100% Whole Wheat Bread

The thing that I love about this recipe is that a) there is ZERO white flour, and b) no sugar. Yes, there is honey and molasses (you can actually get away without the molasses, just use all honey), but locally harvested organic honey is not hard to come by. Personally, I'm not sure how much I trust packaged sugar no matter how much the company swears its organic or "in the raw". My family loves this recipe, and this is our sandwich bread... when I get the opportunity to make it.

A couple things to keep in mind: the majority of my recipes are done using a Kitchenaide variable speed stand mixer and one of three "blade" (?) attachments: the whisk, the dough hook, or the standard mixing one.
Also, my oven (for lack of better phrasing) sucks, so my cooking times may vary from yours. Always keep an eye on what you're cooking and adjust times accordingly. For a truly organic product, know where your food comes from and support your local growers. All flour in this recipe is an organic stone ground wheat flour found at the organic grocery store at our local farmer's market; even the flour used on the counter when kneading. For more on organic foods, farmer's markets, and just generally knowing where your dinner comes from; check back for my next post "Do you know where your food really comes from?". I should have it up by the end of the long weekend :)


Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients:
2.75 cup hot water
.33 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
.33 cup organic honey
2 tbsp molasses (you can also substitute extra honey for a sweeter bread)
1 tbsp salt
7.5 cups organic 100% whole wheat whole grain flour
1 packet dry active yeast

The steps (mix in between steps):

Place first five ingredients in the bowl and mix.

Add 2 cups of the flour.

Add yeast

Add 4 cups of the flour

Keep mixing until consistency is even. Slowly add remaining flour .5 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Do not exceed 7.5 cups of flour. Remember that the dough should be tacky, and over mixing will cause your bread to turn out tougher than you probably like.

Cover the bowl and let it rise for 30-45 minutes in a warm place. If using a stand mixer, it doesn't necessarily need to double it just needs time to grow.

Grease two standard sized loaf pans with either flour or calorie free cooking spray (butter flavor is my favorite).

Punch dough down and drop onto a floured surface. Work the dough and shape it into a ball, divide in half and do it again. Shape the loaves by turning dough under itself over and over again. When its shaped right, you'll have an oblong loaf shape that is smooth on sides and top (there can be a crease on the bottom, it still tastes just fine ;-) )

Drop the loaves in your pans and let them rise until almost doubled. Bake in a preheated oven @ 350* for 36 minutes. Remove from oven and turn out onto a wire rack. Do not wrap until completely cool, and do not refrigerate ever. Unless of course you enjoy eating loaf shaped bricks.