Ingredients
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
8 cups bread flour
Instructions
1 Add warm water, honey and yeast to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Stir together briefly.
2 Let the yeast mixture sit for 2-4 minutes. Add salt to the bowl and slowly stir in 3 cups of flour one at a time. The mixture will be runny and questionable. (Trust the process.)
3 Cover the mixing bowl and put it in a warm, sunny place for 20 minutes till the mixture appears sponge like.
4 Put mixing bowl back on the stand mixer with the hook attachment. Slowly add the remaining 5 cups of flour to the bowl and mix together. (When the mixture is at the right consistency the dough will start to crawl up the hook engulfing the mixer.) The dough will still be very sticky/tacky.
5 Remove the hook and scrape dough from the sides of the bowl. Again cover the bowl and place in a warm spot until dough doubles, in size, roughly 1.5 – 2 hours.
6 Punch down the dough and allow the dough to rise again for another 30 minutes.
7 Pre-heat the oven to 400° F. Grease two baking pans well with butter.
8 Punch down the dough a second time and form into two loaves and place in the prepared bread pans.
9 Place the loaf pans on the center rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
10 Turn down the oven to 325° F and allow loaves to bake for an additional 40 minutes.
11 When nice and golden brown remove the loaves from the oven and slide them out of the loaf pan.
12 Cover bread with a light towel and allow to cool completely before storing or slicing.