Best Soft Homemade Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread EVER

I got this from another blogger ....dealstomeals and they gave credit for the recipe to Emily Murphy.  However the last time I tried to go to the blog via pinterest it said the link was broken and I don't want to EVER lose this recipe...it really is the best ever so here it is...

Emilie's Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

1. 7 cup whole wheat flour (grind your own if you have a wheat grinder)
2. 2/3 cup vital wheat gluten
3. 2 1/2 Tablespoon instant yeast
4. 5 cups hot water (120-130 F)
5. 2 Tablespoon salt
6. 2/3 cup oil
7. 2/3 cup honey or 1 c. sugar  (Actually I use real maple syrup here)
8. 2 1/2 Tablespoon bottled lemon juice (I use apple cider vinegar...it's for preservative)
9. 4 1/2-5 cups whole wheat flour

Instructions

1. Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.
2. Pre-heat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks. This recipe can be halved to make 2 loaves.

Notes

1. Makes 4 8X4 inch loaves.
2. I ONLY use Bakers Secret 8x4 inch non stick pans 
3. **Another tip..when the dough is put into the bread pans, squish the dough softly into the corners of your bread loaf pans. This will make your bread cook more evenly and not have the large lump in the middle of your loaf.
4. If you'd like to make white bread instead there's really no need to add the vital wheat gluten

This is an unusual post but something I felt like needed to be out there.   A few days ago someone I will call Avery, a newly divorced woman in her 20's learned a hard lesson about 1) obeying the law, 2) always being financially prepared for emergencies, and 3) trusting your instincts.    After a great YSA activity (Young Single Adult for those of you not familiar with the acronym) she went out with a few people to Steel City Pops for popsicles....if you haven't been there they are awesome!!!  This one is in Louisville KY.  All the onstreet parking was full so one of the men riding in her car told her to park across the street in the Chipotle lot.  It is posted that unauthorized vehicles will be towed and Avery had a bad feeling about parking there (FIRST WARNING SIGN).  But, as often happens, she was convinced by others to go against that feeling.

Long story short when she came back she found her car gone...TOWED!   Here is where I have some serious issues with our "money hungry, greedy, uncaring society".   When she called the lot ... Mosby's Towing in Louisville Kentucky she was understandably upset but got very little information or help from the person she spoke with.  Basically it came down to two things...number one they are only open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, the initial towing charge is $125 and it costs $25 a day until you get it picked up.  

Avery works two jobs, one from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and the second (quite a ways from her first job and a long way from Mosby's Towing) that starts at 4 p.m.   See the problem?   How can a working person get there during those hours?   Avery just started both jobs, is on her 90 day probationary period and any missed day will cause a loss of employment so that's not an option.  She doesn't own the car, it belongs to her father-in-law and wont be titled over to her until the divorce is final so she can't pick up the car....even though she has permission from her father in law to drive it and has driven it for the past two years, only the registered owner can pick it up.  So she had to send a permission form to her father-in-law across the country (he's too old to  be competent through e-mail) and have him get it signed, notarized, and returned with a copy of his driver's license.  It cost $23 each way to overnight it...mind you this wasn't even able to be figured out until she WENT to Mosby's and presented the registration (1DAY DOWN $25), of course now it is after the time she could get a form overnighted  (2nd DAY DOWN $25), it took one day to overnight the form, the second day for him to sign and send back but he didn't get it in the mail until after the mail had left for the day (3rd DAY DOWN +$25), it will be tomorrow when she gets the form back in the mail (4th DAY DOWN +$25), that will be a saturday and MOSBY's TOWING OF LOUISVILLE KY is closed on weekends!!!   (Isn't that convenient?   If you work during the week and can't afford to miss work you cannot pick up your car! and at $25 a day she is now looking at three more days Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before she can even TRY to figure out how to get it (add another $75)  So now we are over $300 plus the $50 to overnight the forms.  

Avery works two jobs just to make ends meet 3 or 4 hundred dollars to get her car out of the impound lot for parking after hours in a restaurant lot has been a VERY expensive lesson.  

I guess I wanted to post this somewhere because when we were looking for information we couldn't find ANY of this online, not the $125 fee, not the fact that the lot is closed on Saturday and Sunday, honestly I think If we had known I would have driven the 13 hours to virginia from kentucky, got the forms signed and driven back.....it would have been cheaper.

LESSON LEARNED!

Have the registration in your name!!!!!  
Don't park where it says violators will be towed!!!!
Keep an emergency fund of at least $600 at all times over and above your monthly known expenses!!!
Don't expect sympathy, help, courtesy, or even fairness from people who profit from other's mistakes!

MOSBY's TOWING:   Shame on you for your inflexible and obviously calculating hours of operation (note...their towing service is open 24 hours a day seven days a week but they make their real money from not being open for people who need to get their cars out of the lot).   It would be nice if you would have one weekend day of operation where you are open 24 hours or even 16....come on....sick and greedy!

Christmas Lesson #earlymorningseminary #11yearsandcounting

SEEK - An Early Morning Seminary Christmas Lesson

Today was our "Christmas Lesson" in Seminary.  Every year I try to make it both meaningful and fun, this year went exceptionally well.

I started out making Mugs for the students (forgot to take pictures so just imagine....details for painting so they are dishwasher safe below)  Each had the word SEEK on one side with the scripture reference Jeremiah 29:13 underneath.  I filled the mug with little gifts one of them Nuggets wrapped like this from "My Computer is My Canvas"  and This.   A very small gift certificate to McDonalds (for hot chocolate) an envelope of Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate Mix and a Christmas Card with this quote inside :

I began class by asking them the last time they played Hide&Seek.  I asked them what's the best hiding place you ever had...could be a really fun discussion huh?

Then I sent them "seeking" post it notes I had hidden around the building using rhyming clues (I got the idea here, used some of hers and some of my own) . At each hiding spot I had a post it note with a scripture reference on it.  (I printed the post it notes using this template).   I asked them to take their scriptures along, when they found the scripture reference they were to look it up and highlight it in their scriptures and come back to me for their next clue.  (Highlighting kind of ensures that they will be reading the scripture as they highlight...sneaky!)  

Here are the scriptures I used (all having to do with "Seeking The Lord" many with reference to Him coming to us in response to that seeking)

Deuteronomy 4:29
1 Chronicles 16:11
1 Chronicles 28:9
Ezra 8:22
Psalms 119:2
Proverbs 8:17
Isaiah 58:2
Lamentations 3:25

I made up a set of the eight clues for each student separated one clue to an envelope with the clue number on the outside of each (but you could do teams if you have a lot of students).   As they returned they had to show me the highlighted scripture to get the next clue.  At the LAST station I put their mugs and Christmas Cards with instructions to look up and mark the reference shown on their mug then return to class.

When they got back I asked them what they learned as they read and marked all the different scriptures.   What a great experience as they discovered the many many times the Lord invites them to seek Him and his assurance that when they do they will find him.

(Note: After class it dawned on me that I should have pointed out that unlike our traditional game of hide and seek where we try NOT to be found, when we seek the Lord he immediately becomes easier to see....)

I told them there are many many many more scriptures in which we are told to Seek the Lord and what blessings will come into our lives as we do.   I asked them to record in their journal a time when they felt the spirit and record where they were when it happened, what they were doing, describe the feeling and explain how they knew it was the spirit.  We talked about learning to recognize the Savior and paying attention to the Spirit pointing Him out to us in our everyday life.  We discussed how we often think of Him at this time of year but gradually as all the reminders (lights, trees, music, nativities, etc) disappear sometimes we let Him disappear as well.

Then we talked about what other things can serve as constant reminders of Him and how those reminders prompt us to seek him in our hearts and in our lives....daily prayer, daily scripture study, daily acts of service, daily magnification of our callings, weekly partaking of the sacrament.

We watched this short video (5 minutes) produced by another seminary class and found on YouTube (learn how to download youtube videos easily with this online converter downloader) based on Elder Uchtdorf's Christmas devotional talk from last year.

I asked them to record their impressions and share if they felt prompted to do so and then we sang a closing Hymn from the Children's Songbook "I'll Seek The Lord Early".

It was an awesome and spiritual experience hope it helps you in your efforts as well!


Directions for Mugs:

The trick to making hand decorated mugs dishwasher safe is to use the right markers and follow the directions on the back of the package...it takes about 24 hours total ...I've used this method and they are truly "Dishwasher safe, permanent forever!"  You can get the markers on line or at Michaels or Hobby Lobby (I actually found mine at a local grocery store chain called Meijer in the Ball Jar Isle!)    They come in lots of colors.  Or Sharpie Oil Based markers I've heard work the same  (haven't tried these yet but saw them at Walmart in the craft Aisle)

Maybe we make it harder than it is...

READING THE

SCRIPTURES

Is no more about

TIME

Than Paying

TITHING

Is about

MONEY

A quote from my wonderfully insightful Inservice teacher....all credit goes to him.   I'll use this for a journal prompt this week in Seminary.

Stationery card

Memories Montage Gold Graduation Announcement

Get custom graduation invitations at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Traditions....anyone?

Last night we watched home movies....well, more like home "movie" singular because youngest child (who isn't so young anymore now that she's 18) can't get enough of herself. For the umpteenth time we watched "The year of My Birth" narrated off camera by said daughter.

It was a happy/sad moment for me to see her as a tiny baby and realize that those days are gone....forever.....not that I won't ever hold a baby again, I do have two of the most adorable grandchildren on the planet and more to come i hope....no, it's because no matter what I do I won't have MY babies to hold. I wish I could go back and do it all over again....with all of the knowledge that I have now at the tender age of 54....it would be so much more fun the second time.

It was fun to see all of the traditions included in that one two hour DVD though. I feel like we have lots of things that are so meaningful to us simply because we've always done them. I'm going to give you a sampe of some of our fall traditions to get you started and then I hope you share your special traditions with me!

1) Carving fantastically intricate pumpkins one for each of us....this tradition includes it's own embedded traditions .... saving all the seeds for roasting, lighting all the pumpkins, lining them up on the counter with "ourselves" behind them and getting a great picture in the dark, and of course emergency repair techniques that we are sure we invented such as toothpicks hold broken jack-o-lantern teeth in place perfectly (at least for the picture!)

2) A gratitude journal hanging around the house for the month of November...just a place to jot down things you are thankful for all month leading up to Thanksgiving.

3) Overdecorating for Halloween, and fall....it was really fun when the girls were still all at home. They came up with some gruesome stuff for girls.....like the headless barbie body covered in ketchup and dangling from the mouth of the bear rug....haha good times!

Living with Lindsay: Librarians, Please Avert Your Eyes

There simply are no words but this is BEAUTIFUL! What a great gift for friends who read...unless they'd be horrified by book destruction! : )

Living with Lindsay: Librarians, Please Avert Your Eyes