splicerswife, you gave me a good giggle. My recipe is almost as "bad" as yours. That's why I have taken so long to post it. Was going over it in my head trying to write it out.
So here goes.
5 to 5 1/3 C warm milk, See Note on Milk.
2-3 Tablespoons salt
Mix in large bowl.
Add about 2 C whole wheat flour (See Note on Flour)
2 Tablespoons dry yeast (approx measure) This is about the same as 2 packages
Mix and let sit in warm place until bubbly.
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup fat (I use extra virgin olive oil) (see Note on fats)
1 cup eggs (4 large)
Add about 7-8 cups of ww flour
stirring well after each cup
At this point I am lazy and let it rise in the bowl. When it has doubled THEN I dump it out and knead it until smooth adding only as much flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the board. Remember that it is difficult to over knead bread BUT it is possible to add too much flour and make the bread tough.
When kneaded let the bread rest for about 15-20 min. Sometimes I let it raise again at this point.
Divide into 4 portions, shape into loaves and place in 8 inch oiled bread pans. Let rise covered until almost double (a finger gently pushed in will leave a little dent) and bake for 40 min in a 350 degree oven.
Milk: store bought milk just needs to be warmed to baby bottle temp., raw needs to be scaled (heated until it forms a skin) and then cooled, canned evaporated milk can be diluted or instant dry milk can be reconstituted in warm water. If using non-instant dry milk mix that with the flour and use water for the liquid.
Milk is not essential to bread but adds nutrition and enhances the crumb.
Flour: to make good 100% whole wheat bread you need a high gluten wheat. I use Hudson Cream flour which is a regional brand. Arrowhead Mills is good as is King Auther. I'm sure there are many others. Different flours will require slightly different amounts of liquid to make loaves of the same size, thus the variable on liquid. Also the amount of flour needed is affected of the humidity on baking day. If you are milling your own flour using a wheat that is not high in gluten you will need to add a small amount of wheat gluten or 1/4 to 1/3 of your flour should be a good unbleached bread flour. In a survival situation with only low gluten wheat you might be eating more biscuits and pancakes as quick breads don't require a high gluten wheat the way yeast does.
Fats: fat is not essential to bread baking but enhances the crumb and keeping quality of the bread. It won't dry out so fast. Any fat will work, oil, lard, shortening, butter, chicken or goose fat, cream. If using cream use 1 cup and add it to the milk and treat it as milk in regard to scalding and temperature.
Eggs are also not essential but make a more nutritious softer bread. Only water, wheat, yeast and some salt are absolutely essential to make bread. Other things only make it better.
Please feel free to ask questions. Just remember that bread baking isn't rocket science. Anybody can do a decent job and most families will eat anything that is not a door stop while it is fresh from the oven.
Happy baking, LC
So here goes with our ol' standby, but I sure couldn't tell you exact measurements.
The neat thing about this recipe is that it makes equally good cinnamon rolls.