Whole Wheat Yogurt Bread

I had some leftover plain yogurt in the fridge again. Plain yogurt is excellent for baking, but too plain to eat on its own in my opinion. I did not have any recipes in mind that use plain yogurt, so I looked for a whole wheat bread recipe, since I kneaded (haha) to make whole wheat bread anyway. I found this recipe online, but I was a little skeptical about trying it. The yeast is not proofed in this recipe. I am used to bread recipes that call for dissolving a small amount of sugar in warm water, sprinkling the yeast over top, and allowing it to stand for ten minutes to activate. In this recipe, the yeast is added to water alone, and just stirred right in, followed immediately by the other ingredients. Since the recipe had good reviews, I decided to go ahead and try this method, although I did change quite a few other things in this recipe. It worked great, this bread even rose better than some of my others that used proofed yeast. This is a very foolproof bread recipe that can be tweaked as you like - add nuts, seeds, other grains, or whatever you wish! Another plus to this recipe - it slices very nicely and had a great, sturdy texture and relatively mellow flavor, making it perfect for sandwiches!

Whole Wheat Yogurt Bread
1 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast (quick-rise)
1 Tablespoon granulated (white) sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt, at room temperature (let it sit out for 15 minutes)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup natural bran
1/3 cup ground flax seed
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 2/3 - 2 cups additional whole wheat flour 

In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast then the sugar over the water and dissolve. Add remaining ingredients except for the second amount of flour and beat well. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to form a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 
Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray, turn dough once to coat. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray, and a tea towel. Let rise for an hour, or until doubled in bulk.
Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Punch dough down, form into a loaf and place in prepared loaf pan. Cover with a new piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray, and a tea towel. Let rise for about half an hour, or until doubled in bulk. 
Bake at 375◦F for 35-40 minutes.