We have been making this bread for many years now and I've never ruined it! Ken refuses to eat any other kind of bread. It is delicious! I will try to make the directions as clear as possible. Here it goes:
This makes 5 loaves.
Heat up 6 cups of water to 110 to 120 degrees in a pan on the stove.
Pour water into a Bosch Mixer which is by far my favorite or use a Kitchenaid which you will probably have to cut the recipe in half.
Add:
2/3 cup of honey
2/3 cups extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
2 Tablespoon sea salt
Start mixing and slowly add 5-8 cups of freshly milled whole wheat flour or sprouted spelt flour. I grind my own wheat berries with a Wondermill grinder but you can also buy whole wheat flour. (If you have a problem with wheat or gluten, you can try sprouted spelt flour. My daughter makes this for her husband who is gluten intolerant and it's wonderful! You can buy it at healthy food stores.) You need to use hard wheat berries or regular whole wheat flour NOT soft wheat berries or whole wheat pastry flour.
Sprinkle 2 Tablespoon of SAF yeast {I use the yeast that comes in the big white package from Costco and store it in my freezer} over it and mix well. Let sit for 10-25 minutes. It will begin to bubble and rise.
Then start adding flour one cup at a time while the mixer is on and keep adding flour until the dough just begins to clean off the sides of your bowl and gather together, then begin the kneading time. You will be using about 18 cups of flour total but you may have a half to 1 cup left over. Instead of all whole wheat flour, I add 2 cups of millet to it and you can add oatmeal or other flours also. The total shouldn't be more than 18 cups, however. Too much flour makes the bread too crumbly and dry. Cassi has even added oregano, basil, onion and garlic powder to it to have an Italian flair. It's really good!
Knead for about 5 to 7 minutes.Your dough should be soft, slightly sticky, and the sides of the bowl shouldn't have much dough clinging to it. So add some more flour if it is too sticky.
Afterwards, divide the dough into 5 parts {I just eyeball it} and shape into a loaf and put into well-oiled bread pans. I use a little bit of liquid lecithin {found in any health food store} and olive oil to coat the pans and they never stick.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, turn the oven OFF,
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, turn the oven OFF,
put the bread in the oven, and let rise for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, turn the oven to 350 degrees and cook for 35 minutes. Take the bread out and use a knife or spatula to pop them out of the pans and let them cool on a cooling rack. You can slice them up and put them in the freezer after you've let them cool off completely if you want the bread to last longer.
