Good bread
along with good jam, good coffee, and the quiet of early morning.
This is, so far, the best 100% Whole Wheat recipe I’ve found. I discovered it in the most obvious of places: printed on the bag of King Arthur whole wheat flour. Time again these “free” recipes become our family favorites.
Classic 100% Whole Wheat Bread (makes one loaf)
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast or 1 packet (that’s 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast dissolved in 2 Tablespoons water
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil (use Canola, it’s better for you)
1/4 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup nonfat dried milk (I didn’t have any of this, I just used regular milk and reduced the water above)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Mix it all together. (The recipe doesn’t give any order in which to add ingredients. I let the yeast dissolve in the water/milk mixture first, then I added everything except the flour, mixed it up well in my stand mixer, then slowly worked in the flour.) Knead for a few minutes (I love to knead, so I stopped myself after about 10 minutes). Let rise in an oiled bowl for about an hour. Punch down and shape loaf, and allow to rise for another hour (or less if your kitchen is warm… it was quite chilly here yesterday). Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.
Bread is done when it sounds hollow when thumped.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
That sounds really yummy! well, except the canola oil part…I’m betting (light flavored from the later press so it’s not as strong a flavor) olive oil is waaaaayyyy better than canola. I’ll have to try that.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Looks yummy! I have used that recipe before and it IS good! I usually bake at least 3 loaves at a time though. I am so proud that my kids are disgusted when offered a white bread sandwich. They all have never (well, the adopted ones since they have been in our family) had wonder bread type bread…ever. I am not saying husband wouldnt’ feed it to them if I were gone. I hope I have taught him better..but I don’t know..haha.
I need to get some wheat ground today and bake bread..that just looks so good!!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Hi Annie,
I’ll try this whole wheat recipe and doctor it up with some extra sesame and poppy seeds thrown in for our Sunday night dinner this weekend.
I love that picture of you and little one sewing….so sweet!
April 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I used to get the King Arthur White Whole Wheat and that one has a ‘White whole Wheat Walnut Loaf’ recipe. (2tsp instant yeast, 1+1/3 c. lukewarm water, 1Tbsp Veg Oil, 2Tbsp brown sugar, 3c flour, 1+1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 c finely chopped walnuts - 350F for 35-40 min)
I think they’re basically bread machine recipes, but work great by hand. I’ll have to try the one you’ve posted!
July 17th, 2008 at 8:19 am
HI Annie,
This is my first time ever reading this website. I am a stay at home Mom, thinking about home-schooling my 3rd yr old and am trying to venture into cooking more from scratch. The bread recipe seems easy but I have a question, do you do all the mixing with your hands or do you use one of those heavy mixing machines? Thanks…
July 17th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Ale- I do have a heavy duty stand mixer, but even when I use that I still knead by hand on my counter. These days, I find myself mixing up all of my bread by hand, and keeping the mixer for cakes and other things.