This bread recipe will always be considered an old standby in our family. Once I adventured into milling my own wheat I quickly discovered that the old bread recipe I used for store-bought flour wouldn't work the same for freshly ground. My husband and I went through many loaves of tough and deflated bread experiments before we found and adapted a recipe from CrunchRocks that finally worked. And it's been a keeper ever since.

For a softer, lighter bread it's recommended that you add in vital wheat gluten. You can leave it out but it may be a little denser and wont' rise as high but it will still taste the same. Also, if you knead the dough by hand make sure that you are very firm and knead for the whole 12 minutes for best results.

Every time I bake this bread I have to slice me a fresh piece and smear some butter on it. Nothing in this world is better than freshly-baked bread and once you start making your own with whole and simple ingredients, you won't want to go back to store-bought. 

Whole Wheat bread recipe

2 and 3/4 cups warm water (not hot!)

1 and 1/4 Tbsp instant yeast

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

6 cups freshly-milled wheat flour

1 Tbsp kosher or sea salt

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (optional)

In a small bowl combine water, yeast, sugar, and oil and stir gently to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl or an electric bread mixer add flour and salt and stir to combine. Once yeast mixture is foaming slowly add it to the flour. Combine with flour mixture and mix until a ball begins to form (you may need to add more flour in small amounts at a time) and either knead by hand for 12 minutes or in an electric bread mixer for 8 minutes.

Transfer to a large, lightly oiled bowl and stretch plastic wrap over the top. Place in a warm area. I usually turn my light oven on and place it in there. After 35-40 minutes transfer dough onto counter and using either a knife or a pastry cutter cut the dough in two. Gently flatten each half to get the air bubbles out and shape into a rectangle with the short side being about the width of your bread pan. Begin gently rolling the dough on one side until you form a log. Pinch the seam of the dough to close it. Place in a lightly greased bread pan and gently smooth down until the top of the dough is level. 

Cover bread pans with plastic wrap and place in oven with light on. Let rise about 30 minutes or until the bread is about an inch above the bread pan. Remove the plastic wrap and set oven to 375 degrees. Let bake for 25 minutes or until bread is golden brown.

Remove from oven and remove from bread pans. Let cool on wire rack.

Let cool for about 10-15 minutes before slicing (if you can wait that long!).