Wheat Sheaf Bread

Dissolve the yeast in a large bowl with 1/4 cup of warm water. Dissolve the butter in the remaining warm water. Mix the honey, molasses, and salt into the yeast. Crush the shredded wheat biscuits and add it to the bowl along with the wheat germ, whole wheat floor, and 2 cups of white floor. Turn out the dough and let rest while you clean the bowl and then grease. Knead the dough, adding more white floor as necessary, for about 10 minutes, until you have a smooth, elastic and relatively non-sticky dough. Put the dough into a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise until double in bulk. Turn the dough out onto a large working surface sprinkled with flour. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll each one into a 16-inch rope. Cut one of the ropes in half, twist the two strands together, and set aside. Now place four ropes close together in the center of a well greased baking sheet. Pile other ropes on top and around to form a bunch at the bottom, and bend the tops at varying angles to look like drooping heads of wheat. Place the twisted strand in the middle and tuck the ends under the wheat sheaf. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise again for about 40 minutes. Snip the ends of the bent portion of the "stalks" with scissors to make them look like wheat. Paint the entire surface with the egg glaze and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. If the ends of the stalks brown too quickly, cover them with foil. Remove from the baking sheet, using spatulas, while still warm. Adapted from a recipe in The Book of Bread by Judith & Evan Jones.