Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I got this recipe mostly from an old Betty Crocker Cookbook, I tweaked it a little, but not much.

6-7 C whole wheat flour
1/3 C honey
1/4 C oil
1 T salt
2 pkgs. regular or quick-acting yeast
1/4 C wheat gluten (you can leave this out, but the texture is sub par when you do this)
2 1/4 C very warm water (120-130 degrees)


Mix 3 cups flour, honey, oil, salt, gluten and yeast in 4-quart bowl; add warm water. Beat on low speed, scraping bowl frequently for 1 minute. [When I double or triple the recipe, I just mix by hand.] Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl frequently for 1 minute. Stir in enough flour, 1 cup at a time to make dough easy to handle.

Take dough out and knead on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased 2 1/2 quart bowl, grease the top and cover. Let rise in warm place until double, about 40-60 minutes. Dough is ready when you push your index finger into the dough about 1/2 an inch and the indentation remains, i.e. it doesn't start to push back out.

Punch down dough; divide into halves. Let rest 5 minutes. Shape into two loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Brush loaves lightly with margarine. Let rise until double, 35-50 minutes.

Heat oven to 375. Place loaves on low rack so that the tops of pans are in center of oven. Bake until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, 40-45 minutes. Remove from pas; cool on wire rack.