This is my go-to recipe for my nice, big loaves. These are perfect for sandwiches, toast, whatever you use a bread loaf for. Nice and soft and delicious!
9 - 9 1/2cupsfreshly milled wheathard red wheat, hard white wheat, or a combination. Mill about 6 cups of wheat berries.
3 3/4cupswater
2 1/4TByeast
1/2cuphoney
1/2cupoilI prefer to use olive oil
3 1/4tspsalt
Instructions
To proof the yeast: Combine the warm water, yeast, and 3 cups of flour. Mix together and let it sit, covered, for about 15-20 minutes until nice and bubbly.
After proofing, add the honey, oil, salt, and remaining 6 cups of flour (to be safe, add 5 more and go from there). Mix by hand or a mixer (if using a mixer, make sure you have the dough hook attachment) until the dough is pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If more flour is needed, only add a little at a time!
Once dough is pulling away from sides of bowl, it's time to knead. If you're mixing with a mixer, set the timer for 9-10 minutes to knead. If kneading by hand, knead for about 15-20 minutes until dough is soft and stretchy.
Once dough is kneaded - it should be soft, stretchy, and SLIGHTLY sticky - fold into three loaves and put in greased 9x5 bread pans. If needed, lightly dust your hands and the counter with flour to make the dough easy to work with. Do NOT add too much flour otherwise your bread will be too dense. Rise until bread dough is about 1 inch above the pan.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes until loaves are a rich medium brown.
Rest the bread in pans for about 10 minutes then remove onto cooling rack
Rest the bread until cool before slicing.
Notes
NOTES FOR 1 LOAF: Ingredients: 4 1/2 - 4 3/4 cups freshly milled flour (mill about 3 cups of wheat berries) 2 cups warm water 1 1/8 TB instant yeast (1 TB is fine) 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup oil 1 1/2 tsp saltFor autolyze, mix the water, yeast, and 1 cup of flour. See video for full instructions!***************This recipe can easily be halved, doubled, or tripled! Want a cheat sheet to know how much to use for smaller or bigger batches? Check out my FREE Ingredients Cheat Sheet! If you want smaller loaves, just divide the dough to the size you want. For a more precise loaf, weigh the dough to make 1lb loaves or whatever size you want. This recipe works GREAT in the Pullman pan. Just weigh the dough to match your pan. For example, if you have the 1lb Pullman pan you need to weigh 1lb of dough. For the 2lb Pullman pan, weigh 2lbs of dough.