100% Whole Wheat Bread

I used to be intimidated to make wheat bread. I always felt like when I did it never produced the same soft and delicious texture of white bread. I also felt like I could never get the taste right; it was either too yeasty or too… wheat-y.

I’ve tried several different recipes of wheat bread over the years, but all of them seemed lacking to me. The best ones added white flour to get the soft texture, but that always felt like cheating to me. I wanted one that used 100% wheat flour that still had the perfect texture and flavor. Have you ever felt like that when making wheat bread?

If so, then you will be happy to know that I’ve been working hard in the kitchen creating the perfect 100% whole wheat bread! Some of the ingredients may seem a little unconventional in the bread baking world, but trust me you are going to love it!

I’ve learned a few tips too:

1. Always use White Whole Wheat Flour! It is NOT white flour, but it is not plain wheat flour either. White Wheat is so much softer and smaller in texture and size compared to wheat flour, so it produces a much softer loaf of bread.
2. Vinegar, in small amounts, is a great dough enhancer and can help develop the gluten in bread. Trust me, you WON’T taste any vinegar flavor in the finished product.
3. I use an aluminum foil tent over my dough for the first bit of baking to slow the top of my bread from browning too quickly. I always have a hard time getting the top of my wheat bread to not be too brown before the rest of the dough is done, so using tin foil really helps. It also helps produce a softer crust.

To start, heat the milk in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute on high heat. Pour the milk in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl attached to a stand mixer. Add the vinegar, yeast and brown sugar and mix briefly. Let the mixture sit for approximately 10 minutes to allow the yeast to proof, or grow.

Mix in the oil, honey and salt. Add the white whole wheat flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, but is still tacky. Knead for 5-10 minutes.

Cover the dough with a clean dish towel and place in a warm spot. I always like to use the oven with the oven light turned on. Allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours or until it has at least doubled in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl onto a clean work surface. I like to use a silicone pastry mat. With a rolling pin, roll the dough the width of the loaf pan you will use to bake the dough. Roll the dough up tightly to avoid any air pockets and pinch it together at the seam; then fold the ends of the dough towards the seam. Place the dough into your greased loaf pan. Cover and let it rise again for about 45 minutes-1 hour until the dough doubles and fills the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes with the aluminum foil tent. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until the internal temperature of the dough is 190 degrees F. Remove from the pan and cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Slice and enjoy!