Recipe: Whole Wheat Bread

Dough after kneading

This is my go-to whole wheat bread recipe. I learned to bake bread a few years back using the Pantry Secrets method. While I love their signature recipe when baking with bread flour or partial wheat only, I use this recipe most because it works well with 100 percent wheat flour.

I grind hard white or hard red wheat (or a combination of both) to use in the bread. Hard white wheat has a lighter taste, while hard red wheat is darker and has a nuttier taste. I have way more hard white than hard red wheat in my food storage, so white wheat is usually what I use.

Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 4 loaves

7 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cups vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

5 cups steaming hot water (120-130 F)

2 tablespoons salt
2/3 cup oil (could sub applesauce)
2/3 cup honey or 1 c. sugar (I use honey)
2 1/2 tablespoon bottled lemon juice

5 cup whole wheat flour

Mix the first three ingredients in a stand mixer (Bosch or KitchenAid) with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add remaining 5 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough will still be soft and sticky.

Preheat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks. This recipe can be halved to make 2 loaves.

Straight from the oven. I'm no food photographer but thought it might be helpful to get an idea of the size of the loaves

A few notes:
 • I use PAM (not oil) in the countertop and my hands to make it easier to work with the dough. I also spray it into my nonstick pans. 
 • If you use freshly ground wheat, you may notice the dough rise quickly. When I grind the wheat and use it right away, I only let the bread rise in the oven for 10 minutes.
 • I've swapped the oil for applesauce in this recipe and the texture comes out fine. It does change the taste, though, and I think it shortens the shelf life. I usually use extra virgin olive oil. 
 • I use a knife to cut the dough into four even portions, way easier than trying to rip it with your hands
  • My kids LOVE carbs and usually eat half of a loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven. Few things are better than fresh bread! But I always freeze at least two loaves and they defrost just fine.
 • You don't have to have fancy bread pans. These cheap-y ones work great (I think they were $3 or $4 each) as long as you don't wash them. Yep, you read that right. Don't wash your bread pans. Just wipe them out with a dish cloth or paper towel.

Recipe originally found on DealstoMeals.blogspot.com