Home made wheat bread

Ok so I got this recipe from a RS activity at church.  I  had tried several times to make home made bread and never worked for me.  So I was kinda skeptical about this one.  But the gal who showed us said it was fool proof..so I gave it a whirl.  Seriously it was amazing!!  I halved the recipe bc this makes 4 loaves.  Also, I used the bread pans I had, instead of buying the recommended ones.  You all have to try this!!!  No more buying store bought bread for me.

Emilie's Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 4 8/4 inch loaves

7 c. whole wheat flour (grind your own if you have a wheat grinder) 2/3 c. vital wheat gluten (you can find at smiths in the baking isle) 2 1/2 T. instant yeast

5 c. hot water (120-130 F)

2 T. salt 2/3 c. oil 2/3 c. honey or 1 c. sugar (I like honey the best!) 2 1/2 T. bottled lemon juice

5 c. whole wheat flour (this is in addition to the 7c. See why I halved it:))

Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging. literally just place a kitchen towel over the entire kitchen aid w/ paddle still in and let everything sit)

Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.

Pre-heat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and then turn off oven. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves (u don't need to make them perfect just put them in) place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks. This recipe can be halved to make 2 loaves.(this is what I did, since we have a family of 3)

*She ONLY uses Bakers Secret 8x4 inch non stick pans (we could only find them at Smith's grocery store, strange enough).

Try and ENJOY!!!! I ate half the loaf when it came out of the oven...it was heavenly!