Whenever we have a family gathering and I want to making something to please my totally-health-unconcious husband, dad and brother-in-law, I make this recipe for homemade Avanti's bread.

They rave about it. It's delicious. It's quickly becoming a family tradition. But last week, we celebrated my healthy-eating sister's birthday, so I decided to make a loaf of crusty bread just for her.

I used this recipe, which I started in the bread machine and finished in the oven. I tweaked it a bit. Tip: if you're planning to cook your bread on a pizza stone, skip the spraying or washing it with water to make it crustier. Pretty sure that's why our pizza stone split in half while this loaf was baking. I was sad about that - our pizza stone has become an old friend.

Also, if you don't have ground ginger, don't sweat it. I couldn't even taste it in this recipe.

Crusty Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
3 tablespoons ground flax (my addition)
1 package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons cornmeal, for dusting baking sheet

Place ingredients in bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer.

Run on the dough cycle. When it's done, shape the loaf into a long oblong. Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Make four or five diagonal across the top with a sharp knife. Brush loaf with water and sprinkle with whole-wheat flour.
Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden. For extra crispiness, you can spray loaves one or twice at five-minute intervals at the beginning of baking.

(You could also make two smaller loaves, and bake them more like 15 minutes.)

Photo from this Flickr page.