Moist and Soft 100% Storage Wheat Bread

My wife Ruth has been making whole wheat bread from our LDS storage wheat for years.  Anyone who has tried making bread from storage wheat knows how difficult it can be not to end up with a dense lump of concrete in the end. Making bread from 100% red winter wheat is not easy.  Ruth has perfected the process and I wanted to share her recipe. 

[Recipe Makes 3 Loaves]

2-1/2 cups warm water

2 Tbs bread yeast

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs (heaping) dough enhancer

(substitute egg or milk powder)

4-1/2 cups fresh medium ground whole wheat flour

First add yeast to warm water and let sit until foamy. 

Mix wet ingredients, sugar, salt and dough enhancer first before adding flour last.  Mixture at this point should have the consistency of pancake batter.

Kneed mixture in Bosch Universal with kneeding hooks on low for 12 minutes. 

Add aproximately 2 cups additional fresh ground wheat flour while dough is kneeding until dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.  Add 1/2 cup at a time until proper consistency is achieved.  Additional flour amount will depends on coarseness or fineness of your flour.

Shape loaves and place in greased bread pans and allow to rise for 45 min.

Bake at 325 F for 25 minutes.

If you are making bread without a mixer, add all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl to the point that the dough is the consistency of pancake batter, cover bowl with cloth or saran wrap and let the mixture rise until it is doubled.  Then "punch down" the dough and kneed it by hand on a flour-coated bread board.  Add the additional flour until the dough stops sticking to your hands and the bread board.  Form 3 loaves, place in greased pans, and allow the loaves to "double" again before baking.