People are crazy behind baguettes, crusty breads, french loaves etc…but what gives me a lot of joy is a good old soft sandwich loaf with a lot of flavor. I belong to the soft fluffy kind when it comes to bread loaves. “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods, and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” Here is that one 100% whole wheat loaf you were looking for. Lets jump into making a great sandwich loaf. If you are going to be baking with atta please read this before you continue ! I am sorry. I am a little bossy. Thank you for understanding.
First lets get the yeast working. Add quarter cup of warm water plus a pinch of sugar to the yeast and leave it aside for 5 minutes so it becomes foamy. If it doesn’t foam, discard and start again with a fresh batch of yeast. Indian yeast is temperamental. so do not skip this step if you are in India.
Measure all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Do not pack the flour while measuring. Use the “scoop and sweep” method. Add in the vital wheat gluten and the salt. Set aside.
Measure 1 1/3 cups of warm water in a bowl. Add in quarter cup of olive oil. Add in quarter cup of honey. There is a neat little trick I learned a long time back. By measuring oil first and measuring honey next, the honey will just slide into the bowl without sticking because of the coating of the grease. Neat trick.
Now add in the water mixture and the yeast mixture.
Mix until roughly combined. We are not trying to knead anything yet. Once combined, let it rest for 20 minutes. Letting it rest will hydrate the dough well and activate the gluten. This resting period is called as Autolyse. Autolyse was invented by the great french acclaimed baker Raymond Calvel in the 1950’s. I once saw a TV show on PBS where Julia Child baked a baguette with Raymond Calvel and he was so passionate about his craft. The new age greats like Peter Reinhart are students of this great guy. Autolyse is genius.
So back in business. Once the rest has been completed, lets knead. I used a kitchen-aid to knead my dough. Its very easy to over knead in a stand mixer. Knead for 4 minutes on medium speed. Finish kneading on the table by hand. Shape the loaf and let it rise in a bowl until nearly doubled.
Why only nearly doubled ? Rose Levy Beranbaum writes about her whole wheat epiphany loaf and she says “I discovered that the secret to lightness of the crumb was not only the freshness of the flour but also not allowing the dough to double during rising which tears the more fragile gluten.” So the first rise – Do not allow it to over proof. Gotcha?
After the first rise, gently deflate the dough and shape it into a log.
Place it in a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan and cover the pan with a lightly greased plastic wrap. Allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours, till it’s crowned about 1 or 2 inches over the rim of the pan.
My pan is tall. so it did not rise above the rim. The below picture shows the difference between the traditional 9 inch by 5 inch pan and my tall pan. I just showed this picture so no confusion.
Preheat the oven to 180 C for 20 minutes. Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan to cool.
- 1⅓ cups lukewarm water
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 tablespoon Vital wheat Gluten
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon Active dry yeast
- pinch of sugar
- ¼ cup warm water
- First lets get the yeast working. Add quarter cup of warm water plus a pinch of sugar to the yeast and leave it aside for 5 minutes so it becomes foamy. If it doesn’t foam, discard and start again with a fresh batch of yeast.
- Measure all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Do not pack the flour while measuring. Use the “scoop and sweep” method. Add in the vital wheat gluten and the salt. Set aside.
- Measure 1⅓ cups of warm water in a bowl. Add in quarter cup of olive oil. Add in quarter cup of honey. There is a neat little trick I learned a long time back. By measuring oil first and measuring honey next, the honey will just slide into the bowl without sticking because of the coating of the grease.
- Now add in the water mixture and the yeast mixture.
- Mix until roughly combined. We are not trying to knead anything yet. Once combined, let it rest for 20 minutes. Letting it rest will hydrate the dough well and activate the gluten. This resting period is called as Autolyse.
- Once the rest has been completed, knead for 4 minutes on medium speed. Finish kneading on the table by hand. Shape the loaf and let it rise in a bowl until nearly doubled.
- After the first rise, gently deflate the dough and shape it into a log.
- Place it in a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan and cover the pan with a lightly greased plastic wrap. Allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours, till it’s crowned about 1 or 2 inches over the rim of the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C for 20 minutes. Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan to cool.