Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

I would like to give kudos from this recipe to my friend, Vikki and her sis-in-law, Mara who live in Branson, MO.and were kind enough to share this with me.

I love a house filled with the smell of baked goods hot out of the oven.  So, when my long time friend, Vikki,  told  me about this whole wheat bread she made with the simplest of ingredients, I had to give it a whirl.  Another reason being that I am for the time being, a steroid induced diabetic from my transplant meds and need to watch my sugars and carbs. The below recipe uses  minimal honey and is made with whole wheat, which is better for the body than processed white flour. This is so delicious, I am hooked!

The below recipe will make 2 loaves, fit for a Kitchen Aid mixer. If you have a Bosch Mixer you can double the recipe to make 4 loaves. Prep time is only 20 min! Rising time 30 min. Bakes for about 35 min and VOILA! Oh, and this freezes well.

Ingredients:
4 3/4 cups unground Hard Wheat (to be ground)
OR approx 6 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey or less
2 1/2 cups hot water
1 Tablespoon Yeast
1 teaspoon Salt

Directions:

• Grind your wheat into flour and set aside OR use whole wheat flour
• 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.)
• Knead dough 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.
• 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!

This is fantabulous hot out of the oven with a little butter (and jam)!! I do hope you’ll try it, I’m sure you’ll love it. :)