Any time to add oil (or butter) and eggs and substitute some whole wheat flour for AP, you run the risk of a very heavy bread … and if you proceed to omit the yeast … DON’T LAUGH SO LOUD you’ll wake the baby.

How do you omit the yeast when it’s sitting right there on the counter: the older I get the easier it is to distract me and the first time I was mixing this bread I was interrupted fully 22 times.

Next day I had much better luck.

Elizabeth our Kitchen of the month suggested using Patricia Wells recipe, you will find the recipe on her site blog from our kitchen.

In true babe fashion, I did not follow the exact recipe. For the 600 grams of AP flour I used: 100 grams AP, 230 grams bread flour, and 333 golden wheat flour. Because I was using whole grains flour I used 290 grams warm water.

Now, the other BIG change I made is I found Fiori di Sicelic on my shelf. Now I know this is supposed to be a Christmas bread from Provence but this Italian seasoning just screamed Christmas to me and it was the most fabulous aroma ever. Because it’s a Christmas bread I also through in some walnuts and candied ginger.

I let my loaf rise in a banneton and used a bench scraper to mark it off in sections after it was turned out.. I used an egg wash and sprinkled crushed fennel on top.

The loaf baked at 450° for the first five minutes and then another 45 minutes at 400°. Internal temp registered 211° when I took it out of the oven.

This is a marvelous loaf and I do believe I’ll be baking it for Christmas!

Check out all the babes posts if you haven’t already, they can be found at the top of this page.

Happy Baking.