Whole Wheat Bread Recipe!

Here is my new bread box! Isn't that exciting? Not wanting to use plastic baggies or put my freshly baked bread in the refridgerator, I finally decided to purchase a bread box. This is the largest I could find in this style (ie: not wooden). It's made by WMF which is the same company where I purchased my glass food storage containers through Williams Sonoma. (Unfortunately Williams Sonoma doesn't carry them anymore and I can't find them anywhere -- let me know if anyone has seen them out there ... I'd love to buy more.) Anyway, it is large enough to hold two large loaves of bread. We can polish off two loaves in one week -- and frankly I don't understand going through the effort of making bread for just one loaf. I bake two at a time.

Here is my flour that I purchased for about .54 cents a pound -- for organic whole wheat and french styled white! Wow.

Here is my Whole Wheat bread for the week -- one loaf is already down to the heel. I've made this recipe twice now and it's come out perfectly both times. The recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion which I would have never looked at if it weren't for Rosa's Yummy Yums in Switzerland. She highly recommended it so I checked it out of the library. I've tried two things so far and they have been great. This might be one of those books I will have to splurge on. (I can only renew one more time!) :)

100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe (doubled to make 2 loaves)

(Note: you can make a simple honey whole wheat by eliminating the nuts and seeds. It's wonderful.)

3 C Water

6 T Olive Oil

10 T Honey, Maple Syrup or Molasses (just shy of 2/3 C)

7 C Whole Wheat Flour (36 1/2 oz)

1/2 C Chopped Sunflower Seeds

1/2 C Chopped Walnuts

1 T Salt

1 T Instant Yeast (rapid rise, bread machine) The difference w/ instant yeast is just that it doesn't need to be proofed - activated in warm water first.

In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer (this will max out your kitchen aide - even the large one with the crank handle which I have and used ... use your mixer's directions), combine all the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes, which gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquids, then knead it for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and supple. Note: for the optimal rise, use an electric mixer or bread machine (set on the dough setting). Kneading by hand will make a smaller denser loaf. (this was a big epiphany for me, it does make a huge difference. Otherwise, really work the dough when kneading whole wheat bread by hand.)

Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl for 1 hour (mine has needed a lot longer than this in the cool fall weather and 66 degree house -- the dough should be well doubled and very soft to the touch leaveing a little dent where your finger poked it). Dump dough onto counter - cut in half, then make two logs and place them into a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch bread pan. Cover the pan and let it rise for about 1 hour, (for me longer) until it has crowened about 2 inches over the rim of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil for the final 20 minutes. Remove from pan, cool on rack. (I'm finding in my oven I need to bake it for a total of 50 minutes. 25 without foil, 25 with foil.)