While some people follow dry January, abstaining from liquor, I try and “abstain” from desserts which can be quite difficult when you’re in a baking group.

What I do love is bread especially wheat bread with seeds and there is nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread.

Since we had just made White Bread Edition in October, I was pretty confident in my bread baking skills. This whole wheat version was definitely healthier with whole wheat flour. The recipe called for wheat germ but I substituted for wheat bran since it was only 1/4 cup and I had an overabundance of wheat bran to use up. This bread also has a little less butter, 2 tablespoons versus 4 tablespoons. I love flax seeds so I included them but Dorie offers other suggestions like sunflower, poppy or sesame seeds.

This bread was easy to make and baked up beautifully. It made great toast for breakfast. My husband commented that it needed more salt and I would agree. It has a little less salt than the white version so I made a note to add 1/4 teaspoon more next time.

Happy New Year! To see what others made head over to Tuesdays with Dorie.