100% Whole Grain Wheat Bread

This is a wonderful fluffy 100% whole wheat bread. Most of the recipes out there yield heavy and very dense bread. I do all of this by hand but you can certainly use a Kitchen Aid.

While pulling out my ingredients to make this bread, I realized that I had very little honey in my pantry. I hate how expensive honey is, so I decided to look online for a substitute. To my delight, I found that you can combine 1 1/4 c sugar with 1/4 c of water, stir it well and replace the honey with an equal amount of the substitute. It definitely worked out well for me in the end! I only wanted to make one loaf of bread, so I halved all of the ingredients.

Ingredients:
Yields two loaves

Food.com

• 2 3/4 hot water
  
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1/3 c honey
• 2 tbsp molasses
  
• 1 tbsp sea salt (or regular salt)
• 7 1/2 c 100% whole grain wheat flour
• 2 tbsp dry active yeast

OR

Ingredients:
Yields one loaf

• 1 3/8 c hot water
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (or regular salt)
• 3 3/4 c wheat flour
• 1 tbsp dry active yeast
  

Directions:

• Place the first five ingredients in a large bowl and mix.
• Add 2 c of flour (1 c if making one loaf). Mix and then add yeast.
• Add 4 c of flour (1 1/2 c if making one loaf).
  
• Mix until consistency is somewhat even even. Continue to slowly add flour a little at a time, until dough no longer sticks to side of bowl. It should be tacky to the touch. The trick is to have enough consistency to stand up with the least amount of flour, so the bread will be fluffy. It will most likely be 6 1/2 c (3 1/4 c if making one loaf). In any case, do not exceed 7 1/2 c (3 3/4 c if making one loaf).
  
• Cover and let rise for 45 minutes. It does not need to double in size.
• Grease two bread pans with Crisco (on if making one loaf).
• Mix dough again just enough to knock it down at least close to its original size.
  
• Drop dough on floured surface. Shape into a ball, getting enough flour on it so it is not sticky.
• Divide ball in half (skip this step is making one loaf).
• Shape the loaves by turning the dough under itself over and over. When the dough is shaped, the sides and ends will be sealed and all you will see is a nice oblong-shaped loaf with smooth sides and top.
• Drop loaves in bread pans. Allow to rise uncovered until almost doubled in size.

• Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 36 minutes.
• Cool on rack. You can eat it right away if you wish.
• Make sure you do not wrap it up until it is completely cooled due to condensation, which would make it soggy.
  
• Store in tinfoil on the kitchen counter.
  
• Do not store in refrigerator as it will turn into a brick.
  
• Enjoy!