The Best Bread Recipe EVER

On Tuesday, because I forgot to pick up bread on my last supermarket run, I decided to make a couple of loaves. If you have never attempted to whip up some homemade bread, I highly recommend doing so - it's quite cathartic and the bread is delish.

I have this HUGE and super-deluxe wheat grinder, on loan from my mom, which lets me actually use that food storage wheat that used to just sit in our garage. Imagine my relief about being able to use the boxes of this stuff for something we would actually eat; I've never thought that boiled wheat buds or wheat sprouts would get us through the tough times.

Over the past few months, I've tinkered with various recipes because we are fans of 100% whole-wheat bread. However, using 100% whole-wheat, which is super healthy, usually results in a very dense, flatter bread end-product. It's good, but not like the stuff you typically use to whip up a PBJ(... and yes, we eat those around our house even though there are no little ones underfoot).

So, when it came time to make said bread, I went online where all of your wildest recipe hopes and dreams can come true. After a very quick search, I came across this article/recipe for Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread Recipe. Anyone can call their bread famous, so I wasn't convinced. Scanning through the short list of ingredients, I still wasn't sold on the bread being that famous; most of the ingredients were in other recipes that I had used previously.

Nonetheless, the reviews were great - hello, this bread won MANY blue ribbons at the state fair - so I decided to give it a whirl. As we don't have a bread machine, I used the old-fashioned method of kneading by hand... with a little assistance from my Kitchen-Aid.

In less than 2 hours, I had the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the house. And the bread? A quick slather of honey and butter - simply divine.

You got to try this - you'll love it! (If you want the bread machine recipe, check out the link above.)

Marilyn's Famous Whole-Wheat Bread
1/3 c Honey
1/3 c Oil
2 1/2 c Warm water
1 1/2 T Instant yeast
2 1/2 tsp Salt
6-7 c Fresh whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 T Dough enhancer

Combine the warm water, yeast, and 2 cups of fresh whole wheat flour in a large mixing bowl. Allow to sponge for 15 minutes. Add the honey, oil, dough enhancer, salt and 4-5 C additional flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of the mixing bowl. Do not allow the dough to get too stiff (too dry). Dough should be smooth and elastic. It is a common mistake for the beginning bakers to add too much flour.

Knead the bread by hand 7-10 minutes or until it is very smooth, elastic, and small bubbles or blisters appear beneath the surface of the dough. Six to ten minutes of kneading by electric mixer should be sufficient to develop the gluten if you are using fresh flour. If you are kneading by hand, be sure to add the minimum amount of flour to keep the dough soft and pliable by using a tsp of oil on your hands and kneading surface.

Form the dough into 2 loaves if using the hand method. Place the dough into greased loaf pans. Allow to rise in a slightly warmed oven or other warm place until doubled in size (about 30-60 minutes).

Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Bread is cooked through when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, and when the top and sides are a golden brown color.