Whole Whead Sourdough Sandwich Bread

This is a recipe I've developed over years of baking bread.  I use a whole wheat sourdough I got here.  It is delicious.  I typically use white wheat, but it is also good with red wheat.

In a large mixer (I use my old Bosch) add:
3 C whole wheat sourdough start, recently fed
2 1/2 C water
1/3 C applesauce
1/4 C honey
2 T oil
8 - 9 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C vital wheat gluten
2 T sugar
1 T salt
1 T rapid rise yeast

Mix everything in the mixer and knead until smooth and elastic enough to make a window when you pull it.  It should look like this when it's done.


Raise it in the bowl until it's doubled in size.  Time will vary according to how your start was.  A good window is 45 - 70 minutes.

Punch it down and form four equal loaves on an oiled counter.  I use 1 lb bread pans.  Raise them in a 110 degree oven. They should look like this:
 

Raise them in the warm oven until they breach the top of the pans like this:


Gently pull them out to raise the rest of the way while the oven warms to 350.  Bake them when they are well above the pan rim like this:


Loaves will continue to rise as they bake.  This is what they will look like when they have baked 25 minutes:
 

Allow 4 hours total time, but this bread is very forgiving.  And my kids would rather take old slices of this than anything store bought.  Yeah, they're spoiled.