Instructions: Standard recommends letting the bulk dough rise in a pan of warm water. I still sometimes float the bowl in the kitchen sink full of warm water, but its kind of a pain. The bread really enjoys it, but if you have only got the traditional warm, draft-free place the yeastie-beasties will reproduce happily there too. Anyway, enjoy.

Put the yeast, lukewarm water and honey in a bowl, and let mixture become frothy. Mix the hot water with the salt and let it cool to lukewarm. Combine with the yeast mixture and add to the flour and wheat germ. Mix very well and, while mixing, pour the oil over it. More warm water can be added to make a workable dough. Beat it hard in a kneading motion in the bowl for five minutes. Then put the bowl in a dishpan of very warm water, cover with a tea towel, and let the dough rise. Beat down and put the dough in an oiled (sprayed) bread pan to rise again in the same warm place. Preheat oven to 425*.

Bake risen breads for 15 minutes at 425*. Reduce heat to 350* and bake 25 minutes more. If crust is over-browning, turn heat off (leave oven door closed!) the last 10 minutes. If desired, put a pan of water on the bottom of the oven before the high-temperature baking (or drop ice cubes into an empty pan preheated on the oven floor immediately after putting the breads on the oven rack).

If this bread doesnt pop out of the pans nicely, "sweat" it for 10 minutes or so (leave it in the pan, the crust will pull some moisture from the interior of the loaf and "sweat" free of the pan) and it should release nicely. The crust will recover its crispness, dont worry.

NOTES : In response to a question about bread made with cooked oatmeal - the recipe essentially cooks the oatmeal right then and there; you might try the recipe as written once and find out how much it makes. Then you could surely substitute the good leftovers. (NB to the brewer who wrote last summer looking for what to do with his leftover mash ... this would be a decent starting place! Just remember to go light on further added liquids, depending on how wet the mash is to begin with.)

The olive oil bread is an example of one that WONT make you gag, though I still recommend that el-cheapo low-flavor olive oil is safer even here. Not to mention the thrift factor!

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