In honor of bread.....and my Grandma................

Good morning everyone! Hope your day is going well for you.

Ahhhhhhh........The sun is shining bright over Harrisburg today after a foggy, chilly morning. Welcome to fall in Oregon. It's one of my favorite times of the year. It sparks thoughts of my favorite sweater, snuggling up in front of the fire with some tea or cocoa, comfort foods and the smell of fresh baked bread warm from the oven. It's days like today that get me reminiscing about my growing up years.
Some of my fondest memories are of the times I spent in the kitchen with my mother and grandmother learning the secrets to perfectly flaky pie crust, homemade jams and preserves and my all-time favorite....fresh homemade bread. Mmmmmm...there is nothing quite as good as the smell of fresh baked bread straight from the oven....well, except for maybe eating it straight from the oven with lots of real butter!

My grandmother taught me how to make bread when I was probably about 8 years old and I've been perfecting the process ever since. After graduating high school, I moved from Montana to Oregon to live with her for a year and being the recipe collector that I am, I took some time to peruse her cookbook selection. That's when I discovered a jewel of a cookbook hidden in the stack.

Feasting Naturally by Mary Ann Pickard is a wonderful little book full to the brim with natural recipes. I fell in love with some of the recipes I made for my grandma and me to try and when it was time for me to move back to Montana, she gave me her copy (with a handwritten inscription by the author to my grandma). I've made several of the bread recipes as well as some of the others and can attest to their yumminess.

Grandma also gave me her copy of Feasting Naturally From Your Own Recipes, which was the follow up book by the author. This book contains my all-time favorite recipe for whole wheat bread and I am going to share it with you today!
Are you ready to make some delicious, simple, wonderful bread? {I know you are.} Here we go....

Easiest Yet Whole Wheat Bread

• 7-8 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 Tbsp. yeast
• 4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup honey

1. Place 2 cups whole wheat flour, the yeast and the salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Heat milk, water, butter and honey until very warm {about 110* on a candy thermometer} and pour into yeast mixture. Mix with mixer on low speed for 2 minutes.
3. Add 2 cups flour and mix until blended, then beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in enough additional flour to form a stiff dough, then turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth {8-10 minutes}, kneading in remaining flour as needed.
5. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.
6. Uncover dough and shape to fit 2 well greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Brush tops of loaves with oil, cover and refridgerate 2-24 hours.**
7. When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap and allow to stand at room temperature 10 minutes while oven pre-heats to 400*.
8. Bake 40-45 minutes, remove and cool on wire racks.

makes 2 loaves


**I often skip this step and just let the loaves sit on the stove top for another short rise time while oven is pre-heating. I cook them for 20-30 minutes in this case {or just watch them till they are done}. You can tell they are done when they sound hollow if you tap them in the center of the top. I also rub the tops with butter when the loaves come out of the oven so the crust stays softer.

I know you're going to love this bread. I literally can't keep it in stock at our house. The kids LOVE it and even prefer it to store-bought bread which makes me very happy.

Now for another treat! I have managed to aquire an extra copy of Feasting Naturally, and I would absolutely LOVE to give it away to one of YOU!!! I'm even feeling extra crazy today and I'm giving you 6 (yes that's right 6!!!) different ways to enter to win!

*The first one is mandatory....the rest are just bonus chances :)

Remember to come back HERE to this post and confirm with another comment for each entry.

Here is how you can enter the giveaway to win this wonderful book and start feasting naturally in your home:

• Leave a comment on this post about your favorite memory of your Grandmother.*
• Share your favorite bread recipe with me using the "Submit a recipe" page at the top left of my blog. (leave me a comment about it below)
• Become a follower.......that's right! Click that little follow button at the bottom of my blog.
• share about this giveaway in a post of your own on YOUR blog. I would love to read all of your blogs! (Make sure to include a link to this post somewhere in there and come back here to leave a link to your post in a new comment.)
• Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter (tell me in a comment below)
• Share about this giveaway on Facebook (and let me know below....you get the idea by now, I'm sure :] )

The winner will be chosen by 9am on October 15th using random.org and I will be in contact with them for shipping details. Best of luck to all of you!

Now get in the kitchen and whip up some of the Easiest Yet Whole Wheat Bread! You won't regret it.