Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat "bread" flour
• 2 cups unbleached white "general purpose" four
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon dry baking yeast
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses or honey (optional)
• 2 tablespoons gluten flour (optional, rises much, much better)

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the honey or molasses. Begin adding water in small amounts, kneading with your hands until a bread dough consistency (smooth, not sticky-wet) is achieved. Knead for ten minutes. Don't cheat! Use your oven timer to keep yourself honest. Kneading can be a pleasant activity once you get used to it. Push your thumbs in at the front and pull your hands around the back, then repeat.

Form and smooth the bread into a suitable loaf shape for your bread pan. (You can make a nice round loaf on a pizza or cookie pan.) Dust the outside of the loaf with flour so it won't stick to the pan! Corn meal works even better.

Place the loaf in the pan, cover the pan and let it sit in a warm spot for an hour and a half. If you kneaded it for a full ten minutes it should rise very nicely.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly flour the outside of the loaf once more to make sure it doesn't stick. Bake the loaf for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Variation: Apple Pie Bread

Extra Ingredients

• 1 apple
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

In a food processor, finely chop an apple (I suggest a granny smith). Add just enough water to allow the apple to be chopped properly. Add to the dry ingredients before adding any additional water (you won't need as much as usual). Also add the spices. Knead, rise and bake as usual.

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