6 cups “baby bottle” lukewarm water
3 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup, or agave)
2 cups dry milk
In the largest bowl you own, put the water, and sprinkle in the yeast and stir lightly to dissolve. Add the rest of the ingredients, stirring each lightly. Let rise 20 minutes.
Add
6 cups whole wheat flour
a cup at a time, stirring as you go. When all is in, beat 100 times, adding air. Stir in 2 more cups whole wheat flower as best you can — switch arms, it’s tough!
Cover bowl with a plate and set in a warmish place. Let rise for 1 hour.
Pour and sprinkle in
2 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup canola oil
Do not stir, FOLD the ingredients in, avoiding cutting and tearing.
Fold in, a cup at a time,
4 cups whole wheat flour
Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead (pushing and folding) for about 10 minutes. Oil your large bowl lightly, drop the dough in, cover, set in a warm place and let it rise for 1 hour.
Punch the dough down about 25 times (probablly the most satisfying part of making bread, other than eating it). Cover, set in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour.
Take out onto a floured surface, shape into four loaves and put in four medium bread pans that have been lightly oiled. I use my Pyrex meatloaf pans. Cover with towels and let rise 20 minutes.
Carefully, so they don’t deflate, cut slits into the tops of the risen loaves with a sharp knife (I do three at a diagonal). Brush surface with an egg white beaten in 1/4 cup of water. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Finished loaves will resound with a deep, hollow thump when tapped with your finger.
Let cool an hour before cutting. I freeze three in sealed plastic bags and leave one to eat — those can be frozen without cutting, making it easier to cut later.
Below, loaves plain, with nuts (great!), with raisins (needed cinnamon), and twisted into a rope shape made with daughter Maleah.
