Whole Wheat Bread

This is my go-to recipe for whole wheat bread. The ingredients are from El Molino Best Recipes, five copies of which showed up for sale when I searched Abe Books, but the method is the Tassajara Bread Book's sponge process.

• 2 C milk
• 1 T dry yeast
• 1/3 C warm water (110 degrees +/-)
• 1 t granulated sugar
• 5 1/2 - 6 C whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C honey (clover preferred)
• 3 T oil or butter
• 1 T salt

Warm milk to around 110 degrees. The original recipe said to heat it to a simmer and then cool; "scalding" milk like that was necessary to destroy enzymes that made bread gummy if you started with raw milk, but is not required with pasteurized milk.

Dissolve yeast in warm water, add granulated sugar, stir, and wait for the mixture to get foamy.

Add dissolved yeast to warm milk in a large mixing bowl. Add 3 C flour and the honey. Mix well. Cover and let rise until bubbly, about an hour.

Add oil and salt and mix well.

Add about 2 more cups of flour, mixing it in with a wooden spoon.

Turn onto a breadboard with another half cup of flour and knead, adding more flour if necessary. Let rise, punch down, form loaves, let rise, bake at 350 F for 35 - 45 minutes.