One of my culinary resolutions for 2010 was to make all of my bread at home. So far I’ve done great. I haven’t bought a single loaf at the store. However, I ran into the problem that Jon wasn’t eating it. His excuse was that the beautiful artisan bread wasn’t good for sandwiches. I made a couple of white bread loaves for sandwiches, but that didn’t work because we love the Nature’s Pride 12-grain bread, but the few times that I tried making whole-wheat bread it didn’t turn out soft and light, like Jon likes it… until I realized I was doing it all wrong.
I was missing a very important ingredient to make my whole-wheat loaves soft, fluffy and light: gluten. When I read that I could buy gluten separately to make better bread, I literally ran to the store and bought a package of the stuff. Oh my, that’s been one of the best decisions this year so far. Now I can make at home whole-wheat bread just like the one they sell at the store. Jon’s verdict was that “this is good bread [for sandwiches]“.
Healthy Whole-wheat Sandwich Bread
Makes 2 loavesThe ingredients:
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 packet of dry active yeast or 2 1/4 tsp
- 1 TBSP agave syrup or honey
- 6 cups whole-wheat flour
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 6-8 tsps gluten
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup ground flexseed
The how-to:
Print this recipe
- Mix syrup and warm water together. Add yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.
- In the meantime mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
- Add water and mix well until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Knead for 10 minutes by hand, or 3 minutes at low speed in a mixer and then 5 minutes at medium high speed.
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic and let double in size in a warm place (about 50 minutes)
- Punch the dough in the middle and turn it over a lightly floured surface.
- Divide in 2 and, with a rolling pin, roll each half to form a long rectangle.
- Roll the dough tightly to form the loaves. Tuck the ends under the loaves and place them on rectangular bread pans. Cover with plastic and let them rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
- With a sharp knife or razor make a long cut along the top of the loaf. Brush water all over the top with a pastry brush.
- Place a baking pan with about 100 ml of water at the bottom shelf of the oven.
- Place loaves in the top shelf and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You know the bread is ready when the tops are golden brown and they sound hollow if you tap the loaves.
- Let them cool down on wire racks before enjoying.
This is only the latest recipe I’ve come up with using gluten and whole-wheat bread. I get so excited when I am baking a new bread that Jon and the cats look at me like I’ve finally snapped and gone crazy, but this is how much I’ve been enjoying my bread and my new KitchenAid mixer. It looks like I am going to be able to keep my resolution of not buying bread at the store this year.
Lamb Update: I mentioned on my last post that I am going to create a lamb dish for a dinner on Sunday. A friend and I have been brainstorming ideas and we are leaning towards roasting a leg. The glaze would be tart/sweet/spicy, but that’s still on the works. However, this lamb souvlaki that Peter posted on his blog yesterday looks delicious. I should make a decision by tomorrow, because I need to start shopping soon, before we get another big snow storm…
¡Buen provecho!
28 Replies
It's excellent
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Great job Ben. The bread looks beautiful and I bet it's delicious. I've been making my bread at home too. What a difference it makes.
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Interesting to note that gluten makes all the difference here…Ben, I have to say the bread looks beautiful. I’d love to see more.
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
I love this resolution! (So much in fact that it is my resolution as well. The book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day has revolutionized my life). Gluten is definitely key! This looks fantastic!
Posted on February 12th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
I can smell that bread through my screen. Mmmmmmm
Posted on February 13th, 2010 at 6:11 am
aha, thats interesting.. my home-made whole wheat bread rarely compares to the store-bought one.. may be I should try the added gluten. Do you find it in regular supermarkets? thanks for sharing.
Posted on February 13th, 2010 at 4:05 am
Beautiful photography as always, Ben! I'm a recent convert to vital wheat gluten in bread baking, too.
PJ, larger supermarkets should have vital wheat gluten in small boxes near the flour. The brand I usually see is Hodgson's Mill.
Posted on February 13th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
PJ, like Claire said, larger supermarkets should have wheat gluten by the flours. I didn't find it at the supermarket I usually shop, but the one down the road from it had it.
Posted on February 13th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
This looks fantastic ! I'm going to try it, but in my bread maker …
Posted on February 13th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
I learned something new today Ben.
Posted on February 13th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
What a wonderful bread. I've been trying to improve my "bread-making" skills for a while now
I have to try to get the gluten. I see why you don't need to buy bread!
Posted on February 14th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Great looking bread Ben! I've got to try that gluten trick soon if I want to make another bread. I am sort of still a homebread baking virgin (that's a weird sentence isn't it??) but while it is unlikely that I will be making all my bread myself I do want to increase it for sure!
Posted on February 14th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I need to eat more whole wheat. Looks wonderful!
Posted on February 15th, 2010 at 5:52 am
If at first you don't succeed try, try, again! This bread looks great!
Posted on February 15th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Your loaf looks lovely – I especially like that you can see the whirl where the dough was rolled to form a loaf.
I just put a batch of this through the mixer and it's on its first rise in a warm oven as we speak. The dough was a little finicky in the mixer, but I'm hoping that's just the wheat flour and the gluten coming together.
Just a question: your recipe suggests 6-8 tsp gluten, but when/how do we know to use more or less? I've never used gluten in homemade bread before, and the box suggests 4 tsp. Any tips/advice? thanks!
Posted on February 16th, 2010 at 12:37 am
The box suggests 4 tsp per loaf and since this recipe makes 2 loaves I used 8 tsps the first time and 6 the second, there's not a big difference, I guess it's just a matter of guessing, haha.
Posted on February 16th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Your bread look perfect…nice texture…I am sure that taste great as well
Posted on February 16th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day has us using gluten as well to get lighter loaves & it really does seem to work
Posted on February 17th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
That's perfection there Ben.
Posted on February 18th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Great looking bread, I'm sure it tastes just as good. Lovely.
Posted on February 18th, 2010 at 2:18 am
I have been looking for exactly the same type of sandwich bread — soft, but with the heartiness of 100% whole wheat. I finally made a loaf tonight, but with a few tiny adjustments — I used buttermilk instead of half of the water, canola oil instead of olive oil, and instant yeast instead of regular dry. It came out beautifully and even my boyfriend (who doesn't normally like sandwich bread) thought it was great. Thanks for sharing this recipe — I think I will be using it a lot!
Posted on February 19th, 2010 at 8:22 am
That bread looks perfect, Ben!!!!
Posted on February 19th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I had just baked this! Only after I had kneaded the dough I remember I had forgotten the eggs! I baked them into 1 regular loaf and 2 mini loaves. Even without the eggs, the minis baked well and rose high. But the regular loaf didn't do as well, I think the lack of eggs sabotaged the structure and it didn't rise too well, definitely not anywhere as pretty as yours. I will love to give these another try, now with the eggs of course!
Posted on February 20th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
What an eye opener. The picture looks amazing and the loaf so…so…professional! You can go into a bread making business with this one! Thanks for the tip on gluten.
P.S. I think you mentioned in a later post about using this same recipe as pizza base? Does it not rise too much?
Posted on March 2nd, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Hi Ann,
Yes, I do use the same recipe to make pizza pie but I don't let it rise a second time. I either use it immediately after the first rise or store it in the fridge until I am ready to use it, usually the same day because the cold only slows down the process.
Thanks for the visit and the comment
Posted on March 2nd, 2010 at 6:21 pm
hi,
excuse me but what the ground flexseed is ????
thank you and sorry for my ignorance
virginiebalijon@gmail.com
Posted on March 17th, 2010 at 8:42 am
You can read more about them here http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspic...
Cheers!
Posted on March 17th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
ok thanks a lot !!
cheers
virginie
Posted on March 24th, 2010 at 9:07 am
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