A super place to begin our journey....

This recipe is a total of 15 minutes active time…..



I find that baking bread from scratch is on of my favorite things to do. I'm also lousy at following exact instructions as I don't weigh or measure my flour as precisely as many bakers think one should….With that disclaimer, I'll tell you what do to make a couple of loaves of very tasty bread.

In a large mixing bowl, ( I prefer ceramic) combine 1 cup rye flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of non-salted raw sunflower seeds) , 2 tsp. salt and 3 tsp. yeast (normal type) not the super fast ones that our now being sold. Mix it all up dry with a large spoon.

Next add three cups of hot water ( I just use hot tap water, hot but not scalding!), stir with dry ingredients, about 100 strokes. Should be a fairly loose consistency. Cover bowl with dry towel and set in warm spot of kitchen. Go do something else for 60-90 minutes while the sponge does its thing.

Keep in mind, let the dough do the work!

Next, stir in 1/2 cup of honey and 4Tbl. of olive oil.

Now, you are going to need about 3-4 more cups of flour to finish the dough…+ or - a little…

Start mixing in 1/2 cup at a time until your dough ball in the bowl makes it all moist. Continue this way until you have added two of the four cups. This last four cups can be whole wheat or white or 50/50 depending on how heavy you want the bread to end up being. No more RYE! Or you will end up with a brick. Dough should still be quite sticky but definitely should a solid blob being turned as you added the flour. Let this blob rest by itself 15 minutes…..Remember, dough is doing the work, not my bread class members. This bread making deal is to de-stress your life not add more....so roll with me here!

Upon returning to the bowl, turn out fairly moist blob onto counter with the last cup or two of flour ready to mix in as you start the kneading process. Now set but don't start your kitchen timer to eight minutes…Just before you attack the doughy mess, hit the start button. This keeps the baker honest as this is the "workout portion" of the bread making "process". Can't cheat when you are being timed. Can't give up early when you think it is good enough and you have two minute left! Kneading style is a very personal thing…I like to spin the blob about a quarter turn and then fold it over on itself as I proceed to add in flour to keep from sticking to counter. Your goal is to let the dough do the work. Remember you are the Alpha baker and in charge of its final form. My rule is a little too sticky is better than ending up with a dough bomb with too much flour, just keep dipping you kneading hand into the dry flour and let the dough know that it soon will transform into a beautiful elastic dough blob swan at the end of eight minutes! Add more than a cup if you need to keep the process from sticking too much to the work surface.

Wash out bowl, then coat sides with a little olive oil. Put kneaded blob back in warm spot for another hour or so covered by a towel.

Upon return, punch down the now inflated blob and roll back out onto counter. Divide blob into two equal halves. Preheat oven to 400F. Make sure your baking stone is preheating too! Place a small brownie pan on lowest shelf with about an inch of cold water in it. Lastly, shape your loaves by kneading into a either circular or elongated form. Now score the tops with a sharp knife...a "X" in round loaves or three slashes in elongated ones. Then place loaves on a lightly corn meal dusted pizza stone or other clay cookie sheet such as the ones from Pampered Chef….Put into oven and bake 40 minutes. At twenty minutes remaining, you can brush the tops with one egg white stirred with a touch of cold water if you like, but this is not necessary. Let me know how your loaves turn out. Let's see some pix too!

Don't look at the loaves or open the oven for 20 minutes. Not only is this bad bread Karma, the bread is attaining its oven "spring" and you just might distract it at precisely the wrong moment. Good Luck!

-Tom