Bread Baking

In my little house here at St. Olaf we only eat homemade bread- I don't know if it's cheaper than your run of the mill nasty no fiber white bread- but I'm positive it's less expensive than a good loaf of whole wheat bread. Last year one of my house mates made the bread- now that shes off student teaching- I make it. Over the summer at home we had a store bought bread crisis so I worked out a recipe that I really liked (non-dairy) and made it a whole bunch of times. It's never turned out quite as well at school as it has at home- maybe it's just because we eat it so fast at home when it's still warm and squishy.

1/2 cup warm water
1 TBSP active dry yeast
2 cups not cold water- but not super warm (potato water is good here too)
1/4 oil
1/4-1/3 cup honey
scant TBSP salt
1 cup wheat germ
2 cups wheat flour
3-5 cups white flour (until the dough isn't sticky)

Proof the yeast with a little sugar in the 1/2 cup of water- then in a bowl, add the 2 cups of water, honey, oil and salt. Then add the wheat flour and the wheat germ- if you don't have/want wheat germ just substitute another cup of wheat flour (wheat germ tastes good though- and it. Then add white flour until it's kneadable. Then knead (and add flour if it's sticky) for 8-10 minutes or until you can poke it and it'll poke back. Set to rise in an oiled bowl (with a pretty kitchen towel over it) for an hour- then punch it down, kinda pat it back into a ball and set it to rise for another hour. Punch it down AGAIN, shape it into 2 loaves, place them in oiled pans and set to rise AGAIN- but only for about 40 minutes this time. Bake it at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Now you have bread!

I also love to make buns out of this dough. Bread baking is trickier than making muffins or grilled cheese- it's one of those things you kinda have to feel out. But I've ruined many loaves and wasted many packets of yeast- so don't feel bad if it doesn't work the first time- or the second or third- ok yeah- feel bad for awhile- but don't give up!