Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

Here is the recipe that I got from Mara, my sis-in-law. It's my favorite Wheat bread by far! The first time I had it was on my first trip out to Branson. My stomach wasn't feeling too hot from the traveling and stress of meeting the family for the first time so....it was the only thing that made me feel better. Since that first piece I have been hooked.

I am giving the recipe from the un-ground wheat measurement and will try to guesstimate the pre-ground amount. The original recipe is for 4 loaves but I always half it because my Kitchenaid Mixer won't hold that much dough. If you have a Bosch Mixer the 4 loaves will fit so go ahead and double the recipe that I am posting. Oh, this freezes well.

Ingredients:
4 3/4 cups unground Hard Wheat. I use half red and half white
OR 6-7 cups of ground whole wheat flour
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
2 1/2 cups hot water
1 Tablespoon Yeast
1 Tablespoon Salt


Directions:

• Grind your wheat into flour and set aside
• mix oil, water and honey in mixer
• Sprinkle 3 1/2 cups of flour on top so that water mixture is covered
  
• Add Yeast, making sure it does NOT touch the water mixture
• Mix and let it rest for about 10 minutes or until it starts bubbling
• Mix in the salt and then the rest of the flour until your dough ball starts cleaning the sides of the bowl. You may not need to use all of the flour depending on your flour. Just keep an eye on it and make note of how much you need for the next time.
  
• Let the dough knead for about 5 minutes
• Pour onto a lightly greased surface and oil your hands
• Split into 2 loaves
• Shape them and put them into greased bread pans. I use the ones with the wider base so that I can make sandwiches
• Cover and let dough rise until it doubles ( 30-35 minutes)
• Put into a COLD oven.
  
• Turn on oven to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes.
  
• Brush tops with olive oil, remove from pans and cool on wire rack
• ENJOY!