Preparation / Directions:
Makes one 10-inch loaf or two 8-inch loaves
Place the yeast in a large bowl and pour the warm water over it. Let stand until it is dissolved and starts to swell.
Meanwhile mix the boiling water, honey, salt, butter, and dry milk together until everything is dissolved and well blended, then let cool to lukewarm. Add to the yeast and mix well. Add all of the sunflower meal and about 3 cups of the white and whole wheat flours combined, mixing until the dough becomes hard to stir. Turn out onto a floured working surface and let rest 3-4 minutes while you clean and grease your bowl liberally. Then knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary, until the dough is smooth and resilient; it will probably still be a bit sticky because a dough of this kind of meal seems to want to keep on absorbing flour the more you knead. Put the dough in the greased bowl, turning to coat. Let rise, covered with plastic wrap, until double in bulk - about 2 hours.
Turn the dough out, punch it down, and form into 1 large or 2 small loaves. Place in greased 10-inch pan or two 8-inch pans; cover lightly with a towel. Let rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour.
Bake in a preheated 425 F oven for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 F and bake another 50 minutes for the large loaf, 40 for the smaller. Turn out and cool thoroughly on racks. This bread is better not sliced for 6-8 hours.
* To make your own sunflower meal, all you need do is buy the hulled seeds at a natural foods store, then spin them in a blender, about 1/3 cup at a time, until they are pulverized, or put through a flour mill, if you have one.
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