Multigrain Bread

My Mom has been working on this recipe for a couple of years and I just love it! Jen asked me to send it to her and I figured since I made it today, I would go ahead and post the recipe for all of you.

2 1/4 Cups Red Mill Wheat-less 8 grain hot cereal (I know you can find it in the stores in Utah, but I'm not sure of out of state)
5 cups boiling water
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
2 Tablespoons Dry Yeast
3 cups fresh wheat flour
1 3/4 Tablespoons Salt
5 cups bread flour
3/4 cups unsalted sunflower seeds

Pour water into hot cereal and mix three minutes. Let set, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Stir in honey and butter and then let cool until yeast warm. Add yeast and stir, let set 15 minutes. Gradually add wheat flour, salt, and bread flour. Add sunflower seeds and let mixer knead 9 minutes. Allow dough to rest in mixer for 20 minutes. Form into 4 loaves and let rise until almost double.
Bake at 420 degrees for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 320 degrees and bake 25 more minutes. Let bread rest on side for 5 minutes and then loosen with a spatula and let cool on side on rack.

Some notes about this recipe: The dough will still be fairly wet after adding all the flour and will stick to the sides of the bowl, unlike other bread recipes. Also, if you want to put an egg wash on it after forming the loaves and sprinkle sesame seeds on the top, it adds a nice effect. Also, it does make four loaves, so you might want to halve the recipe if you don't want that much.

Tasty Salad Dressing

My sister, Holly gave this recipe to me a couple of months ago and I tried it and loved it, but forgot about it until I used it again today. It calls for:

3 Tablespoons Vinegar (I used a Raspberry Vinegar, but you can adjust according to the type of salad)
3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup (I didn't have the authentic stuff, so I used just regular pancake syrup and it was fine)
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon flax seed oil (I didn't have any, so I left it out)
1 Tablespoon Sour Cream or Creme Fresh
1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1/2 Teaspoon Salt and a little fresh ground pepper

Holly also mentioned that she will normally puree whatever fruit she is putting in the salad like strawberries, raspberries, etc. and mix that into the dressing. I used strawberries today and mixed everything up in the blender and then tossed it with spinach, sliced strawberries, and candied pecans. It was PERFECT for a Summer's day!