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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.
I made one loaf today to try. The family didn’t believe it was 100% whole wheat. What a game changer! Thank you!
Can I omit the salt or use something in place of the salt? Thank you
Hmm, i am not sure. What do you usually use to sub salt? without the salt the bread might be very bland. you need something to add a bit of salty profile.
My husband had a stroke a couple of months ago and now we (I might as well do it with him) are on a low sodium, low fat……low everything diet. It’s been highly suggested by his Dr and dietitian that I use no salt when I cook, so everything we eat is very bland. =( I was just worried about it not raising. Thank you
yes salt isnt being used for rising or anything other than taste. so omit it. maybe take 2 dinner roll size portions out of the dough and bake those for 22 to 23 minutes and see if you like the taste of the bread. then you can adjust the remaining dough without making the entire bread and wasting it. for eg garlic adds a savory profile without salt, so you can add garlic powder and chopped garlic and some savory herbs to make a savory bread or go the sweet way.
That’s great! The garlic and herbs sound yummy! I’m excited to try it! Thank you for your help and advice.
Beautiful Whole Wheat Bread! I run a lunch subscription service in Malaysia and this is a keeper!
Thank you so much for this recipe! This is the best bread I have ever baked. It was almost perfect. I say almost because I had covered it with plastic (oiled) to rise. And it did rise so beautifully but when I pulled the plastic off the top deflated. I almost cried. I left it for a few more minutes before I put it in the oven and it did rise up some again. There was certainly nothing wrong with the taste or the texture of it. Your instructions & pictures are wonderful. This is now my go to bread recipe.
I just recently discovered you blog and there are so many recipes I want to try. Thanks so much for all you share.
Awesome! I think it might have gotten a bit overproofed if it sank. Also when you use plastic you want to oil the dough really well and sprinkle lots of oats so the dough doesnt stick. if the dough sticks to the plastic, the plastic will pull it and it might deflate. So glad it worked out well.
how much oil should I use?
2 tbsp oil in the bread and you will need 1-2 tsp to brush on top
What kind of oil did you use? Thanks!
I usually add olive oil or organic safflower.
Thanks so much for the recipe. I noticed that i had to add more water ( almost a cup more) to be able to knead ( I was hand kneading). My kneading didnot product gluten like other doughs and i think i must have kneaded for atleast 45 minutes The bread rose well ( triple as sponge, double as dough) but the final bread was not as airy as yours. It was quite dense. Do you think it could be because I kneaded extra in the hopes of producing something very stretchy? Also the extra water i added was at the time of kneading and not at the time of mixing the flour to the sponge.
Hmm, 1 cup water is a bit much. What kind of flour did you use?
If the bread did double in size, then it should be airy. It will definitely be different than a white bread because of the whole grain flour. The bread will feel heavier than and more filling than a white bread. You can maybe let it rise even more to about 2.5 times the size before baking. Or make a half wheat half all purpose flour bread to see if you prefer that texture.
Hi, thank you for the great recipe. Can you please let me know what is the size of the pan used?
8.5 by 4.5 inch .you can also use 9 by 5 inch loaf pan
Thanks for the great recipe! Could you please let me know what is the size of pan you are using to bake this bread? Thanks in advance!
8.5 by 4.5 inches