Whole Wheat Bread Recipe- Mastering The Basics

I bake almost daily. I love to smell the aroma of fresh bread and love even more to cut a warm loaf and slather it with butter. Homemade bread can be relatively inexpensive to make (at least 1/2 of grocery store prices!) and so much better for you. Here is my basic whole wheat bread recipe~ feel free to play with a variety of grains and as always~ Enjoy!

You can do this small batch by hand or in a machine with a dough hook. I have a Bosch mixer that I have used daily for almost 20 years along with my Whisper Mill grain mill that is used daily as well. If you don't mill your own wheat keep your flour in the fridge to keep it from going rancid.

                                           100% Whole Wheat Bread
                                                Makes 2 loaves
6-7 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp. yeast
1/3 - 1/2 c. oil or melted butter
1/3 c. honey
2 1/2 tsp salt
Mill wheat berries. Put about 1/2 of the flour in your mixing bowl, add yeast, water, honey and butter. Mix and let sponge for about 15 minutes. Add the salt and enough flour to make a smooth dough. Knead for 6 minutes if using a machine or about 10 if by hand. Divide dough into 2 loaves and place in greased pans. Let rise until almost to the top of pans. Bake @ 350* for 30 minutes. Remove to cooling racks.