Recipes

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Baked Goods · Breads · Flour

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Prep 20 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 1 loaf (18 slices)
Level Easy

A pan loaf made with nothing but whole wheat as its flour. Orange juice and potato flour soften whole wheat’s bitterness and dryness; the dough stays rough and never goes smooth, which is the bran at work.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here as the showcase for one flour in the Flour section and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

  • 2½ teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast
  • ½ cup (113 g) water, lukewarm
  • ½ cup (113 g) milk, lukewarm
  • ½ cup (113 g) orange juice
  • 5 tablespoons (71 g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1½ teaspoons (9 g) table salt
  • 3 tablespoons (35 g) granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (28 g) dry milk powder
  • ⅓ cup (62 g) potato flour, or ¾ cup (64 g) dried potato flakes
  • 3¾ cups (425 g) white whole-wheat flour

Directions

  1. Proof active dry yeast in the water with a pinch of the sugar until foamy. (Instant yeast can skip this.)
  2. Mix and knead. Combine everything and knead about 7 minutes on low speed in a mixer. The dough will stay rough rather than turning smooth.
  3. First rise 60–90 minutes, covered.
  4. Shape into a log and lay it in a greased 9 × 5-inch loaf pan. Proof until it crowns about ¾ inch above the rim, about 75 minutes.
  5. Bake at 350 °F for 10 minutes, then tent with foil and bake 30–35 minutes more, until the centre reads 190 °F.
  6. Finish. Rub the hot crust with butter if liked. Cool completely before slicing.

Notes

Source Adapted from PJ Hamel, “100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread,” King Arthur Baking. The source specifies King Arthur Golden Wheat, a white whole wheat (whole-grain hard white wheat) and King Arthur Baker’s Special Dry Milk.

Why this flour Every gram of flour is whole wheat, so the effect of bran — more water held, weaker gluten, a denser, closer crumb — is plain to see. A red whole-wheat flour will bake darker and more bitter.

Fresh-milled flour The source is written for bagged flour and does not address home-milled flour. Fresh-milled flour usually needs more water; weigh the flour and add water until the dough feels the same.

Related The collection’s Army recipe Whole Wheat Bread (100 Per Cent) is the same idea at 100-serving scale.

Safety Do not taste raw dough: flour is a raw agricultural product.

The Flour section of the Food site covers the history, the science, milling, label systems and every flour used here.