Easy Whole Wheat Bread Recipe | 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Easy Whole Wheat Bread Recipe - The BEST 100% whole wheat bread you'll ever make that is so soft and delicious. Made with milk this bread loaf will give white sandwich bread a run for its money!
Servings 2 Loaves
Equipment
- Oven
- Large Mixing Bowl with lid
- Cling Film (not required if you have a lidded bowl)
Ingredients
For the Roux:
- 3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour , (90 g)
- 3/4-1 cup Water , (160 ml)
Dry ingredients for the Bread:
- 5 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour , (704 g)
- 2 tsp Salt , (16 g)
- 6 tbsp Sugar or Honey , (100 g)
- 6 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten , (50 g)
- 2 tsp Instant Yeast , (14 g)
Wet Ingredients for the Bread:
- 1 1/4 cup Milk , (280 g), I use whole milk
- 1 1/4 cup Water , (280 g)
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil , (56 g), I use Olive Oil
Instructions
The Roux:
- In a saucepan, mix together the whole wheat flour with the water. Place it on heat and cook it for a few minutes, just until the mixture turns to a golden color. All the while stirring it to avoid burning at the bottom.
The Wet Ingredients:
- Mix the wet ingredients together and heat it up to lukewarm stage.
Making the Bread Dough:
- In a clean bowl mixing bowl, add the rest of the whole wheat flour, the salt and the sugar. Give it a mix. Then, add the vital wheat gluten and the instant yeast. Mix it thoroughly.
- Pour in the wet ingredients and stir once. Add the prepared roux to it. Mix everything using your hands to bring it all together. Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes to let the flour absorb all the moisture.
- After 5 minutes, transfer the dough to a counter. Gently knead the dough by stretching and folding for 10-15 minutes by hand or in stand mixer for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be tacky* and supple. Dust with whole wheat flour as and when required but not too much; just enough to prevent it from sticking to the counter.
- Brush some oil inside the mixing bowl. Transfer the kneaded dough to the mixing bowl, cover with its lid or a cling film. Let it rise for about an hour or until it doubles in volume.
- After it has doubled in the bowl, gently punch it down and form it to a uniform dough. Then, divide it into two equal portions*.
- Shape* each portion into sandwich loaves and place it buttered loaf pans. Brush some milk on top and sprinkle some multigrain* over it.
- Cover loosely with a cling film and let it rise for 40-50 minutes or until it rises to an inch and half above the rim.
- About 30 minutes into the rising time, preheat the oven at 440 F / 230 C for 20 minutes.
- Place the loaf pans in the preheated oven and bake for 40-50 minutes. Turn to broil mode for the last 5 minutes to get that golden crust on top.*
- Remove the pans from the oven and let it completely cool down. Once cooled, run a flexible knife through the sides and genlty remove the loaves from the pan. Slice as per your choice using a serrated knife!
Notes
- This easy whole wheat bread recipe gives you 2 medium loaves. To make one loaf adjust the servings in the recipe card to get the ingredients.
- Vital wheat gluten provides a bit of elasticity to the whole wheat flour and helps with the rise. You can choose to skip it if you like. Or you can skip the vital wheat gluten and use half and half all-purpose flour instead.
- Roux: This makes the bread super soft. I highly recommend it. Skipping it is ok too, you might not have a very soft bread but if you don't want/like a loaf of soft bread, you can go ahead and skip the roux.
- Storing it: You can store it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and at room temperature for about a day. Keep it in an airtight container or Ziploc at all times.
- Kneading: I do it with my hands on my counter. It is important to knead for at least 10 minutes but you can go up to 15 minutes. At the end of the kneading time when you pinch a small portion from the dough, it should break but with some resistance. This would indicate that the gluten has developed.
- Kneading in a stand mixer: You can use a stand mixer to knead it. Put on the dough hooks and knead the dough for 8-10 minutes in lo1-medium speed.
- Tacky Dough: A tacky dough is when dough sticks to your hands or a surface but easily pulls away leaving few to no dough on the surface. Whereas a sticky dough would leave a lot of dough behind.
- Dividing it: I use a kitchen weighing scale to divide it into equal portions. You can eyeball it if you want.
- Shaping: After I divide it, I just roughly shape it into logs and put it into loaf pans. You can also do a sandwich shape by folding and rolling it.
- Broil mode: To get the crust golden brown on top, set the oven to broil mode. But keep an eye throughout so that it doesn't burn.