chaos.  The locally owned natural foods store a few blocks away stocks organic whole wheat flour in bulk, allowing me to purchase just enough for this recipe, and thereby circumvent my flour-commitment-phobia.

(As a side note, I really only eat whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and whole grain bread - when purchased somewhere else.  So why on earth am I still making white bread at home??)

I decided to try the "White (or Whole-wheat) Pan Bread" recipe from this book:

The whole wheat variation is not exactly whole wheat - it has 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 2/3 cups white flour, but that is a vast improvement on the standard all-white recipes I generally make.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups white flour (not pictured)
1 tablespoon salt  (yes, that is a lot - you could easily reduce or omit)
1 oz yeast
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 1/4 cups water

Problem:  I never remember to soften butter.  Even if I did, it's winter, and my kitchen is about 5 degrees warmer than a refrigerator unless the oven is on.  So....

Yes, that is correct, I grated my butter, like cheese.  This speeds the softening process quite a bit, and also leaves you with an incredibly dirty cheese grater - BONUS.

All ingredients except the water get combined in the bowl (see, the butter looks like grated cheese, too!)  After those are thoroughly mixed, add the water until the dough begins to resemble a dough.

I had to add a little more water, and a little more flour, and so on - this almost always happens when I make bread.  But eventually, it sticks together, and is neither too sticky to knead or so dry that it falls apart:

After you knead (recipe says 5 minutes) throw it back in the same bowl and let it rise for an hour.

(NOTE:  This is one of the reasons I like this book.  Throw it back in the same bowl, it says.  Not, place delicately in a slightly warmed ceramic bowl coated with .45 tsp of olive oil, cover with slightly moistened organic linen dish towel, and let rise for 82 minutes in a 73 degree kitchen.)

Throw it back in the same bowl.  Let it sit for about an hour.  Then you get this:

Next, grease your pan!  Which I did!  I even have photographic evidence:

My bread still stuck!  So, I suggest this: grease your pan and then grease it some more.  Or maybe don't use glass, but that's what I have.

Then you shape your dough and stick it back in the pan.  I shaped mine into a half-assed oval and crammed it on in there, and it seemed to work OK:

Let rise for another hour.  Sometime within that hour, preheat your oven to 450.

Right before you stick it in the oven, sprinkle flour oven the top and make some slash marks:

Bake!  The recipe says 30-35 minutes.  I took mine out at 28 and it looked a little overdone.  My oven may be hot (I am a ridiculous amateur and I have no oven thermometer), but I would check around 25 minutes to be sure.

Remove from the pan (if you're like me, this may require helpers, hopping, banging, and cursing), and let cool on a wire rack:

And there you go!  (Almost) whole wheat bread!  Nice crust, a littly crumbly, next time I may cut down on the salt and add a littly honey, but other than that I found it to be quite good.

Total time (including "is it cool yet?  can I cut it yet?" time): 3:35
Estimated cost: under $2
Tastiness factor*: 4
Easiness factor**: 3 - not difficult as far as breads go, but getting bread dough to correct consistency can be challenging

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*The tastiness factor is a rated on a scale from 0-6, with each score translating to the following:

0:  I would not eat this even if I were starving. 
1:  I probably would not eat this, even if I were starving, but I might, I just wouldn't tell anyone.
2:  I would eat this if someone else made it, but I won't make again.
3:  Decidedly edible, but not exemplary.  Probably won't repeat unless it was very easy.
4:  Definitely tasty - will probably make again, maybe with some variations.
5:  Very tasty - will definitely make this again.
6:  Amazing.  Epic.  World-peace inducing.

**The easiness factor is rated on a scale of 0-6, with each each score translating to the following:

0:  Incredibly labor intensive.  Required tools/ingredients/mood stabilizers that are not easily available.
1:  Quite difficult, but possible.  Worth the effort if results are amazing and it's a special occasion.
2:  Rather difficult.  A project for a weekend.
3:  Average difficulty.  Many simple steps or at least one step that might be challenging.
4:  Rather easy.  No specialized tools or techniques.
5.  Quite easy.  Good candidate for a quick or last-minute dish.
6.  Incredibly easy.  Doesn't even count as cooking.