Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread by HealthyGreenFamily

I found this at http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/100-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-recipe-that-rises-like-white/

I rewrote it for 2 loaves and changed it a little with how I would be cooking it.

Makes 2 loaves (recipe halved to make two loaves)

Ingredients:

§  5 cups whole wheat flour

§  1 c oats

§  3/4 cups seeds (optional) (ie. hemp, chia, flax, sunflower, sesame etc)

§  2 tsp. yeast

§  1/4 c. liquid honey plus 1 tbsp.

§  3 tbsp. butter, melted, at room temperature (oil)

§  egg

§  1.5 tsp. salt

§  water (see below for amounts)

Directions:

1.   Soak for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours:

§  3 cups flour in 2 cups warm water (If you are using freshly ground flour cut back to 2.25 cups.)

§  Up to 3/4 cups seeds (optional)

§  Cover with damp tea towel

Flour/water mixture shouldn't be watery.  Water should just mix into flour without any excess.  Make sure there is no dry flour.  Add by the tbsp. if needed.

2.   Start sponge (half hour before starting):

§  in 3/4 c. warm water, gently mix 2 tsp. yeast and 1 tbsp. honey until just mixed. Set aside.  Do not over-mix.

Sponge should be visibly active: bubbles forming etc. before adding to recipe.

3.   Melt 6 tbsp. butter.  Cool to room temperature.

4.   After flour is soaked and sponge is bubbly add to soaked flour/seed mixture:

§  melted butter at room temperature (oil)

§  egg

§  sponge (should be bubbly with yeast obviously active)

§  1/2 cup liquid honey (not hot!)

§  2 tsp. salt (sprinkled in)

5.   Mix/ knead in 1cup oats and 1-2 cups flour to right consistency.  (Stir in until it is too hard to stir, then dump on lightly floured counter top and knead in.)  Dough should feel pliable and not dry. Sprinkle counter top with small amount of flour as needed to prevent from sticking to the counter.  Knead for 15 minutes.

6.   Place dough in large, greased bowl.  Cover with a damp tea towel.  Place in warm (not hot!) corner on counter top.  Allow to rise until double: up to 2 hours.  

7.   Remove from bowl, punch down and kneed for 2 minutes.  Divide into 2 even sizes.

8.   Kneed each individual loaf.  Roll with a rolling pin and then roll up dough.  Pinch to make a loaf shape.  Place in greased loaf pan.  Cover loaves with damp tea towel.

9.   Allow to rise until double: up to 2 hours.

10. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and smell amazing :).

11.  Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes on wire rack.  Remove from loaf pans and cool completely on wire rack.  Brush tops with butter if desired.  It makes the loaf tops nice and soft.

Notes:

§  Bread rising time depends on room temperature, air pressure, altitude etc.  I am located at sea level.

§  Yeast amounts in a bread recipe can vary based on altitude. Click here for an altitude adjustment chart.

§  You can add 3 whole eggs to the ingredients to make the loaf more moist/chewy.

§  Make sure your yeast expiry date hasn’t passed.  Yeast can be too old to work properly.

§  I now have TRIPLED this recipe with great success!  I can make 15 loaves at one go 

§  Click here for a video tutorial on how to knead bread.