This 100% whole wheat sandwich bread is incredibly fluffy and has a great whole grain flavor!
I was interested in this recipe right from the beginning because of the inclusion of potato flour and dry milk powder. I had never used potato flour before and rarely use dry milk powder. So I looked into it and it turns out that they help make loaves moister and even increase the shelf life. Pretty neato, right? :D
What sets this loaf apart from the others is that it’s so incredibly soft. So much more moist and fluffy than your average whole wheat loaf! Now, if you don’t like the flavor of whole wheat, this loaf definitely isn’t for you.
By the way, if you need a gluten-free version, try this amazing looking gluten-free sandwich bread! This keto bread also looks great.
This recipe comes from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book. I’ve tried several recipes from there and I’ve loved them all! Like this gluten-free blueberry peach crumble, which is now my favorite crumble or crisp recipe ever. And these whole grain pancakes. There are over 400 incredibly tempting recipes to try so I’m sure I’ll be trying recipes from this book for years to come!
And it’s full of great baking tips. Like on the page with this whole wheat sandwich bread recipe, they tell us why they call for orange juice. This loaf isn’t the least bit orange-y, so why the orange juice? The clever folks at King Arthur Flour have figured out that the flavor of juice orange tempers the bitter taste of whole wheat. The small amount doesn’t add any orange flavor, but still improves the flavor of the loaf. And you could substitute water if you don’t have any orange juice, but remember that the loaf simply won’t taste as good!
100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 16 slices
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 cup (237ml) lukewarm water
- 4 tablespoons (56 grams) butter, cut into 6 pieces
- 3 cups (340 grams) whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons honey
- heaping 1/2 cup (35 grams) dried potato flakes OR 3 tablespoons (35 grams) potato flour
- 1/4 cup (28 grams) dry milk
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast1
Directions
- Either by hand, stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, mix all the ingredients together until you have a smooth, soft dough.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 1 – 2 hours or until it's puffy and has nearly doubled in bulk.
- Grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.
- Deflate the dough, roll it into an 8" log and place in the prepared pan.
- Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap and let the loaf rise until it's crowned 1 1/2" over the rim of the pan (taking into account that this will vary depending on the size of your pan). This will take 1 1/4 – 2 1/2 hours depending on the room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C).
- Bake the bread for 15 minutes and then tent it with foil (to prevent the loaf from becoming too dark).
- Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the center reaches 190 degrees F (88 degrees C).
- Remove the bread from the oven, let it sit for a minute, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
- To keep the crust soft, brush the top with melted butter.
- Cool the bread for at least 30 minutes before cutting into.
- When completely cool, cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days. Keep the loaf in the refrigerator after that to prevent mold.
Notes
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, see my disclosure.
Join over 12,400 readers and sweeten up
your inbox with new posts for free!
This subscription is free of charge and can be canceled at any time.
110 comments on “100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread” — Add one!
Hi Erin,
Making this today.
As an FYI, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin for every three cups of wheat flour to accomplish the same thing as adding orange juice.
Rated this as a 5 because I already know it will be DEEEEE-lish.
Deb
Hello Again Erin,
So I am intrigued. What role does the orange juice play in this recipe?
Deb
Is this supposed to be firm? It looks like it is to dry.
The one in the pictures? Or did you make it and it looks dry? It should be quite fluffy!
Hi Erin, I was wondering what I could substitute the potato flakes or potato flour for? I don’t have them on hand but would really like to try this recipe!
Hi there! I wasn’t really sure so I looked into it and found this. It sounds a bit complicated and I’m not sure if it’d actually come out well. For a potato flour sub, I keep seeing people recommending potato flakes, which doesn’t help, either. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a better answer! I can’t think of anything that’d be a good sub (unless you want to experiment with potatoes) and just omitting it probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do.
what about cornstartch!? I m gonna try it and see what happens
I’m not positive but I’m thinking cornstarch probably wouldn’t work. It’s much, much more starchy than potato flakes / flour. It can sometimes be used as a sub for potato starch, but I don’t think it’d work for potato flour / flakes. Sorry about that!
Ok, thank you! I’ll have to try that.
Good luck! :)