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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.
Into my sixties now, and have been a bread maker for many years…with consistent success. I liked the idea of the Sponge. so, I tried it. The Sponge was nicely foamy and puffy…and that was the end of my success.
My yeast was fresh, my temp for the water was spot on (I ALWAYS use a thermometer), the recipe was followed to a T…The result was a brick.
Only good for toast.
I am not sure what happened. Did the bread rise well? Did it rise and then fall during baking? Did it get soft after cooling or stay hard?
If the sponge was good, then even the bread rises and falls, the final result should still soften up after cooling. Some issues when some bread recipe turns out hard for me is when I don’t knead it enough(gluten formation is really important esp for all whole grain breads). and some other times when I don’t let it rise enough.
I just tried this recipe over the weekend and the result was GREAT! I will bake my own bread from now on.
Thanks a lot!! I already share the link to this page on my FB wall.
😀
Awesome! so glad it turned out well.
I’m wondering if you could help me troubleshoot this bread. It looks so good but I am just not getting the same results. The taste and texture is good. It’s a bit dense but I don’t mind that. But it’s so small!
If I let the loaf double in the pan (and I’m using an 8.5×4.5, so I shouldn’t be getting a shorter loaf than you) the top of the dome is just under an inch over the top of the pan, if I’m looking right at it from the side. In this case it domes nicely but is just a short squat loaf. Not even tall enough to be called square. If I let it go any taller then it falls in the oven, clearly overproofed (somewhat yeasty smell, larger holes in the crumb in the top than at the bottom). Either way I’m not getting any extra rise in the oven.
I’ve made this bread 5 times now. It’s not the yeast. I’ve tried 3 different kinds and the sponge is always great. Triples in just under an hour. I’m mixing the salt in with the flour that gets added to the sponge so as not to kill the yeast. I’ve tried different proofing methods. Counter took forever. Microwave with the hot water, and oven with the door cracked and the pan of boiling water both worked well. I’ve tried spraying the top to keep it moist. I’ve tried kneading for a bit longer and doing some by hand, slamming it around a little. I’m adding 1 Tbsp gluten. When I lay the dough out for forming, it’s not stiff or dry or hard. It’s a little sticky. I need a spatula to scrape it out of the bowl, and it feels a bit sticky to my hands but doesn’t stick to my hands. It’s elastic and stretches out nicely but isn’t overkneaded.
I’m getting really frustrated with myself because I’d just like a slightly taller loaf for sandwiches, and I cannot figure out where my problem lies.
hmm, it seems like you are covering all bases. If the dough is smooth and elastic and was kneaded well, it should not fall that easily. If it falls just a bit in the center of the top, that is ok. The overall size and rise should stay almost the same and should not flatten by inches. This also depends on the pan. Sometimes pan sides are too angular, i.e not straight, so the bread has to fill that shape well. so it will rise up for a bit, then rise sideways to fit (when it might seem like it is flattening),then rise up again. I am not sure if that is happening, but just throwing that in. When you say it falls, how much does the bread fall? I generally get atleast a 1/4 of its size more rise in the oven.
What kind of flour are you using? Are you on a higher altitude? Is it too cold in the kitchen? Also, maybe try the bread with half all purpose flour and half wheat, just to see if that bread rises well and comes out airy.
Hi,
This is the first time i am gonna bake. Can I use home made yeast for this recipe and what is the ratio
I have never used home made yeast, so I don’t know how to substitute it.
Hello
You are about to have succeeded in inspiring me to resume breadmaking which I’ve not done since the early 1990s.
There will be some stupid questions I’m sorry. Some will be connected with the fact that I’m a UK reader and your vocabulary is different to ‘ours’ – as well as the products.
First up.
Are you using dried yeast or fresh? We get all types here, dried, fresh, dried easy blend quick yeast etc.
Thanks very much
Helen
dried yeast.
Mine Rose and then fell again. Just after baking it, I let it rest for an hour with the towel covering the pan. Everything seemed perfect. I peeked an hour later and a just a minute later remembered to cover it again with the towel until the oven was ready. It had already fell. Was that the problem? I’m a rookie but I really want to learn and master this. Please help!! Thank you… :'( it tastes so good.
Hi Veronica,
There could be a few reasons why the bread fell.
– 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 was not kneaded enough. Any of the above issues (in small amounts ie 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 doesnt just break off, but gets elastic before breaking.
Hope this helps!
For step 3, the first time in the mixer, do you use the paddle or the dough hook?
I tried this yesterday and it tastes wonderful, but fell apart. But my yeast was questionable. I defiy going to try this again with some good yeast.
Hmm, if the yeast was not ok, then the bread wouldnt rise much. What do you mean by it fell apart? If it is too crumbly, then the dough just needs to be kneaded more. Knead it really well until it it smooth. I use the dough hook.
This is serious my 6th recipe TRYING to make 100% whole wheat bread! SO glad I stumbled across this. Your recipe is not over complicated like others. Very easy to follow. Even my 10 year niece LOVED it, and kids can be picky about stuff! 🙂 Made another loaf tonight with flax seed, and oats on top, and smells delisious. Also, this bread isn’t dry like other wheat breads I’ve had. And a HUGE plus, not a lot of sugar.
yay!! yes the sponge holds the moisture which is much needed in a whole grain bread. So glad you all loved it. you can make the loaf sweeter or savory and with flavors, spices.
Can you let this rise overnight in the fridge before baking?
You can refrigerate the sponge batter, or refrigerate once the dough is well formed. Store in an airtight container. Let the dough come too room temperature, about 1 hour, then shape into a loaf, place in the loaf pan, let it rise until doubled and bake.
The dough cannot rise in the loaf pan in the refrigerator as it the air will eventually escape and the dpugh will collapse. So you would have to knead, shape and let it rise in a wamr place again before baking.
Hi, would I be able to add olives?
yes you can add olives when you add the flour to the sponge batter and knead.