Microwave Whole Wheat Bread

Mix the last three ingredients in a measuring cup, let sit for a couple
minutes, then pour into the flour. Put the honey and molasses into the
same cup, add 1 cup water, stir it to dissolve, then pour it into the
flour.

Mix the dough, adding the remaining 1/4-1/2 cup of water as necessary to
get all the flour into the dough. When the dough is ready to start
kneeding, put 3 cups of water in a large glass jar or bowl, and put in the
microwave for 6-8 minutes on HIGH until it begins to boil. (The water,
according to my microwave book, acts as a heat absorber and moderator. I
never tried making bread without it, so it may or may not be necessary.)
While the water is heating, kneed the dough. (I use an extra-large
stainless steel mixing bowl to make bread, so I just kneed the dough in the
same bowl I used to mix it. Makes clean up a snap.) Kneed for about 8
minutes, or until the water is boiling.

**Very** lightly grease two 6-cup microwave bowls with vegetable oil. Cut
the dough into two pieces, form these pieces into balls by turning the
sides down and under, “twist” the bottom of the balls closed, and put the
two balls into the two bowls, twist side down. Put the bowls of dough into
your microwave along with the jar of boiled water and microwave on the low
power setting (i.e., “1” or “10”) for 20-25 minutes to let the dough rise.
The dough will approximately double in size. Don’t “punch it down” or kneed
it a second time–just microwave on HIGH for 10 minutes to “bake” it. (I do
this all at one time by programming my microwave to cook at “10” for 18
minutes, then “HIGH” for 10 minutes.) After “baking”, remove the bread by
simply turning the bowls upside down and shaking out the bread. You’ll have
two small round loaves when done.

The final product: The crust of the bread will be softer than a
traditionally-baked loaf, since the microwave doesn’t dry it out and brown
it like a traditional oven. Also, the surface of the loaf will be lighter
(the whole wheat flour and molasses give the bread a nice light brown
appearance). The inside of the bread of the loaf will be nice and moist,
with a good crumb structure. (I’m munching on some right now that I just
pulled out of the microwave 🙂 ). The bottom of the loaves tend to be a
little bit soggy, but not bad at all.

You may have to adjust cooking times to fit the size and power of your
microwave. Mine is a 600 W, 0.8 cu. ft. Magic Chef.