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Whole Wheat Bread

This 100% Whole Wheat Bread will have you seriously guessing if it’s actually all wheat. It’s soft, satiny and has a slight sweetness. It slices up nicely for sandwiches or toast. It’s the only wheat bread recipe you’ll ever need!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 cups (1416 g/ml or 50 ounces) lukewarm water (110°F)
  • 1/2 cup (56g) nonfat powdered milk
  • 1/2 cup (72g) vital wheat gluten
  • 1/3 cup (39g) dry lecithin granules
  • 4 Tablespoons instant yeast
  • 3/4 cup (160g) olive oil
  • 1 cup (340g) honey
  • 3 (54g) Tablespoons salt
  • 1416 cups wheat flour* (one cup weighs 113g)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening (for brushing on tops of baked loaves)

 

Instructions

*If you are milling your own wheat flour, grind it at least 2 hours before using. It needs time to cool down and settle a bit. I prefer to use Hard White Wheat – it has a sweeter and softer texture than red wheats. 

  1. In a large measuring cup, measure the lukewarm water. To this bowl, add the powdered milk, vital wheat gluten, lecithin granules and yeast. Whisk them together with the water to help them get dissolved. Pour into the bowl of an electric mixer.
  2. Add the honey, oil and 8 cups (904g) of wheat flour. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds until incorporated. It should resemble pancake batter. Allow it to sit and sponge up until doubled in size. This will take about 15-30 minutes. Keep an eye on it – it can easily spill over the sides of the bowl.
  3. After the mixture has doubled in size, add the salt and mix on low as you start adding an additional 6 cups (678g) of the remaining flour, one cup at a time. As you near the end of the remaining flour, look for the dough to clean the sides of the bowl. Once it is cleaning the sides of the bowl, stop the mixer and touch the dough with your finger. It should feel soft and tacky, but not overly wet or sticky. If it is excessively wet and sticky, add more flour, one half a cup at a time. Each batch is different…sometimes you’ll use all the flour and other times you’ll have some leftover. Just go by how the dough looks and feels. 
  4. Once you have enough flour in your dough, knead on low speed for 5 minutes. 
  5. Turn dough onto floured surface and let rest for 10 minutes, allowing the gluten to relax. Divide the dough and shape into loaves. Places loaves in greased bread pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in size. A bread pan that is 4×8″ will hold a loaf that is about 21-23 ounces. This recipe will make about 6, 23-ounce loaves.
  6. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake loaves for 30-35 minutes. Tops should be golden brown. 
  7. After removing from oven, brush the tops of the loaves with vegetable shortening. This will give the crust a pretty sheen and it make it softer. 
  8. Allow the loaves to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack. Allow the loaves to cool completely before slicing – they are still baking internally right after they come out of the oven. 
  9. Store in heavy bread bags – they will stay fresh for 5-7 days. This bread freezes well!

Notes

(Recipe updated January 2022: the grams for the vital wheat gluten were previously incorrect and are now the correct weight)

  • This is a large batch of dough. It is perfect to use in a Bosch Universal Plus mixer. If you have a smaller mixer, be sure to half this recipe so that you don’t overload your mixer. 
  • Avoid keeping your bread in the refrigerator. It will dry it out. 
  • Since it has fresher ingredients, homemade bread has a shorter shelf life – this is a good thing! I like to freeze loaves that I have pre-sliced and pull them out as needed. 
  • Using freshly ground wheat flour gives this bread the best flavor and nutrients!