whole wheat sandwich bread

As those of you who read this blog regularly know, I've been into bread baking lately.  I always have a tub of light whole wheat dough in my refrigerator, courtesy of my most used cookbook as of late, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  They have a recipe for a whole wheat sandwich style bread that I tried, and didn't really like so much.  It was too hard and too tough for us.  I like the light whole wheat boulé style bread (and I use that dough for everything from pizza crust to naan bread), but it's too hard of a bread to use for Dylan's sandwiches.  So, I kept buying bread for sandwiches from the store.  

That all changed last week.  It all started a couple of months ago when I reconnected with a friend from way back in middle school on Facebook.  Isn't it funny how you can not have spoken to someone in sooo many years, find them again, and find out you have so much in common?  Amanda has a blog called Garden Shoes and Hot Fresh Bread, and on that blog, she has a recipe for "Incredible Sandwich Bread" that I decided I needed to try.  The only thing that held me back is that her recipe calls for a "dough enhancer" that I can't find locally (and I refuse to pay $10 shipping for a $4 item).  Last week, we ran out of bread and I didn't want to go to the store.  So, I looked up subsitutions for dough enhancer and ran across a website called everydayfoodstorage.net.  There I found not only easy substitutions but the reasons behind the substitutions.  So, I tinkered with Amanda's recipe and added in some other ingredients to act as my dough enhancer.  And it worked.  It worked so well that my child wants bread for every meal and I may never buy bread from the store again.  Amanda talks on her blog about pulling this bread from the oven, cutting into it while its warm, drizzling it with honey and eating it.  And oh boy is she ever right....it's a very yummy treat.  So here is my modified version of Amanda's recipe.  If you want the original, click the link to her site above.

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Incredible Sandwich Bread

In a mixing bowl with dough hook attachment, add:

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup olive oil

2 1/2 cups very warm water

2 T. SAF instant yeast

2 T. white vinegar

2 heaping T. vital wheat gluten

1/4 cup flaked potatoes (the plain instant kind)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup flaxseed

Mix for about a minute until combined.  Let mixture sit for about 6 minutes.  Then add in T. sea salt (and I add in some flaxseed and wheat germ here...about 1/3 cup each)  and approximately 5 more cups flour (add flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl...for me it takes about 4 and half cups but varies based on the flour you use.  Add the flour a cup at a time and let it mix in, then keep adding until the dough stops feeling sticky.  (If you grind your own flour be sure to look at Amanda's recipe for specifics on grinding).   Let mix for about 6-10 minutes to develop gluten.  Divide into two greased bread pans and let rise for about 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Immediately turn out onto a cooling rack.

Comments

[JenPack]

I recently discovered when making a double batch of this bread (which means two bowls and one had to sit for a bit) that if you let the initial mix sit for about 10 minutes you get a much loftier bread. I'll do that every time now.