Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil, and add it to the milk, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix together and let cool to lukewarm. In a second bowl, measure 1/2 cup warm water, add the yeast and let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve. Add the dissolved yeast, the whole-wheat flour, and 2 cups of the white flour to the mixture. Beat thoroughly, then turn out onto a lightly floured board, adding enough flour so that the dough handles easily.

Knead for a few minutes and let rest for 10 minutes. Add as much of the remaining flour as necessary to keep the dough from being sticky. Resume kneading for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 30 minutes.

Punch down and shape into two loaves. Place in greased loaf pans*, cover, and let rise until almost double in bulk, about an hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake bread for 15 to 20 minutes.

*Dough can also be shaped into whole wheat rolls by placing small balls of rolled dough into a muffin tin - three balls per muffin cup. Dough balls should take up 2/3 of the muffin cup. Rolls take 15 minutes to bake.

In a large bowl, combine warm water and yeast and let dissolve for 3 to 5 minutes.

Beat together egg, melted butter, lukewarm water, salt, and sugar (or honey or maple syrup).

Mix together flour and optional whole grains.

Add flour gradually to wet ingredients. Use a mixer with dough books, then finish by hand with a wooden spatula. When the dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl, turn out onto a lightly floured board. Turn dough several times to make it easier to handle; cover with a cloth and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Knead for 10 minutes with greased fingertips until the dough is smooth, elastic, and satiny with air blisters under the coating. Try not to break the coating. Dough should no longer stick to the board.

Grease a large clean bowl evenly, put dough in the bowl and turn dough over to grease the entire surface. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let rise in a draft-free place at 75 to 85 degrees or in an oven heated for 1 minute. Dough will double in bulk in 1 to 2 hours; imprint of your finger should remain in the dough. Do not let dough rise to more than double or it will fall back into the pan and become coarse and dry.

Punch down the dough; divide into 3 even pieces, cover with a cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Throw dough onto a board, shape into loaves, and transfer into greased pans for a second rising. Allow the dough to rise again until it has almost doubled in bulk, approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Test for doneness: notice if loaf has shrunk away from the sides of the pan, or tap bottom of pan to release loaf and tap bottom of loaf to listen for hollow sound to indicate bread is done. If not done, return loaf to pan and bake a few minutes longer. If done, remove loaves from pan at once and cool laying on their sides on a cooling rack.