100% Whole Wheat Bread
The softest, fluffiest 100% Whole Wheat Bread with a bread machine shortcut.
Servings: 2 loaves
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter room temperature
- 2 tbsp honey unpasturized
- 2 tsp salt kosher or pink Himalayan
- 2 cups water warm
- 4 2/3 cups whole wheat flour or sprouted spelt flour
- 2 tsp bread machine yeast or instant yeast (it's the same thing!)
Instructions
- Add ingredients in the order listed. Ensure the bread machine paddle is in the upright position before adding the ingredients. A friend of mine (shoutout to Sarah!) taught me to put the honey and butter beside the paddle to encourage it to stay upright whilst adding the ingredients - genius!
- Make a little well in the flour with your teaspoon for the yeast. We don't want it mixing with the liquid just yet.
- Secure the pan in the bread machine and set it to the Dough Cycle. Mine is 1hr30 minutes and it kneads the dough and keeps it warm for the first rise. When the timer dings your dough should be doming out of the top of the pan. If not, you will want to wait a little longer until it has fully doubled in size. If you do not have a bread machine you can knead your read with a dough hook attachment in a stand mixer or by hand until smooth and elastic and cover and rise until doubled in size.
- Dump out your dough onto a floured work surface and punch it down. Let it rest for about 10 minutes (this is supposed to let the yeast evenly distribute again). Meanwhile, grease 2 loaf pans with butter. After 10 minutes, roll your dough out into a big long rectangle (about 18" long and 8" high).
- Roll up the dough lengthwise as if you were making cinnamon buns and cut down the middle to make 2 loaves. Forming the loaves this way helps eliminate air bubbles and makes for a nice even rise.
- Place the loaves seam side down into the greased pans. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in size. I like to place mine in the oven and set it to the bread proof function (170F). You do not want to rush this step, make sure your loaves are the size you want them before you move onto baking them as they will not rise much more in the oven. If you put flat dense loaves in to bake, you will get flat dense loaves out of the oven.... Wait for the nice tall billowy rise you're looking for! This usually takes me 1.5-2hours but I live in a cold climate so it may be less for you.
- Remove the loaves from the oven and preheat your oven to 350F. Bake the loaves for 30 minutes until nicely browned on top. Set the pans on a baking rack too cool. Butter the tops of the loaves (I just slide a butter knife through some butter and spread it over the tops, it melts nicely from the heat of the bread).
- After about 10 minutes, run a butter knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen the bread and then tip out onto the cooling rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight bag or container. I like to freeze one loaf and keep one on the counter, we go through it pretty fast! If you think you'll take longer to go through the loaves I'd suggest either pre-slicing it and freezing it so you can take it out one slice at a time or keeping the loaf in the fridge for a longer shelf life. A fresh loaf will last a few days on the counter and at least a week in the fridge, several months in the freezer.
