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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 am new at baking bread. I was wondering how the best way to rise my loaf. I have electric oven and house seams cool for this. I’ve tried turning oven on then off. Think I’m not keeping a good ambient temp for rising. Suggestions? Thanks. Smells great.
You can heat the oven to about 110 degrees F, or heat it to the lowest temp (150 or 175) and let it cool for a minute or 2. Then keep the bread in the oven. If the oven has a bread proof setting, you can use that too.
I use the oven off with the light turned on.
My wife agrees, it’s been at least 30 years since I’ve baked a loaf of bread. Out of the blue, I just decided to do it today. I’m typing this after enjoying two pieces of that incredible bread. Light, fluffy, and yummy. Been eating health food only for the past 45 years, since I was 20.
I baked it a little differently. 1/2 the dough I rolled into bread sticks, about 1″ in diameter before rising (only baked them 30 minutes). The rest of the dough I put in a white Corning Corelle soup bowl. After rising it just about filled the bowl completely. After baking it, and poping it out of the bowl, upside down it now looks like a mini angelfood cake.
Awesome! so glad you made it!
I followed this recipe in exact detail and it turned out completely inedible! It barely rose at all, was way too dense and mealy. I’ve made lots of artisan type white breads, rolls, biscuits, and such so I know my way around a yeast bread. This was my first 100% whole wheat bread. I know my yeast is good, I just used it the day before for bread for soup that was perfect. Ah, well. I’ll stick with my 50% wheat recipe I like. Too bad, I knew this one had to be too good to be true!
Hi Christine,
I am not sure why that happened. I have been making this bread once every 2 weeks and it comes out exactly the same. As you see other reviewers also have made it and had great results. It has also been tagged several times on instagram , so I know many people have been making this bread and it turned out similarly.
Lets troubleshoot
1. Did the sponge double in size? If not, the the yeast died because of too hot water, or salt or citrus. Also, did you use 1 tablespoon yeast?
2. If the lemon juice or salt was added directly to the sponge, the yeast can die.
3. The dough should be soft. If the dough ended up being too stiff, it will not rise much and will take longer to rise. So you might want to knead it again with added water.
4. What flour did you use? There are many different types of wheat. personally I find the White wheat flour much more earthy tasting than regular whole wheat flour and also more textured (which could taste mealy.). Also, a 100% wheat bread is going to taste wheaty as it is 100% whole wheat, so the taste preference is dependent on the flour.
You can make the bread into herbed croutons or breadcrumbs for later use. You can also make this same recipe with 50% white flour and 50% whole wheat for a lighter loaf.
What can be substituted for the oil? Thanks.
applesauce or non dairy yogurt
Is it possible to eliminate the oil? Trying to get to a 0% Fat 100% whole wheat bread to replace what we buy now.
Also: any adjustments for higher altitude (we are at 4500 feet above sea level)?
I am using a recipe now that uses a little bit of gluten flour (Bobs). Is that something that is unnecessary with this approach?
Yes, you can eliminate the oil.
Adjust the liquid or flour to get a soft smooth dough if needed. The bread dough will rise faster, so keep an eye on it and bake once doubled in size.
Vital wheat gluten is a great addition to any bread recipe to make smooth doughs with good gluten strand formation. Good gluten formation holds the bread structure and will also lead to less crumbs while slicing.
No food can be made 0% fat. You mean “zero added fat”.
Like protein, fats are in every whole food, even the low-fat ones like wheat. In fact, on low-fat foods, fat and protein content are about the same in percentage of kcalories, ~10%.
I mean “in” low-fat foods.
Wow! This was exactly what I was looking for today. Just got a new KitchenAid mixer, and wanted to try baking some wholesome bread. I love the little touch of cumin- who would have thought that would be good in bread? Also, I only had a packet up yeast, which was a little short of the tablespoon called for, but I didn’t notice any problem. Came out looking just about like your photo, except I added both sesame seeds and oats on top. Thanks so much for a great recipe, Richa!
Thats awesome! I add the cumin and lemon to take some of that wheaty flavor, which can taste too earthy (or cardboard like as some people feel).
Would i be able to add nuts or seeds?
Yes. At Step 4 when the dough is somewhat formed. Add in the chopped nuts and seeds and knead for another 1 to 2 minutes to incorporate well. Then continue with the next steps of shaping the loaf and baking.
Wow! I was scared as I was working the dough (by hand) because it never got smooth (Is it just me?), but this bread turned out amazing! So soft, moist, airy and elastic! The flavorings are also a nice addition. I’m super impressed!
Awesome! Yes, it takes some time when kneading by hand for it to get smooth. Punch the dough and throw it on the counter a couple of times to help the gluten form. just a bit of smoothness in the dough is enough to make a good loaf.
How much yeast should we use if we are using Gloripan Instant Yeast?
Same amount.
Is it ok to use vinegar in replace of lemon juice???
yes.
Fluffy! soft! My six year old kept asking for more! It worked perfectly and I’ve had such a hard time with home milled flour making hard bread. Thank you
Awesome!!!
Hi richa! Been trying some of your recipes. Thanks for having a vegan cooking blog first of all!