Happy 200th Post!

Wow! It's my 200th post today! Who knew I had so much to say?......Okay....dumb question. Quickly moving on......

Anyhoo - in honor of this glorious occasion, I'm going to share with you all a family favorite recipe. Over at the Booker homestead, we are all carbo-holics - especially my wee ones. My in-laws have this crazy healthy bread that they make and have for breakfast every morning. (There is no one on this green earth who I know of that eats more healthy than these two. Not one single thing that is not good for them ever enters their mouths. They don't even eat organic food out of cans because of the aluminum). So, I've gotten some fun recipes from them over the years, and I'm going to share this one with you now.

This is a very hearty and heavy bread, so we don't really use it for making sandwiches. It's the best eaten as toast with some yummy natural peanut butter and homemade jam slathered on. De-lish! I've adapted the recipe a wee bit, because I like my bread more moist than they do. So, I'll give you the recipe that I use, with the original in parenthesis. I also use my bread machine to do all of the kneading and rising for me. I know. I know. It's not TRULY homemade when you do it that way. But, I'm lazy in the kitchen, and I wouldn't make it nearly so often if I stood there and did the kneading all myself. You can do it all the old fashioned way just like you would make any other bread, if that suits you better. I take it out of the machine and let it do its final rise in a bread pan before I bake it. Okay, here goes.....

1 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour
2 Cups unbleached white flour (The original recipe calls for 1C. wheat, 1C white, 1C spelt, and 1C combo of other flours such as: quinoa, millet, rye, brown rice, etc).
1 1/2 Cups old fashioned oatmeal - NOT quick cooking oats (If you go by the original recipe, only use 1C of oatmeal because of adding all of the other flours. Clear as mud?)
2 heaping tsp. dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 heaping TBlsp. wheat gluten (DO NOT omit. Necessary to bind the flours)
3 TBlsp. wheat germ
2 TBlsp. oat bran
1 TBlsp. sesame seeds
1 TBlsp. poppy seeds
Approx. 1/2 cup ground flax seed (You need to grind it for your body to process it best)
1/3 Cup sweetener - I usually do mostly honey with some molasses mixed in
1/3 Cup olive oil
1 2/3 Cup water (The original recipe just calls for 2 Cups of water. The oil makes it moist)

If using a bread machine, put it on the dough setting and walk away for 1 1/2 hours. When done, put it over into a greased bread pan and let rise until twice its size. If doing the old fashioned way - just do what you do!

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. The top should be nicely browned.
It's the best!