Staff of Life 12 Grain Loaves

THROWBACK THURSDAY: I have been baking since I was a young child, both with my family and in the professional world, but over the course of the past couple of years I have learned that as a Baker, it is all about the product. As an Artisan, it is all about the technique and as a Miller, it is all about the grains and how they are ground. When you start to intertwine all three together you get a wonderful stack of loaves known as the "STAFF OF LIFE" bread. After a couple of modern tweaks to a very, very old recipe that was recently given to me by an artisan baker friend...

I give you my Recipe:
In a large bowl add 3 cups hot water ( I used half milk / half water),
next add small hand full of salt and sugar mixture (1 tablespoon of each)
Stir with fingers until desolved.
Next add 2 dips of fresh butter (about a half of stick)
And next add start for leavening. (1 cup sour dough start or 2 tablespoons yeast)
Add 2 handfuls of fresh course ground 10 grain mixture, Mix and let set until just before room temperature.
Now mix in 3 handfuls of whole wheat flour and 3-4 handfuls of white flour. Mix well, add more flour as needed until no longer sticky (this was the tricky part for me, I added flour until it no longer stuck to my fingers, similar to roll dough)
Knead for 5 minutes and place back in greased bowl. Let rise until double in size, punch down and let rise again. Next punch down and shape into loaves, let rise to double in size and bake until loaves are golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped upon. If you like it dark and crusty bake longer. (I baked mine in a regular 350* oven for about 45 minutes)