Award winning whole wheat bread recipe

I am sharing a bread recipe that my mother-in-law makes that is delicious.  And it uses 100% whole wheat flour.  She actually entered it in the county fair a couple of years ago and it won best in show.  So, here goes!

First, dissolve 3 Tbsp. Instant yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in one cup of water.  With the mixer going, add

• 3/4 cup honey (I use sugar and it works great)
• 3/4 cup oil
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 5 Tbsp. lemon juice (I use vinegar)
• 4 3/4 cups warm water
• 7 cups whole wheat flour

Mix this for 7-10 minutes on 2 on the Bosch mixer, which is it’s mid-range speed.

I then pour some oil on a clean counter and spread the oil out with my hands.  Then I take the dough out of the bowl and put it on the oiled counter top.  I make it into a nice rounded shape and then cut it in half.

Dough cut in half

Then I form each half into loaves and put them in large long loaf pans.

Formed loaves

I let them rise for 30-45 minutes or until doubled.

Bread after it has risen

Then I put the loaves in a 350 degree oven for 48 minutes.  I then take them out and let them cool on a wire rack.  And I butter the tops when they just come out of the oven.

Fresh from the oven

I then cut the bread and bag it in Food and Bread bags that we buy at the store.  Usually, one of these loafs is divided into two bags.  This recipe is great and it stays very moist.  When I make bread, I make 2-3 batches at a time and I keep out 2 bags and freeze the rest.  We also grind our wheat fresh.  We use hard white wheat and that helps to make it a bit softer and we like the taste better than hard red wheat.  Enjoy!

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