My Bread

I found this recipe a hundred years ago in a family cookbook that mom got from one of her Fuller Brush customers. It was originally called Basic Whole Wheat bread, but I have this slight problem that every time I make pure whole wheat bread it comes out of the oven about the thickness of the sole of my shoe. Well, flip flop I should say, everybody tells me they aren't shoes. Anyway, I think it's a problem that was inherited. The flat bread I mean, not the shoes... because Mom has the same issue with her WW bread. So therefore I adapted and adopted and fiddled around until I came up with this. And it turns out perfect every single time I make it. Unless I'm making it for someone ELSE other than just my family. Like when I made it a couple days ago... but that's another story. The loaf above is sadly misshapen please excuse that, because the flavor is still good! The bread knife in the picture is one of Grandma Stenersen's that I used when we stayed at her house and I loved it dearly so I stole it from mom who had inherited it from Grandma. :D

5 C. warm water
3 1/2 T. yeast
4 tsp. sugar
7 T. oil
2 T. honey
2 T. molasses
2 tsp. salt
6 C. UNbleached white flour
3 C. whole wheat flour
2 C. rye flour
1 C. oat flour (just stick a cup of rolled oats in your blender and blend it up and there's your flour!)

If you want it to be less crummy you can add in 5 T. + 1 tsp. of Gluten.
A tip from the Panera Bread cookbook says to never put the salt directly on the yeast or it will kill it and your bread won't rise.

Pour your water into your Bosch. ;) Add the yeast and sugar, mix it up a little bit, then add the oil, honey & molasses. I always alternate the oil & honey/molasses so it all comes out of the measuring spoon easily. Add the salt and mix it all up. Put in all the white flour first and get that all mixed in, and then add the rest of the flours. Let that knead for a while and then check it. If it's still kinda sticky add more white flour. Knead for 10 minutes. Oil your table or counter or whatever you're raising your bread on, dump the dough out and turn it so it's all oily. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double. Raising it this way takes about half the time it normally would if you raised it in a bowl! Form into 4 loaves, prick the loaves, and let rise to your desired height. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and the pans and butter the tops. If you don't want crunchy crust, butter the sides and bottom also. Put in bags when it's still basically hot but don't shut the bags until it's pretty cool or you just might have soggy bread and that isn't quite as good! ;)