At the beginning of 2013, I asked for your feedback on my Facebook Page on the kind of things you’d like to see on the blog this year and that I’ll try and incorporate some of your recipe requests. And the one thing that was a popular demand was a healthy loaf of bread. So here’s my attempt to share with you a detailed recipe for a sandwich loaf.
I’ve tried baking whole wheat bread on several occasions.
It has led to a variety of results- my househelp giving me puzzled looks on what that seemingly edible brick is doing on our counter top, me wondering if I should let it dry out in the sun to be used later as a weapon for self defense, my son making me swear that I will not sneak it inside his lunch box, me quietly disposing it in the main trash can of our community, so it can never be traced back to me.
But yes, I’ll say this one thing. I never gave up. I kept trying from a variety of sources – books, blogs, my own improvisations. Recently, I came across this recipe in the kitchn and there was so much confidence in the tone of that post, it almost felt like a friend had her hand on my shoulder and told me that “this will work!” and work it did.
Other breads you can bake – Cinnamon Rolls | Pesto Pull Apart Loaf
You can be rest assured that this bread is a 100% handmade. No food processors, Kitchen Aids, Bread Machines were involved in the making of this work of art. Oven, yes – I did use an oven 🙂
You may ask if this is Whole Wheat bread a 100% whole wheat? To be honest, this one has 50% all purpose flour (maida) and 50% whole wheat flour (atta) – so if you trust your Atta to be 100% wheat, you can be sure that this bread is 50% whole wheat.
And that is quite healthy given that the soft, spongy, melt in your mouth sliced bread labeled as whole wheat available in supermarkets is definitely NOT even 50% wheat, or they’ve added a ton of other ingredients to make it soft and fluffy.
The goodness of this bread is once you’ve mastered this basic loaf, you can keep playing with it in terms of other ingredients added to it such as a variety of other whole grain flours, seeds, flavourings etc. But I’d surely request you to try it just like it is if you are a first timer.
This makes 2 loaves of roughly 600 grams each
My experiments with baking a basic whole wheat bread (Recipe inside)
Ingredients
Method
- THE FIRST STAGE - ROUGH DOUGH
- In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1 cup lukewarm water-stir with a spoon, cover and keep aside for 5 minutes, until it becomes slightly frothy.
- In a large bowl, add the flours, flaxseed meal and salt, stir with a fork and keep aside.
- In another bowl, mix all the liquids- liquid jaggery/honey, milk and oil with a fork and keep aside.
- Once the yeast gets frothy, make the well in the flour and add the yeast-water and other liquids. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the liquids are absorbed by the flour and it sort of comes together.
- Remove this onto a clean counter top or working surface and gently knead, adding up to 1/4 cup more water if this dough is too dry. Knead for 2-3 minutes until it all comes together to a rough ball.
- Cover this with a big bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. This allows for the liquids to be well absorbed by the flour particles yielding a softer loaf at the end.
- THE SECOND STAGE - KNEADING PROVING
- Once the dough has rested for 20 minutes, you'll find this easier to handle. It has to be kneaded (here, you could use a Kitchen Aid or Food Processor) for 10-12 minutes. By kneading I mean-pushing the dough away from you and folding it back on itself towards you.
- Repeat this process for at least 10 minutes, you'll the the dough getting progressively more elastic and soft. Once this is done, shape into a ball. Grease a huge bowl with oil, place the ball in this - cover with a fitting lid + tea towel and keep in the warmest area of your kitchen.
- You need to give the dough 1-2 hours for it to double in size and this totally depends on the weather conditions, which is why I cannot give you an exact time.
- If you wish you could keep the dough ball in a plastic transparent box, marking the level with a marker and then marking the level where you expect the doubled dough to reach, so you know that it has indeed doubled in volume.
- THE THIRD STAGE - MINI REST
- Once the dough has doubled, with a sharp knife divide it into two equal parts. Do NOT be rough with this and punch any air out. Gently shape each half into a ball and keep aside to rest for 10 minutes. This will make the final shaping easier.
- THE FOURTH STAGE - SHAPING LOAVES
- After 10 minute rest in the previous stage, follow the shaping procedure for each ball. Gently push out into a rectangle and go ahead with the step-by-step shaping instructions given here. I followed them to the tee each time and they worked perfectly.
- The end result should be a taut dome shaped top of each loaf. And I cannot emphasize enough to do the shaping with light, gentle hands so that you don't push any air out of the loaves.
- Place the shaped loaves into two 9x5 loaf tins. You could brush water on the loaves and sprinkle any whole grains or seeds on the top to give it a more gourmet look - for eg: whole oats, millets, sesame seeds, or sift 1 tsp of all purpose flour over the top.
- THE FIFTH STAGE - PROVING THE LOAVES
- Cover the tins with a tea towel and keep in a warm place until the dough rises to the edge of the tin. If you are impatient with this stage and put it into the oven prematurely (which I have done many times and suffered), you will not have well risen loaves, because this bread will only puff mildly in the oven, maximum rise is before it goes into the oven.
- This takes around 40 mins-1 hour, like I said, do not rush this stage. The middle of this stage is when you turn on the oven to preheat at 220 Celsius / 450 F and let the oven heat at this temp until the loaves rise outside to final level.
- THE SIXTH STAGE - BAKING THE LOAVES
- When the loaves have risen to just above the tins, brush them with some water. Using a sharp bread knife, make an incision along the length of the loaf. This not only makes the bread look good, but also helps it rise well.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 190 Celsius / 375 F and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is nice and golden brown.
- THE SEVENTH STAGE - COOLING
- Turn out the loaves from the tins. If you have greased the tins well, you wont have problems with this. Turn them upside down on a cooling rack and keep them covered with a breathable cloth like a muslin or so.
- You could leave them like this overnight or at least aim for an hour or so. During this stage, the bread continues to cook inside and it becomes easier to slice the following morning.
- If you try to slice the bread as soon as it is out of the oven, consider all your effort wasted, because the inside of the loaf WILL be wet and you will be disappointed with the result.
- Loaves HAVE to be cooled fully before trying to slice them. If you want to experience the joy of breaking into warm bread just out of the oven, reserve it for the small dinner rolls.
- THE EIGHTH STAGE - SLICING
- You've been patient - allowed the loaf to cool overnight. You will now be rewarded with sweet smelling, delicious bread slices for breakfast. Place the bread on a chopping board and with a sharp bread knife, slice it as thick or thin as you want.
Such a wonderful post 🙂 I have been baking bread for a while and learned all these tricks the hard way. ie: lots of trial and error, wasted loaves and a whole lot of guilt for having to throw them away. But I am nothing if not persistent and determined, and it seems those are essential ingredients when it comes to baking bread at home. But the effort is SO worth it. There is quite nothing like the joy of putting a fresh home made loaf of bread on the table, and the process is now relaxing and therapeutic for me..
I can never wait for bread to cool down before slicing it. Warm bread just off the oven slathered with butter is just my thing 🙂 Could you tell me where I can get flaxseed from please? I have a tiny nephew who eats only vegan food because he’s allergic to meat and dairy products. Most vegan recipes seems to include flaxseed. But I have no clue as to what this is. Would be great if you could help. Thanks,Mariahttp://plattered.blogspot.in
Hi, I lost my earlier comment I think 🙁 Technology confounds me sometimes. I like my bread warm, fresh from the oven slathered with butter. I also love the awesome smell that permeates the house anytime there is a bread baking session going on.Just wanted to ask. Could you tell me where I could get flaxseed please? I’ve seen a lot of vegan recipes where its used. But I really dont know what it is.Thanks,Mariahttp://plattered.blogspot.in
wow a very informative post!!! love your explanations and details… will try to use the tips the next time I do baking breadSowmyaOngoing Event – HITS – Diabetic FriendlyOngoing Event + Giveaway – Italian Dishes
this looks terrific…. i never knead my dough. maybe that’s why i never get a soft crumb…
Lovely post! There can never be too many ‘bread baking tips’ blog posts as there are enough people who are terrified of yeast 🙂
beautifully narrated steps ………..i hv been baking bread n hv learnt a lot thru trial n error methods,as u rightly said patience is d key
Firstly, I LOVE your blog! Now comes my question. Can I do without honey/jaggery?
Nice tips… I always love to read new recipes and try it. I like to eat food out site. For this i am using discount for restaurant and hotels. You can check out here. http://www.kingsprivilege.com/deals/restaurants
I have always been skeptical about bread recipies…but this one turned out just perfect!! Even tried masala bread from the same recipe… Now i can call a bread recipe fool-proof 🙂
Really nice blog with great effort to make this recipie.thanks for sharinghttp://www.level7.co.in/
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Am going to make it this way next… yeast is a beast I’ve not been able to tame yet! 🙁
So happy to hear that, Ashwini
I guess you can, but that’s partly responsible for the golden colour.
True, it brings me much joy 🙂
Hi thr, i was in look out for a home made bread recipe for my child and this one seems perfect without egg, I will defenitly try and share the results with you 🙂 thanks for a very clear and detailed recipe Nandita 🙂
Halved the measurements and baked one loaf. It turned out great! Thanks a ton! Your recipe+ method has been the best ever. Restored my enthu for bread-baking :).
Hi Nanditha, I watched you in Twist of taste,repeat telecast show yesterday and that’s how I landed here. I have recently started baking wheat breads at home on a regular basis. I have been using instant yeast which in my opinion is best to bake breads(haven’t worked with fresh yeast though). I too try to make my bread healthy by using as much whole wheat flour as possible and that’s how I got to know that adding gluten to the dough does the trick. I have been using 1 tsp of gluten for every cup of wheat flour in my bread ever since and they turn out pretty good. My question to you is, does adding gluten make the bread less healthy/unhealthy? if not,then does it have any nutritional value. Thank you in advance.
Thank you, Ashwini for your comment. Glad to know that you enjoy baking breads too. It’s perfectly okay to add gluten – while it doesn’t have any nutritional benefits on its own, the fact that it enables you to bake whole grain brain is a plus. ALso, there are no negatives to gluten, unless one has celiac disease / gluten sensitivity, in which case of course one is allergic to gluten and they cannot have any gluten in their diet. Hope this helps.
where do we get gluten from-any online sites or anywhere in cochin
I have a Very basic oven with hai option of broiling and baking. And no temperature setting. Only timer. How Do i setting this bread into the oven. Alefiya
Wow..now all those steps ive seen on tv and utube makes sense. No one explained them as you did, thought it was just being fancy. I was always impatient and no wonder I turned up with burnt bricks instead of bread! I almost gave up in frustration.This one I will try again, even though it seems a day long task (patience patience) for the sake of my daughter who I want to feed healthy and home made!
Firstly, I LOVE your blog! Like the way you cook, very fast and systematic. Chowringhee
Hi! If I only want to make one loaf can the recipe be halved?