Bread Basics

3 cups hot water
1/4 cup honey
2 TBS dry active yeast
Mix these together in a large bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes. When it gets foamy, then add:
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 TBS gluten (if you have it. It can be omitted, but bread tastes--and cuts--much better WITH)
3 cups flour
Stir with a strong spoon (I use a good wire whisk to blend the flour and gluten into the liquid, then I use a bamboo spoon to stir) until smooth. Add an additional 3-4 cups flour. (I dump 3 cups in right away, but add just enough of the fourth cup to keep the dough from being too sticky to handle. If you add too much flour, bread is dry--not enought flour, bread doesn't rise good) I start out with a spoon, but by the last cup of flour, I shove up my sleeves and start kneading with my hands. Knead to a soft dough. Dough should stick together in a ball in the bowl, not stick to the sides of the bowl and not be too sticky to handle.
Cover and allow dough to rise to double the size. (about 30-60 minutes) Dump dough out of bowl and cut into three portions. Shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Again, allow dough to rise to double its size--usually an inch above the top of the pan. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pans immediately and let cool completely before 'bagging' to avoid soggy bread.


A whole wheat alternative, I've found, can be made using your blender. I use 1 cup of water to disolve the yeast, and I mix 1 cup of COOL(not hot, but not ice cold either) water with 1 cup whole wheat berries in my blender; Process for 2-3 minutes, then then add 1/2 cup water and continue to process for another 2-3 minutes. Then I rinse out the blender with the remaining 1/2 cup of water. It should look light brown, but smooth. Pour in the 'foamy water' with the oil, salt, and flour. This replaces ONE cup of flour and makes the bread much more nutritious, but still edibile!!! Email me if you have questions.