Almost Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat

Great Harvest Bread Company has some great whole wheat bread. The reason that I most like their bread is that it is fat free! And it has five simple ingredients. With that said, yes there are better breads out there, in fact I think I have a few better ones on my blog ;), but... for being fat free? I don't think you can find much better!

From checking out the ingredients on the bread bag (100% Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Honey, Yeast, Salt) and looking at several bread recipes, here is my version of Great Harvest's Honey Whole Wheat Bread.

Yield 4-5 loaves.
4 Tbs yeast (I use SAF instant yeast)
4 1/2 cup hot water
3/4-1 cup honey
1 Tbs and 1 tsp salt
~12 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground...you can also use store bought, but I hear that the results may not be as good as freshly ground wheat flour)

In Bosch mixer (or similar heavy duty mixer with dough hook), add yeast, hot water, and honey. Mix on speed 1 for 1 minute or until creamy. Turn off mixer and let sit for ~5 minutes until mixture becomes bubbly.

Add salt and mix for 1 minute. (I used half sea salt and half iodized salt...this is unnecessary though! Use whatever salt you prefer :) Just make sure it is fine and will dissolve)

Add 9 cups of flour and mix. Slowly add flour until the bread begins to pull away from the sides. Let knead for 5 minutes. If dough is sticking to sides, add more flour. Be careful not to add too much! I don't know how to stress the "just pulling away from sides of bowl" part :) The dough will be sticky.

Let knead for a total of 8-10 minutes. Remove hook and let rise for 20 minutes.

Spray counter top and pans with nonstick spray. Then spray hands and punch dough down. (The more the merrier :)) Place dough on sprayed counter top and form into loaves. I made four large loaves.

Then place in oven that has been preheated to 200*F and turned off (So oven is warm), with a pan of boiling water (to keep moisture in oven so bread doesn't dry out). Let the loaves raise for 30 minutes.

Remove water and turn oven on to 350*F. No need to remove the bread pans for preheating. Bake 25-30 minutes.