Fried Apple Wheat Bread

Total prep time takes 5-6 hours, but part of that includes rising, when you can go do other things.

In small bowl, dissolve yeast (make sure it isn’t expired and that it was stored in cool place, away from heat) in 1/2 cup of warm water. Stir until dissolved.

In large bowl, combine 5 cups of warm water, whole wheat flour*, sugar, and salt. Beat well with dough hook on mixer, or take turns beating with wooden spoon (a good arm workout). Add shortening and beat.

In same large bowl, stir in, by hand, white flour* one cup at a time. Add yeast mixture from small bowl and stir in.

Turn out on floured board (or counter or table), cover and let rest 15 minutes.

Knead 10-15 minutes. If the dough still sticks to the surface, sprinkle more flour.

Place in a large greased bowl and grease the top of the dough to prevent drying. Cover with a cloth towel and let rise until double in size – about 1 and 1/2 hours.

**When rising time is almost up, it’s apple time!

**Depending on whether you want fried apples in all your loaves, vary the quantity of apples you prepare. (Always err on the side of generosity. Fried apples will never go to waste.)

**Core and peel apples. Slice thinly.

**Saute apples on medium heat with butter, spices and vanilla until tender. You should probably taste one – you know, to check them.

**Optional: add raisins or nuts to apple mixture

**Set aside.

Punch down fully risen dough. (It’s fun! It will deflate.)

Turn onto lightly floured board and divide into 4 to 6 segments (4 segments will become 4 large loaves, 6 segments, 6 medium loaves). Shape each segment into a rounded ball.

Cover and let rest 10-15 minutes.

For plain wheat loaves: shape balls into rectangular loaf shapes, always tucking dough downwards towards loaf bottom. Place in well-greased bread pans.

For fried apple loaves: work ball out into large, flat rectangular shape, pulling and shaping, rather like pizza dough, gradually, until about an inch thick.

Spoon tepid fried apple mixture onto dough, keeping mixture and fried apple juices an inch away from all edges.

Slowly roll one short end towards the other short end, making sure apples are evenly distributed, and away from edges.

Pinch dough seam closed, tuck ends under, and place fried apple loaf seam down in well-greased bread pan.

Let all loaves rise 1 and 1/4 hours.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. (Plain loaf done when it sounds hollow when knocked on bottom.)

Let cool on a rack. Store in Zippy bags or tight Saran wrap. Best if eaten within a week.

Or, store in the freezer in a Zippy bag.

Note: when I’ve been short on bread pans, I form a loaf shape and bake it on a cookie sheet or pizza sheet. It ends up looking “artisanal.” This works for the fried apple loaves.

*This is a flexible recipe. While the total number of cups of dry ingredients (white and wheat flour) should stay the same (totaling about 14 cups), you can increase the wheat and decrease the white flour, or substitute up to 2 cups of other grainy goodness (oatmeal, rye flour, wheat germ, etc.). Other possible substitutions: use honey instead of sugar, and raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, or dates instead of fried apples.