Sylvia's Favorite Wheat Bread Recipe

My darling sister was kind enough to pass along her go to recipe for whole wheat bread. Here it is, in all its glory. I've left her comments, because they are helpful and because I rather like to hear her voice in my head while I'm baking. She's a pretty awesome sister, after all!

NOTE: I am still experimenting with this recipe. I made it today and ended up using around 15 cups of flour. Also, when I followed the baking instructions, the loaves didn't rise sufficiently and took longer to bake. Taste and consistency were OK, but they really needed to rise more. I think the difference is at least partly that I have a gas oven, while Sylvia cooks with electric. Next time, I'll let the dough rise more in the pans and adjust the baking process a bit.

7 cups warm water
2 Tbsp. yeast
1 cup gluten
10 to 12 cups wheat flour (depends on the day, humidity and the alignment of the planets)
3/4 cup brown sugar or honey (honey is wonderful but brown sugar is so much easier to measure)
1 Tbsp. salt (recipe actually called for 2 which was too much I thought)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh is lovely, bottled is fine, a crushed vitamin C tablet works too)
3/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water (I add a bit of the sugar with this for the cool bubbles and to make sure the yeast is good).  
2. Add gluten and 6 cups wheat flour. Mix thoroughly. Let sit for a few minutes while you gather everything else (apparently this helps the texture of the bread).  
3. Add sugar or honey, salt, lemon juice and vegetable oil, mix thoroughly.  
4. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time till kneading consistency.  Knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed (but don't overdo, keep the dough from getting too stiff). 
5. Let rest for half an hour (or more if you get side tracked).  Shape into loaves, this makes six 8x4 loaves or four 9x5 loaves.  Let rise for about 30 minutes.  Put in cold oven and turn oven on to 350. Cook for 40 minutes for 9x5 loaves. (You can do the same time for 8x4 loaves or try 35 minutes. For the smallest loaf tins, bake for 25 minutes.) Turn out of pans to cool.