yay!

I DID IT! For the first time in my entire life, I made amazing whole wheat bread. It is fluffy inside and butter crispy on the outside and oh my gosh I am so excited. It tastes amazing too. I have tried so many recipes and for some reason mine never turned out. Hallelujah people. I told my friend Sarah that it was "so good I didn't throw it away. Ya. THAT good. " (for those of you who don't know my baking technique...if it is even slightly not fabulous--it's fed to the birds.)

Here's some comments from the home front:

Aaron- "Good job, Carrie. It doesn't feel like a brick. Oh, wow. It doesn't even taste like a brick."

Brianna - "Mommy, you made the super-est best-est most amazing bread ever!"

Kai - No comment. He just ate it.

Thankyou daaaah-lings.

RECIPE

2 3/4 c. warm water

2 Tbl. yeast

1/8 c. sugar (I used raw sugar and it was more like 1 tbsp)

let sit for 5 -10 minutes until bubbly

Add:

1/4 c. oil

1/4 c. honey

1/4 loosely packed brown sugar (or raw sugar)

1 tbsp. salt

6 tbsp. gluten

3 to 3 1/2 c. wheat flour

3 c. white flour

I use 7 - 7 1/2 c. of flour total

Knead for 8 minutes by hand or with your kitchen aid dough hook attachment:)

Spray with PAM and let rise until double in bowl (about 2 hours). Turn onto oiled counter and cut dough in half with sharp knife. Form into loaves and place in greased pans. Allow dough to rise 1 inch above bread pan (about 1 hour). Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

*So I trick I learned was to never add more flour than the recipe requires. Some bread baker chick said that to add more flour afterwards does not allow that new flour to have the same activation time as the rest--so the bread will become dry and dense. If the dough seems sticky at the end, just spray it with PAM--and it works so great and it won't make the bread dry because of too much flour!