Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

I try to always have homemade bread on hand. I am not always successful at this, but it is very little work with a stand mixer and dough hook, and I make 2 loaves at a time which lasts me about 2 weeks. I usually eat this for breakfast as toast with butter, jam or peanut butter. Its a great way to get whole grain and is very filling!

My favorite recipe is 100% whole wheat bread, though I do experiment with other flours (oatmeal and cornmeal are favorites). The secret to whole wheat bread that rises high and has a fine crumb is to let it have 3 rises. The first rise takes about 3 hours at 70 deg (you can do this overnight in the fridge), the second rise is about half that. Finally, you shape the bread, put it in a loaf pan and let it rise for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. I follow the bread making tips in The New Laurel's Kitchen a really great (super hippy dippy) cookbook from a Co-op in Berkeley.