I’ve been on a search for a light, fluffy purely 100% Whole Wheat Bread for some time now–and I have finally found it! Previously I was making my husband French Bread Baguettes for him to make his sandwiches for work, but no more. He loves this bread so much more.
As a matter of fact, I sliced the homemade bread and put it directly next to some store bought bread–and the texture of the homemade stuff was exactly the same as the store bought stuff. The only difference, mine tasted LOADS better, and it wasn’t the exact same shape (but pretty close!).
So, without further ado…
100% Whole Wheat Bread
1 ¼ cups warm water (not hot)
1 Tbsp yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 ¾ cup Whole Wheat flour
¼ c Vital Wheat Gluten (You can find this at Walmart in the baking aisle, or at some health food stores)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dry milk
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp vinegar
In a mixing bowl add the warm water and the yeast and let sit until the yeast is bubbly. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix with Kitchenaid mixer for about 2 minutes. Your dough should be soft and springy to the touch, not too wet. If it is still a bit moist, throw in a small dusting of flour and mix until the right consistensy.
Cover and let rise until doubled. The time will depend on the conditions of your home. Mine takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
Once doubled, punch down and form into a loaf shape. Grease bread pan and place in your dough. Cover with greased Saran Wrap and let rise until over the top of your bread pan.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, or until browned a bit on top.
TIP: A good way to tell if your bread is baked all the way is to thump it on the bottom. If it gives a hollow like sound, you are good to go. If not, pop it back in the oven and bake longer.
This post is linked to:
Recipe was modified slightly from Everyday Food Storage.
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I love making homemade bread and this recipe sounds delicious! I always use my bread machine, would this recipe work in the bread machine?
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Can’t wait to try this!
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I want to try this! I have absolutely NO white bread flour in the house… but I do have wheat
Maybe I’ll make it beginning of next week 
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Oh, and just out of curiosity, what brand of wheat flour do you use?
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Thanks for posting this! I can’t wait to try it!!!
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looks great to me!
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Sounds good! Do you think you can do this in a bread machine? I am lazy
Also what do you use to slice your bread? My slices are always too thick and huge.
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Amy and Stephanie–
I would think that a breadmaker would work just find, just make sure to put the ingredients in the order recommended by the manufacturer and put it on the Wheat setting. Enjoy!
Hmm..for cutting. This bread we didn’t have that problem, but I know what you mean. I just use a bread knife (big, serrated knife)and try to make them as small as I can. I know that they make bread slicing things that have preset cutting lines. You may check into that. (Man, that was a descriptive description!)
Phoebe
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I use to make my own for awhile but I can’t make it cheaper then the thrifty store. $.75 for white and $.99 wheat.
But I have had a hard time w/the wheat so I’ll have to try this.
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Hey Phoebe,
Thanks for the post. I’ve been wanting to give my hand a try at baking home made bread – but I’ve been a little intimidated. I’m definitely going to try this recipe out.
Pam
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Thanks for posting! I can’t wait to try this recipe.
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I am going to try this in my Bread Machine today. I will let you know what my results are! If it is a success I will post pictures and a link to your blog when I am done.
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Vital wheat gluten… need to add that to my next grocery list. Have you tried it with less sugar? That seems like quite a bit of sugar… or maybe I’m just on a sugar-cutting kick.
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This sounds like a great recipe, thanks for sharing it.
Claudia
claudiafranson.blogspot.com
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Thanks Phoebe! I am going to try this
I have not been able to find a bread recipe with the fluffiness of store-bought. I do have a similar recipe but it calls for honey instead of sugar. I wonder if that makes a difference?
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Amy and Beth–
Usually you can use honey in place of sugar in a recipe, just a different amount. In this case, I think the original recipe said ¼ cup of honey. As we speak I am mixing up a loaf with ½ the sugar. We’ll see how this goes!
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I made this recipe in my bread machine and it worked!
http://cuttingcouponsinkc.blogspot.com/2009/05/super-yummy-bread-recipe.html
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I made this bread and it was yummy!
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Phoebe,
I've been making this recipe for the past three months. I made a few adjustments and this is now the recipe I use when making our regular loaf bread. It's nice not having to pay $4-$5 for a loaf of bread. My family especially loves it hot and fresh out of the oven.
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Hi Phoebe,
I was wondering what Vital Wheat Gluten is and what is does for your baked goods? I've seen it in the store before but was just curious what it's purpose is. I'm on the hunt for a good wheat bread and think I'll try your recipe this weekend. Thanks!
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