Home made bread on a cold, wintery day!

There's nothing like home made whole wheat bread on a cold, wintery day in Saint-Lazare, Quebec - Canada!!

Whole Wheat Bread – makes 2 loaves

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons sugar

2 packages or 2 tablespoons Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast

½ cup water

¾ cup milk

1/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup butter

3 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons salt

4 ½ cup unsifted whole wheat flour

2 ¾ cups unsifted all-purpose white flour (about)

Measure 1 cup of warm water into a large bowl. Stir in 2 teaspoons sugar and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, and then stir well.

Meantime, combine ½ cup water, milk, molasses and butter in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until liquids are warm and butter melts.  Stir in 3 tablespoons sugar and salt.

Add liquids to dissolved yeast. Combine flours. Add 2 ½  cups of flour to liquids. Beat until smooth. Stir in an additional 4 ½ cups (about) of flour mixture to make a soft dough, (if necessary, add additional white flour to obtain desired dough). Turn dough out onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.

Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).

Punch dough down, turn out onto lightly floured board. Divide in half. Shape into loaves and place into 2 greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise in warm place, free from draft – until double in bulk (about 1 hour).

Bake in hot over (400 degrees) about 25-30 minutes or until done. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I bake for about 20 minutes.

Recipe is from Fleischmann’s “Creative World of Baking” booklet. Published by Standard Brands Canada Limited.