Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

By MeanJean

This makes either two 9″ loaves or three 8″ loaves. You can also use the dough to make hamburger buns, cinnamon rolls or breadsticks.

Ingredients

• When you are ready to make the bread combine the soaker and sponge and add:
• Soaker
• 3 1/2 cups (about 17 ounces) whole grain flour (I use hard red wheat)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk plus 2 Tablespoons of whey or vinegar (or you can substitute half buttermilk, yogurt, or kefir for the milk and whey but your bread will be tangier)
• Mix all ingredients to form a ball. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it on the counter to soak overnight.
• Sponge
• 3 1/2 cups (about 17 ounces) whole grain flour (I use rye or emmer)
• 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 1 1/2 cup filtered water plus 2 Tablespoons whey or vinegar
• Add all of the Sponge ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer and knead using the dough hook for several minutes until it forms a dough. Let it rest for 5 minutes to give the whole wheat grain flour a chance to hydrate then knead it for one more minute.
• Cover the bowl and let it sit on the counter overnight.
• Final Mix
• If you won’t be making bread the next day you can put the soaker and sponge in the fridge for several days but bring them to room temperature before making bread, which takes several hours to do.
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 Tablespoons butter (optional)
• Up to 5 Tablespoons honey or organic cane or brown sugar depending on sweetness desired
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from sustainableeats.com

Preparation

Step 1

Knead this all in the bowl of stand mixer using the bread hook for about 6 – 8 minutes, or by hand for 10-15. Wait until your dough has been kneading about 4-5 minutes before adding more water or flour to get the right texture. You want a dough that sticks to your hands just a tiny bit but is easy to knead by hand. If using a mixer, the dough should stick to the bottom o f the bowl but not the sides.

Check the final dough by taking a small piece of dough and stretching it out to perform a “windowpane test”. Your dough should be elastic enough to stretch, creating a window you can see light through without tearing. This ensures the gluten in the bread has developed enough to create a nice loaf.

Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it to rise in a draft-free place until you can poke your finger into the dough and the indentation from your finger does not fill in. I let mine rise in the oven with the light on for some warmth but you can also let it rise on the counter, it just takes longer. Mine takes about 1 1/2 hours for the first rise in a 66 degree house. If you find it is taking too long for you, try increasing the amount of yeast.

After the first rise, shape your loaves (see below), then cover them with the tea towel and let them rise again, about 45 minutes this time. They will continue to rise in the oven.

With experience you’ll figure out how high they should look in your pans before baking. If you get bread with large holes in the top you know you let them rise too long. If the crumb is dense you did not let them rise long enough. You may end up with several loaves that you save to make breadcrumbs, bread pudding or croutons out of but the experience you are gaining is immeasurable.

If you do happen to let the bread rise too long you can take a serrated knife and slash the tops before baking to keep them from rising up more.

At this point I remove the tea towel (remember I had my loaves rising in the oven already) and turn the oven to 350 F. Once the oven is up to temperature I set the timer for 35 minutes. Your bread is done when it’s nicely browned and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom of the loaves. The edges should also pull away from the sides of the pan slightly like a cake does and the loaves should register 190 – 195 degrees Fahrenheit when you stick a thermometer in the bottom of them.

Remove the loaves from the pans and place them on a wire rack to cool completely before you slice them.

Homemade bread will last for several days before it might start to mold so be sure to pre-slice and freeze any bread you don’t plan on eating in that time frame. You can pop it in the toaster to thaw and/or toast it when you want it.

To shape

divide the dough in two
grab one ball of dough in both hands with fingers encircling
gently slide both hands towards the underside of the dough, smoothing and elongating as you go. Repeat several times as necessary
place each loaf in a well buttered loaf pan to rise