Harvest Brown Bread

Tucked into the bread section of my Mennonite Treasury Cookbook...is a stained and worn piece of paper with the recipe for our family favorite brown bread. I got it from a friend in the late seventies...and is simply known as Ruth P's brown bread. I often wonder what happened to Ruth...one of those people who was part of my life for a time...and who I haven't heard from in twenty years. But I think of her whenever I bake her bread...and hope things have gone well for her and her family.

Harvest Brown Bread

2 Tablespoons fast rising yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup warm water

1 Tablespoon salt

1 large tablespoon honey

4 cups warm water

2 cups rye flour

3 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups white flour

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sunflower seeds, raw and shelled

• Prepare yeast mixture by dissolving sugar in lukewarm water...add yeast and let stand ten minutes.
• In large bowl, dissolve salt and honey in warm water...add yeast mixture.
• Mix together the three types of flour. Add flour slowly to mixture in bowl and beat well.
• Add oil and sunflower seeds.
• Knead in enough white flour to make dough smooth and elastic.

• Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until light.
  

• Punch down and form loaves. Let rise until doubled in bulk.
• Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.
• Yield 4 medium loaves

I gave you the recipe as it is written...but since I have used my Bosch machine to mix bread all these years, my methods and amounts differ slightly. I usually do one-and-a-half times the recipe...and make a few little loaves for the grandkids.