Bread Experience Blog: Easy Whole Wheat Bread

Today in the bread baking blog, we're making an easy and delicious whole wheat sandwich bread. This bread is made with buttermilk and honey and is great toasted and served with marmalade or jam.

This bread really is easy and I'll tell you why. I wanted to go visit a friend of mine today but I also wanted to get this bread baked. I decided I could do both with a little planning. I combined all of the ingredients using my stand mixer, then transferred the dough to a deep bowl to rise. I went to visit my friend (who lives an hour away), with the bread rising in the bowl in the car. Once I got to his house, I put the bread in the loaf pans and let them rise for another hour and then baked the loaves. The bread turned out great! Believe me, my friend was only too happy to help test taste it. We ate it toasted with pear preserves! Yummy!

Here is what the finished loaf looks like...
or, I should say what's left of it.

Note: I experimented a little with the recipe. The original recipe calls for 3 cups of whole wheat and 3 1/2 to 4 cups of bread flour. We'll be substituting the following: 3 cups of freshly milled whole wheat flour from organic hard red winter wheat, 1/2 - 3/4 cup of organic white whole wheat milled from hard white spring wheat, and about 3 cups of purchased bread flour.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Makes: 2 9-by-5-inch loaves

The recipe for this bread is from Bread by Williams-Sonoma.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
Pinch of brown sugar
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) warm water (105º - 115ºF/40º - 46ºC)
1 1/2 cups (12 fl oz/375 ml) tepid buttermilk (90ºF/32ºC)
1/4 cup (2 1/2oz/75g) maple syrup, honey, or light molasses
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) canola oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups (15 oz/470 g) whole wheat (wholemeal) flour
3 1/2 cups (17 1/2 - 20 oz/545-625 g) bread flour, plus extra as needed

Directions:

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and brown sugar over the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the buttermilk, maple syrup, oil, salt, and 2 cups (10 oz/315 g) of the whole wheat flour. Beat on medium-low speed until creamy, about 1 minute.

Beat in the yeast mixture and the remaining whole wheat flour and beat for 1 minute. Beat in the bread flour, 1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz/75 g) at a time, until the dough pulls away from the bowl sides.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed, adding bread flour 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth but slightly sticky when pressed, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled deep bowl and turn the dough once to coat it.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch (23-by-13-cm) loaf pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board.

Divide in half and put each half into a long rectangle. Fold 1 rectangle like a letter, overlapping the short sides in the middle; press to flatten.

Bring the other end up and press again to flatten.

Beginning at the narrow end, tightly roll up the dough into a thick log.

Roll the log back and forth with your palms until it is the same length as the pan. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal. Place the loaf, seam side down, in a prepared pan, tucking the ends under to make a neat, snug fit.