Anderson Bread

Andersen Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 4 large loaves

4 cups warm water
8 cups whole-wheat flour (or until it scrapes sides of mixer clean or feels like grandma's arm when dented:)
2 Tbsp. yeast
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup honey
1 generous Tbsp salt
(opt. 2 Tbsp. gluten)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add remaining ingredients,(1/2 flour and then remainder of flour as mixer is mixing). Mix bread 10 min. Let raise approx. 20 min. Knead into bread pans. Let raise approx. 45 minutes. Bake at 350 approx 25 min.


Notes from Brenley (that I learned from my mom, of course):

I usually need more than 8 cups of flour here. I add flour until the mixer cleans itself off. I never use the gluten. My mom doesn't either, but my sister does. So--it's preference. My mom wouldn't dream of using store-bought wheat flour, but I don't have a grinder yet so I buy King Arthur's and it works great. I've also bought bulk at Sprouts and had great results with that too. My mom swears by SAF brand yeast but also likes "Red Star", which is the brand you can buy at Costco for super cheap (and in huge quantities).

Make sure to oil the pans. Knead the dough on the counter into a rounded, flat ball then punch the dough into the greased pan and then turn it over so it's shapely on top. My bread takes closer to 30 min. tobake. Remove the bread quickly from the pans so it doesn't "sweat" and let it cool on racks (although I'm usually picking at it as soon as it won't burn my mouth!). We always butter the tops of the loaves so they have a nice shine.

Side note: My mom and her sisters used to sell their bread to their neighbors when they were little girls back in the 50s. The bread was legendary and Spencer's mom (who happened to be one of the Andersen's neighbors) remembers buying their bread! Small world!