Whole Wheat Bread

I have been attempting to make wheat bread for the past couple months. I absolutely love Great Harvest's Honey Whole Wheat Bread. Unfortunately, there is no Great Harvest where I live. I grind my own red wheat flour. I think the bread rises better with fresh ground wheat because the wheat is warm from the grinder. (If you grind your own wheat you should store wheat flour in the freezer to prevent it from going rancid). I use some white flour because when I have used all wheat, the bread has been too dense. Also, fresh ground wheat is very high in fiber so you may want to ease  into 100% whole wheat. This recipe is a mixture of a lot of other recipes but I think I finally got it right! This recipe makes 2 loaves.

Ingredients
2 T. yeast
2/3 c. honey
2 2/3 c. warm water
1 T. salt
2 T. olive oil
5 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. white flour

Instructions
Mix yeast, honey, and water and let it sit about 5 minutes so that the yeast can foam. Then add salt, oil, and all of the flour. I use a Kitchenaid mixer. Mix until all the ingredients are incorporated. Let the mixer continue to mix about 5 minutes. Dough should be sticky and barely pull away from the sides. (You may need to add more flour depending on your climate). Once the dough has been thoroughly mixed or kneaded. Let the dough sit in the bowl and rise for 15 minutes. Oil up your hands and punch the dough down to get out all the air bubbles. Then form the dough into two loaves. You can flour or oil a counter and cut the dough in two. I don't want to dirty the cupboard so I divide it in the bowl and then form it into a loaf in my hand. Place each half into a greased bread pan. Let the bread rise for about 30-45 minutes. This changes depending on the heat in your home. I wait until it is the desired height above the bread pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a pan or oven safe bowl with water during the preheat. This creates humidity in the oven which is said to help your bread turn out better. Remove the bowl just before baking and place bread in oven. Bake for 30 minutes.