Yummy bread

I'd like to give a shout out to my friend Natalie. She has provided me with the most wonderful whole wheat bread recipe, and is single handedly responsible for the 10-15 pounds I will surely gain over the next month and a half. I consider myself a pretty decent bread baker. I've tried dozens of recipes, but this one beats all others in easiness and yumminess. With pretty much every other wheat recipe I've tried, I end up having to do half and half wheat and white flour in order to make it come out with anything other than the texture of a clay brick. But this recipe allows me to use 100% whole wheat. Yummers! Here it is -- it's SUPER easy, and if you think you can't bake bread, you CAN with this recipe. (I hope Natalie doesn't mind me posting her recipe!)

1 1/2 c wheat flour
3T wheat gluten
1 T yeast
1 1/4 c warm tap water

Blend the above ingredients and let sit for 10 minutes.

Then mix in:
1 tsp salt
3T oil
3T honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup whole wheat flour

Let rise for 30 minutes. Then put in a bread pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

The above is Natalie's actual recipe. I'm lazy, so I decided to see what would happen if I just kneaded it all together and then let it rise in the baking pan -- PERFECT! I just kneaded it until it felt just right, greased the loaf pan and plopped it in. I covered it and let it rise, and then just threw it in the oven. It was a little loaf of carb-y goodness in just a little over an hour. And by the way, I am currently out of honey and substituted brown sugar and it was great, although I'm sure it'll be even better with the honey.