Whole Wheat Bread (well, mostly)

This is adapted from my dad's recipe, and is an excellent thing to do on a cold winter weekend. The house smells terrific. The "well, mostly" part is because it does have some white flour as well as whole wheat.

for two loaves:
2 pkgs or about 3 T of dry yeast, which these days is sold as "Bread Machine Yeast"
1/4 cup warm water
2-1/2 cups hot water
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of some sort of fat: butter or oil or shortening, melted
4 cups whole wheat flour, approx.
4 cups white flour, preferably unbleached, approx.

• Dissolve the yeast in about 1/4 cup warm water.

• Measure the 2-1/2 cups of water into a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup or some other larger microwavable vessel. Add the butter/shortening/oil, salt and the brown sugar and heat until it's all dissolved. Yep, you could also do this in a pan on the stove. Let cool to lukewarm. (Baby's bath temp.) Put into a big bowl.
• Stir in the whole wheat flour, using a sturdy whisk if you have one. Add the yeast mixture. Start adding the white flour. When it starts getting too stiff to mix with a whisk or spoon, I'm sorry, but you will just have to use your hands. You did wash them, right?
  
• When the dough is moderately stiff, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny. It really helps to have flour to keep dipping your hands into so the dough doesn't stick. This is a great stress reliever and I'm not telling you who I think about while I smack the heck out of that dough. (Knead = press/punch the center, then fold the back over, then press, etc. Hard to describe, fun to do.) Why would anyone let a bread machine do the fun part?
  
• Shape the dough into a ball. Rinse out your big bowl with hot water and dry it. Rub it with butter or a little oil. Put the dough in and turn to coat all sides with a little of the oil. Let it rise to double its original size at least once, and twice is better. Takes about an hour each, depending on the temperature. (If in a hurry, put it in a warmish place covered with a clean dish towel. Not too warm, but above the dishwasher (if it is running) is good or inside the oven with just the oven light on is good. Or on top of the dryer. But it is better to not be in a hurry, because the texture will be better.)
  
• Punch down and divide in half, pressing each half into a loaf pan. Let rise again until about double.
  
• Preheat the oven to 375 F
• Bake 45 minutes, but after about 20-25 minutes, brush the tops with some butter or oil and turn the oven down to 350. It will work if you don't do this, but this is better. Also, if the tops are getting brown long before the 45 minutes are up, cover with foil. I've never had to, but I think it depends on your oven.
  
• Take the pans out of the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes, then tip them over to remove the loaves and put the loaves on some kind of cooling rack, or at least a clean towel, so they don't get soggy (which they would do if left in the pans)
• Wait as long as you can stand, but by all means cut some slices while the loaf is still warm. All you really need is butter, or maybe some good soup.
  

This freezes well, especially if you don't slice the second loaf.
You can get away with using more whole wheat and less white flour, but the loaf will get denser and denser. You can make up for this by letting it rise more slowly for longer, maybe. It starts to get into science. It is fun to experiment, but I will tell you that if you are baking at home, trying to use all whole-wheat flour with no white (or unbleached white) flour will yield a VERY dense bread. The commercial bakers have other tricks up their sleeve.