I'm-a-Dirty-Hippie Bread

Since I claimed in the previous post that baking from-scratch bread at home is as easy as 1-2-3, I thought I would prove it and share one of my favorite recipes. I call it my Dirty Hippie Bread, because it's filled with whole wheat and nuts and molasses and other healthy stuff. Hardy stuff, for sure - one slice of this bread almost fills you up like it's the entire meal! Perfect for dipping in soup or with eggs in the morning, it's definitely versatile and oh-so yummy!

Dirty Hippie Bread
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tablespoons active dry yeast

Stir together the 1/2 cup water and applesauce in a small bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the mixture, let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.

3 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten

Pour the yeast mixture into a large bowl containing the warm water, honey, molasses, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and eggs; stir together to combine well.

10 cups sifted whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup cracked wheat
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 tablespoon sea salt

In a separate bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, flax seed, oats, sunflower seeds, cracked wheat, raisins, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the yeast mixture until a smooth dough forms. The original recipe suggested that kneading is necessary here, but I doubt that's possible with how gooey the dough is. Just work it in the bowl for a few minutes, and then let it rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Lightly grease three 9x5 inch loaf pans. Punch down dough, shape into loaves, and place in the pans. Allow to rise in pans until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when removed from the pan and tapped on the bottom.