Soft whole wheat bread

This soft whole wheat bread is made in a stand mixer. My bread machine broke a few months ago, which was a very emotional moment for me. It had served me very well for years and was the best $9 ever spent. It was a work horse, I used it for making bread, pizza, hamburger buns, you name it. I loved loading all the ingredients in it and letting it do its magic.

The standard mixer works too, and it’s almost as easy to make bread with it as with a bread machine. The only extra step is moving the bread to rise in the oven which is not a big deal.

The original recipe is from King Arthur’s Flour website and is written for hamburger buns. It does make perfect buns, just as the title implies. I made a few changes to turn it into bread.

Here is how to make this soft whole wheat bread:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk)

2 cups bread flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tsp yeast (I always use instant dry yeast)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten (can be omitted but helps make the bread softer)

1 egg

3 Tbsp oil (I use canola)

1. Mix all of the ingredients in the stand mixer (or bread machine) for about 10 minutes. The dough should have elastic texture, not too wet/ sticky or too dry. If it has formed into a hard ball of dough around the paddle attachment, add a couple of spoonfuls of water. If it is too sticky, add a tablespoon or two of flour. The dough should stretch a bit before breaking when you pinch and pull a piece.
2. Preheat the oven for 1 minute (no longer) for 350 degrees F, cover the mixing bowl with a towel and put it in the oven for an hour with the oven light on.
3. After an hour, dump the bread on a lightly floured counter, flatten it into a rectangular-ish shape with sides a little longer than the loaf pan. Fold the opposite sides in about an inch and roll the dough starting from the edge closest to you. It’s like rolling up a burrito without a filling. Pinch down the seam. This post has pictures of shaping a loaf and a recipe for rye bread.
4. Place the log into a greased (oil spray works perfectly) 9×5 loaf pan and cover with a towel. Let rise for 10 minutes.
5. At this point turn on the oven for 350 degrees F.
6. After about 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the air temperature in your kitchen, the bread should reach about an inch above the edges of the loaf pan and is ready to go in the oven.
7. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes until nicely browned.
8. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan and remove to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before cutting.

Some step-by-step below:

I normally use 2% milk but needed to use up this almond milk and it worked great, so I imagine any kind of milk will work just fine. This bag of Vital What Gluten has lasted for over a year, I keep it in the freezer. The black canister hold instant yeast, I keep it in the door of the fridge.

The dough mixed up, ready to go into the oven. It is soft and stretchy but not too sticky.

After an hour in the warm oven. You don’t have to proof it in the oven, any warm place will work. I found that the oven method gives the most consistent results.

Risen above the pan edges, ready to be baked.

It is so hard to resist the urge to cut into it fresh out of the oven, but it will crumble if cut still warm.

Cool completely and enjoy!