Homemade Wheat Bread

By deanarrca

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (see additional notes for a 100% whole wheat version)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast (active dry yeast will work also; get more info on active vs. instant active dry yeast here!)

Details

Servings 24
Adapted from tammysrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

*If you have a bread maker, you can use the dough setting to knead it for you. Just put ingredients in according to order listed. I have a Zojirushi bread machine and it's wonderful! I use this recipe in it weekly.

This recipe also makes very delicious 100% whole wheat bread. The bread in this picture was made with Prairie Gold hard white wheat. Follow the recipe as written above, adding these dough conditioning ingredients to this recipe for better texture and softness:
3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (replace 3 tablespoons of the flour called for in the recipe with this)
1/2 teaspoon soy lecithin (we use granules of lecithin, and add it to the water at the beginning)
a pinch of citric acid (use sparingly!!)
a sprinkling of ginger
You could also purchase pre-mixed dough conditioners, which contain some of these ingredients but are more costly. We found our citric acid, soy lecithin, and wheat gluten at a bulk foods store. A little goes a long way!
Joshua explains how these natural dough conditioners work together to produce a fantastic loaf of 100% whole wheat bread!

Update: After moving from Ohio to Seattle, I had difficulty with this recipe. Read more about my experimentation with it, and what worked for me. The (slightly revised) ingredient list I'm now using here in Seattle is as follows:
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons oil or softened butter
2 tablespoons honey
a sprinkle of ground ginger
a pinch of citric acid (can use ascorbic acid instead)
2 teaspoons granulated lecithin
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) vital wheat gluten/gluten flour (75% protein)
3 cups whole wheat flour (I use Prairie Gold hard white wheat; any whole wheat bread flour would work.)
2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
I put the ingredients in my bread machine in the order listed above, and run the dough cycle. When dough cycle is complete, gently deflate dough, shape into a loaf, and place in a greased loaf pan. Grease the top of the loaf. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size. Bake in a pre-heated 350-375*F oven for 30 minutes. (Tent loosely with foil after 20-25 minutes if loaf is browning too quickly.) When bread is done, remove from pan, place on a cooling rack, and cover until cool. Seal in a bag or container after cooled.
My new Zojirushi bread machine is making great loaves of 100% whole wheat bread here in the Seattle area, using this recipe.