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Soft Airy 100% Whole Wheat Bread. This Sandwich bread is 100% whole grain, no refined flour and is soft and delicious. Vegan Recipe Jump to Recipe
A good sandwich bread is a like a dream. Soft, airy, gorgeous crumb, all whole grain, no unknown additives, dough conditioners and most importantly great tasting. Now the last part is the most difficult of the lot.
Most whole grain or grain and seed breads from the market fall a bit short on the taste factor. I don’t know what they do, but the breads are just too sweet tasting and generally have an odd after taste. And they never work out great to make sweet or savory french toasts (they get so soggy). Its not like they make great sandwiches. Grill them, and taste cardboard. On the other hand some of the artisan style breads dislike my teeth. I mean can you ever bite into them without breaking something!
Or maybe I am too finicky. :). Anywho, some of those problems are non-existent with this gorgeous loaf of bread. This bread has just 3 main ingredients, whole wheat flour, water, yeast! No other flour. And it is soft and delicious! And not dense.
Makes perfect sandwiches and french toasts. I add lemon juice and cumin to change up the flavor a bit from the earthy wheat. Try it. Add orange juice instead of lemon. You can add some vital wheat gluten so the bread doesnt make too many crumbs when sliced.
Make this 100% Whole Wheat Bread !
Look at those slices!
More Sandwich loafs from the blog
- Whole Grain Seed Bread Recipe
- White Bean Sandwich Bread Loaf. Vegan Recipe
- Vegan Sprouted Wheat Millet Sandwich Bread Recipe
- Strawberry Sandwich Loaf. GF V
Steps Pictures: Scroll below for recipe.
Make the sponge mixture (see recipe instructions below). Let it sit for an hour. Knead with the rest of the flour. Press the dough into a rectangle, fold the edges. Then fold into a jelly roll. Place in bread pan.
Spray water on top, sprinkle sesame seeds or oats, spray water again. Cover with a towel and let rise.
Once the roll doubles or rises well above the pan edge, bake.
Remove from the pan after 10 minutes. Then cool completely before slicing with a serrated knife. Adapted from Dave’s Whole wheat bread.
100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Sponge:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 2.5 tbsp maple syrup or other sweetener of choice
- 3 teaspoon active yeast, (2.25 tsp works as well if it’s new strong yeast)
Bread:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 to 1.5 tsp lemon or lime juice
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp water
- oil or vegan butter as needed.
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients under Sponge in a bowl. Mix for 2 to 3 minutes until a smooth batter and you can feel the gluten forming. It will start to get a bit stringy
- Let the bowl sit for 1 hour in a warm place. (Use a large bowl as the sponge will triple)
- In a stand mixer, add the sponge. Mix the salt into the 2 cups flour and add the flour to the stand mixer. Start kneading. Add in the oil, cumin, lemon juice and water and continue to knead for 5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Check the dough to see if it needs more flour or water (it should be soft and smooth. not stiff and not sticky). Add more water if needed. .
- Knead for another 5 to 8 minutes. The dough should not break immediately when a small portion is pulled out. (I knead at setting 2 on my kitchen aid). You can let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes at this point.
- Shape the dough into a fat 9 by 5 rectangle. Fold in the 5 inch side. then roll the longer side like a jelly roll. Seal by pinching. Roll the log a little to even it out in thickness. Place in the parchment lined or well greased bread pan (9 by 5 inch). Spray water on top. Sprinkle sesame seeds or oats. Spray water again. Cover with a towel and let rise for 50 minutes to an hour or until it doubles or the bread domes over the pan edge. (You want to give the bread enough time to rise and get airy. the time depends on the ambient temperature.)Spray water, then spray oil on the top.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180ºc. Bake the bread for 40 minutes.
- Remove the bread pan from the oven and brush oil or vegan butter on top. Remove the bread from the pan after 5 to 10 minutes. Let it cool completely before slicing with a serrated knife.
- Store in a bread container on the counter for upto 2 days or refrigerate for upto a week.
Notes
Add 2 tsp molasses for deeper flavor and color.
Add 2 tbsp orange juice instead of water and omit lemon juice.
Note: If using other flours like white whole wheat flour or chapati atta, you might need a bit more or less water.
If kneading by hand. Knead a few minutes longer. Throw the dough onto the counter a few times between kneading to help with the gluten formation. Nutritional values base on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Troubleshoot:
If the bread dough rises well before baking and the dome falls during baking:
- The dough got over proofed / over risen. Depending on the ambient temp in the kitchen or wherever you leave the bread to rise you might need less time for the bread dough in the loaf to rise to just about double the original dough size. Anything more than double means the bread is over rising and the gluten will not be able to hold the dome eventually.
- Too much moisture. If the dough is too sticky and has too much moisture, the bread will rise but the dome will be too wet to hold its shape during baking
- bread dough was not kneaded enough. Any of the above issues (in small amounts i.e slightly over risen, slightly over moist) can be handled by the gluten if the bread was kneaded enough to form the gluten well. You want to knead the bread till it is smooth (at least 5 to 7 minutes) and when you pull the dough apart, it doesn’t just break off, but gets elastic before breaking.
If the bread dough does not rise much
- The yeast is old or died somewhere in the steps. Too hot water or salt directly added to the yeast will kill the yeast.
- Ambient temperature was too cold. Yeast activity slows in cooler temperature. Let the bread sit for longer time until it is just about double the original dough size before baking.
- Bread dough was too stiff/had less moisture. Spritz water on the dough every 10 minutes during rising to incorporate some moisture and let the dough rise for longer time until it is almost double.
For Softer, more moist bread, add a bit more oil. Let the dough rise for half an hour before shaping into a loaf. Knead the dough really well for good gluten formation, which will help hold the bread structure with more air.
This is an EXCELLENT recipe. I have made this a few times now and everyone is very impressed!!
Just a few questions….can I substitute pizza yeast for regular…and also, can I make this same bread
with white flour??
Thanks!!!!
yes
This is a great recipe. Very easy. It is a light, airy and beautiful loaf! The only “change” I made was to skip the cumin as the flavor of cumin in bread doesn’t appeal.
My first attempt was relatively successful. The bread turned out of the pan beautifully, it tastes great, but it is rather dry. What would cause this? I hand kneaded the dough. Should I use a bit more water or oil?
yes add more oil to the dough. You can use vegan butter on toastetd bread or convert it into breadcrumbs to wherever breadcrmbs are needed
Is there any problem if I use baking powder in place of yeast.
yes, the recipe is for yeast. yeast activates and rises outside theoven first. Baking powder activates only when heated in the oven.It wont work.
I use baking powder in place of yeast and a traditional oven, is there any problem when you use baking powder.
yes they work differently and the bread willbe dryer with baking powder
Hi Richa!
I have tried your wwf bread recipe with some variations and got some great results. Your recipe has become my go to base recipe for 100% whole wheat bread. I add flaxseed meal and reduce the yeast to just 1 teaspoon instant yeast in he sponge. I don’t like my bread smelling yeasty plus I live in India where the dough rises very quickly. Thanks for this really good recipe.
Awesome! Thanks!
What a great recipe! I have in the past been a total failure at bread making. I buy books, I follow the directions, (or so I think) I make loaf after loaf and they are all miserable-until now! The bread I made from your recipe was beautiful! And each subsequent loaf was just as good! My poor husband who has suffered through so much bad bread was ecstatic I got this one right! It is great sandwich bread! Thank you!
Awesome! so glad you tried the recipe and it came out so well!
Would whole wheat pastry flour work as a substitute?
pastry flour has lower gluten, it will work if you add 1-2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
I had the same question- so should I take out 1-2tbs of the pastry flour if I add the vital wheat gluten?
Not necessary
Any way you can make this without oil?
yes just omit it.
I have tried a few 100% whole wheat recipes but this one is far better than the rest which asks you to add all purpose or bread flour. This recipe baked the bread beautifully soft and looked exactly like the picture. The only reason I gave it a 4 star is because the flavour was too strong (very yeasty). It is the best recipe if you like that taste.
However can this be made with less yeast(1tsp or 11/2 tsp) and perhaps longer proofing (4-6hrs)?
Please advise.
Thank you.
awesome! it might be the yeast type or brand maybe? mine usually cooks out. You can try it with half the amount and a longer rise.
Thanks for the quick response. I used Fleischmann’s Traditional Active Dry Yeast. Is there a quantity of yeast to proofing time ratio that you can suggest?
Thanks again.
just proof until the dough is almost double the size.
Hi richa, I am always unable to get a brown colour in top of my breads. I’ve tried milk wash, egg wash, milk and egg wash but still nothing.. its cooked properly but never brown on top. I use a microwave convection oven.. could you help me please?
Hi! It’s probably your microwave convection oven…try baking the bread on the lowest rack setting and see if that helps.