Here’s a toast to the Handels’ whole-wheat bread

Maine is so blessed with artisanal bread bakers that fewer of us are making our own whole-wheat bread these days. Still Lucy Johnston, who works in Greenville, wrote, “I would like to find a really good recipe for home-baked whole grain bread … I’d like a really palatable, fool proof?!?! if there is such a thing, whole grain bread recipe.”

Here is one from the Handels, an elderly couple I knew about 25 years ago in Rhode Island. We wrote their bread recipe into the “Notes” section of our copy of the “Tassajara Bread Book,” which you had to own to be a certified back-to-the-lander. The Handels had gone back to the land before some of us had been born, using the anthroposophist principles of Rudolf Steiner to raise the most gorgeous vegetables I’ve ever seen. In fact, one year they grew huge, meaty, brilliantly orange butternut squash which had no seeds in them. They theorized that those butternuts had achieved squash perfection and did not need to reproduce.

But I digress. At their potluck suppers, we enjoyed their wonderful whole-wheat bread. After they shared the recipe with us, we consistently used it as our regular loaf.

Whole-wheat bread is a bit tricky because the whole grain rapidly absorbs moisture, yielding a dry, sawdusty texture. It is good to handle the dough with as little extra flour as possible. One way would be to use your electric mixer with a dough hook on it. Or, instead of flouring your hands to keep the dough from sticking to you, oil your hands before kneading, and re-oil lightly as it begins to stick so much that it is hard to knead.

Looking for …

Laurie Littlefield of Biddeford is looking for a good crab bisque recipe. Also, I recently heard of a casserole called Vinalhaven Red Top which sounds pretty interesting and would love to see a recipe for that.

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro, ME 04848. For recipes, tell us where they came from, list the ingredients, specify number of servings and do not abbreviate measurements. Include name, address and daytime phone number. For e-mail queries or answers, send to tastebuds@

modomail.com.

Handel Bread

Yields three loaves

2 cups hot water

2 cups hot milk

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 tablespoons honey or molasses

3 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons dry yeast (3 packets of dry yeast)

9 cups whole-wheat flour (or 6 cups whole-wheat plus 3 cups rye or oat)

Put the water, milk, oil, sweetener, salt and yeast into a large bread bowl. Beat for five minutes while adding 5 cups of the flour. Beat until the dough is very sticky. Add more flour, very nearly the full nine cups, until it is stiff enough to knead. Knead dough in the bowl for a while, then turn out on a very lightly floured board, oiling your hands to knead until the dough is elastic enough that when you poke it, it springs back. Allow to rise in a greased bowl for about 2 hours in a warm place.

Punch dough down, turn it out, and divide into thirds. Re-knead and shape into three loaves, which you put into greased bread pans. Let rise for about an hour or until it begins to rise slightly over the sides of the pan. Bake in a 375 F oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven to 350 and continue baking for 40 minutes or less. It will be done when you hear a hollow sound when you tap it.