A friend of mine brought me an AMAZING loaf of bread the other day that she had made. It was simply the best homemade wheat bread I have EVER had. I have been trying to learn how to use some of the wheat in our food storage and tried some other reciepes but this takes the cake or the bread as it were. It is a delightfully soft and yummy. So I grind my own wheat for the flour but you can buy it too. She also mentioned it is important to follow the recipe to the letter and the amount of time to mix and so on. I did all this and it paid off in 4 delctible loaves of heaven for the mouth!

7 C. whole wheat flour
2/3 C. vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 T. instant yeast

5 C. steaming hot water (120-130 degrees)

2 T. salt
2/3 C. oil
2/3 C. honey
2 1/2 T. bottled lemon juice

5 C. whole wheat flour

Mix the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover with a towl and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add next 4 ingredients and beat for 1 minute. Add the last 5 C. of flour one at a time beating until just blended each time. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This will make the dough very soft.

Preheat the oven for 1 minute to lukewarm then turn it off. Turn the dough onto oiled counter top ( do NOT use flour) divide into 4 loaves and place in oiled bread pans. Place in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches the top of the pans. Do NOT remove from oven; turn the oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and butter tops remove form pans and cool. This bread freezes really well if it last that long......mine is gone in a day or two! ;) You can also half this recipe for 2 loaves.

*Tip when I put the dough in the pans I gently press the dough into the corners of the pans to help even out the loaf.

Happy bread making.