Settling in--and a whole grain bread recipe

Well, we're settling in here for the long (LONG...did I say long?) winter season.  I think I'm still not over last year's winter, it was the worst in 118 years of recorded temperatures in Winnipeg.

 It was -11F (-23C) when I last looked at the temperature this morning, with a windchill of -25F (-31C).  Last night, as our professor was driving home through rush hour, we had a little snowfall.  Only around 2 cm, less than an inch, but enough to make driving home in the dark more of an adventure.

This morning as we got the boys out to the car for preschool, one of the dudes insisted on playing with snow with his mitts on.  I just instituted the "double mitts" one needs for this weather (one handknit mitt inside of another one, on each hand) and of course, they aren't used to getting them on and off.  Imagine wearing a coat with a liner--you put the whole thing on at once and do not peel off the liner each time...there, that's a double mitt!  Of course, said twin has not learned yet that snow play will make your hand colder, particularly if your mitt comes off. (insert kid screaming "PUT MY MITT BACK ON! Help me with my mitt! COLD! COLD!" for the third time, which means a parent has to take her mitt off to fix the problem again.) Sigh.  It's a learning process.

A while back I promised my bread machine whole grain bread recipe.  I'll offer it (with variation) below.  My whole thrust is to produce a healthy homemade bread without extraneous preservatives or other "stuff" in it--and have it be as time efficient as possible, so I can manage to make it consistently as our "house bread."  Making homemade bread tastes better, saves lots of money, and is probably better for you, but it does take time.  This new bread machine system takes all the joy of hand kneading and "making the bread" away, which I miss, but it reaches all the other goals, so for now, it's the machine..

Whole Wheat/Whole Grain (mostly) bread in the bread machine (2 lb loaf)

Put the ingredients into the bread machine pan in this order:
1 2/3 cup water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups white flour
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour *** (see below for variation)
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

Use the whole wheat setting (#2 on my bread machine and it takes 3 hrs and 45 min)
Set it on Medium crust

NOTES: If you like a really crusty loaf, set it on Dark crust, and if that is not crusty enough, preheat your oven (Convection Oven, if you have it) at 425F.  When the bread comes out of the bread machine, pop it out onto a cookie sheet and put it in the oven for 15 minutes.

VARIATION FOR 3 YEAR OLDS! 
The above recipe was "too dark" and "too crusty" to be really popular among twins in our household, despite the white flour.  I was annoyed; the grown-ups liked it!  Here's the variation--still lots of whole grain, still good for you.
Whole Wheat/Whole Grain (mostly) bread in the bread machine (2 lb loaf)

Put the ingredients into the bread machine pan in this order:
1 2/3 cup water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour *** (note variation)
1/2 cup spelt flour***
1/4 cup quick oats***
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

Use the whole wheat setting (#2 on my bread machine and it takes 3 hrs and 45 min)
Set it on Medium crust (skip the oven step mentioned above)

---I'm still having some tummy problems, so I mostly eat spelt bread, which I make differently.  I will save that recipe for another time. 

Anyway, after having some fresh warm bread, I've been curling up to knit.  I started a new shawl-scarf thing for myself on Monday, and I'm finding the designing to be addictive.  Here's a taste with this night time photo...I knit before bed.  (I hope a new design will be coming soon.)