Wheat Wonder Bread

 One of my favorite food storage books is, "I Dare You to Eat It" by Liesa Card.  She also has a website with the same name.  I found yet another whole wheat bread recipe to try.  She calls it, 7-Minute Bread. Well, guess what?  I made wheat bread that did not turn out like a bread brick.  Liesa starts with what she calls 'a sponge'.  No the the scrubby kind, but one that is made with whole wheat flour and water.  All you do is mix it well and let it sit for 3-6 hours. 

Since I started late in the afternoon, I allowed the sponge to sit overnight.  I covered it after mixing well and just left it on the counter.  Next morning it had separated a bit, so I stirred it together and continued with the recipe.  It was simple and turned out great.  This recipe is supposed to make 5 loaves.  I made 4 loaves in 8x4 1/2" pans.  They turned out terrific.  DH said that was one of the best I had made.  But the test is repeating the recipe to get the same results. 

Second time around I increased the yeast to 3 tablespoons.  Since I have a KitchenAid mixer, I divided the recipe in half and poured 1/2 in the mixing bowl and the other half was saved till later.  I mixed the dough on speed 4, which I'm sure KitchenAid would not recommend.  It kneaded for the required 15 minutes and came out wonderfully.  The dough was still soft, yet completely kneaded and pulling away from the bowl.  I shaped the loaves, popped them in the hot water closet and went back to  the second half of the batch.  I repeated the process and added them to the closet.  Half way through the rise, I switched two loaves to sit directly on the water heater and the other to the shelf above it.  (It's quite toasty in there).

Surprise, surprise, surprise. I think I made a very nice loaf of bread!