At the start of the year I made a resolution, I wanted to learn how to make delicious bread at home, and after months of trialing recipes I've finally found the wholemeal bread recipe I'd been looking for.
While I like crusty bread as much as the next person, particularly with a steaming hot soup in winter, I don't want crusty bread first thing in the morning because when crusty bread is toasted I almost feel like I am at risk of breaking a tooth when enjoying my morning toast.
So, I set out in search of a wholemeal bread recipe that would produce a bread with a soft crust.
When I made my resolution to make delicious bread at home I downloaded Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day to the Kindle App on my iPad and promptly forgot about it.
What a mistake, because inside this book was the recipe to the best bread I've ever made. I won't say it's the best whole wheat bread recipe ever, because bread, like everything in life, is subjective and everyone likes different things.
But to me, this is the best bread we've tasted. In fact, it's so good that the first day I made the bread my fiancé asked if we could just have the loaf of bread for dinner, he was so enamored with it!
The beauty of this whole wheat bread recipe is that it's no knead! You don't need to spend 10 minutes kneading the dough until it's smooth, however there are a few little steps involved, each requiring no more than a minute.
After which time you have enough dough for 2 small loaves of bread or 1 large, which you can refrigerate and bake over the next 4 days.
I have made a couple of minor changes to the original recipe, firstly I replaced the instant yeast with fresh yeast. While instant yeast is perfectly fine, and I have made this bread with instant yeast, I think the taste is slightly better with fresh yeast.
Secondly, the original recipe called for the use of sugar or honey as the sweetener. In place of these I have used Brown Rice Syrup (available from the health food section of your supermarket), however if you don't have Brown Rice Syrup simply use honey.
You could also use sugar too, but I think the honey works well with the whole wheat flour in terms of flavor.
I now make this wholemeal bread twice a week, we love it that much, and I hope you will too. In fact, I can happily say we no longer buy bread.
So tell me ,what do you look for in a perfect loaf of bread? Is it crusty, soft or somewhere in between?
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 680 g of whole wheat flour, wholemeal
- 14 g of salt
- 12 g of fresh yeast, 4g of dry instant yeast if using
- 2 ½ tablespoons of Brown Rice Syrup
- 539 g of room temperature water
- 43 g of olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, as well as the dry instant yeast, if using, and stir to combine.
- If using fresh yeast, crumble into a small bowl and remove 2 tablespoons of the water and mix with the yeast until dissolved. Pour the yeast mixture back into the remaining water and combine with the olive oil and brown rice syrup. Mix to combine before pouring into the flour.
- Using a wooden spoon, or an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the dough for 1 minute, until well combined. Then leave to rest for 5 minutes to allow the flour to fully hydrate.
- Mix the dough again, for another minute. You will find the dough will still be very sticky, but should be a little less sticky than before. Grab a large bowl and lightly grease with olive oil and place the dough into the bowl. Cover with cling film and leave for 10 minutes.
- Wet your hands thoroughly, or cover in a light film of oil (I prefer to wet my hands as it's easier to clean up) and reach into the bowl and grab the middle of the underside of the dough. Pull the dough and stretch it out with your hands and fold the dough on to the top of the dough. Repeat with the opposite side, by spinning the bowl around, and each side, stretching and folding the dough a total of 4 times in total, once on each side. Repeat this process every 10 minutes for the next 30 minutes.
- After the final stretch and fold of the dough, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight, or for up to 4 days.
- The next day you will notice the dough has risen substantially. To bake your first loaf, cut the dough in half, being careful not to remove all of the gas. On a lightly floured bench flatten the dough into a 5 inch by 8 inch rectangle, and working from the shorter side, roll up the length of the dough. Pinch the final seam together with your fingertips and gently rock the dough to even it out. Place the loaf in a greased pan, seam side down. Cover and leave for 3 hours, by which time the dough should have doubled in size.
- An hour before baking, prepare your oven. Adjust the shelves so that 1 shelf is on the bottom and adjust the second shelf to the next rung above the bottom shelf. If possible, set your oven so that the heat comes from the bottom element only, and preheat your oven by turning it up as high as it will go (my oven only reaches a maximum of 250 celsius so the baking time is for this temperature). Place a baking tray on the bottom shelf that is capable of holding 1 cup of water.
- When you're getting ready to bake, boil the kettle and when it's boiled place the bread in the oven, on the second bottom shelf, and pour 1 cup of boiling water into the tray below. Close the oven door and bake for 12 minutes. If you were unable to set your oven to cook from the bottom element you may need to cover the top of the bread with foil to prevent it from browning too much. Turn the loaf and bake for another 15 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire wrack. Don't cut the loaf until it's completely cooled as this will allow the crumb to set properly.
Sandra's Easy Cooking says
Bread is like my favorite food:)) and yours came out perfect! Great photos and recipe!!!!
delicieux says
Thank you so much Sandra 😀
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts says
Peter Reinhart knows what he is doing with bread! Great recipe! I have his Bread Baker's Apprentice book, and highly recommend it. I love making fresh bread!
delicieux says
I'll keep his bread bakers apprentice book in mind, thanks Erin 😀
Patty says
Nothing like homemade bread and I especially like the flavor of whole wheat! Your bread looks perfectly baked and fresh out of the oven;-)
Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking says
Wow, this is beautiful! You make it twice a week? Before you know it, you'll know this recipe like the back of your hand!
Priscilla @ShesCookin says
I've not had very good luck with the recipes I've been trying lately, so I'm ready to move on to a new recipe! Great texture - my favorite bread is medium dense with a crunchy crust 🙂
Nancy/SpicieFoodie says
Wow, I really want to try this recipe. Every time I've tried a whole wheat bread it is usually dense and not airy like my ap flour ones. I also recently downloaded a bread book to my kindle so like you I could have fresh bread often. Thanks for sharing. Oh and I like both the crusty and soft breads, they each have a purpose 🙂
delicieux says
I found all of the other whole wheat bread recipes I tried were dense too, but this one is the complete opposite, it's deliciously soft and light. 😀
Deb says
Thank you for sharing such a easy recipe for making such a delectable loaf of whole grain goodness! I often make Dutch oven bread, which is a very easy recipe and would like to add an easy whole grain loaf into my weekly baking. Ths is the perfect recipe for me to try!
happibarri says
HiThank you for the wonderful recipe!! I attempted to make it, but for some reason, my bread was quite dense and didn't seem to cook through... But I did get good reviews from people who ate it!I was wondering what the purpose of the "pulling underside of dough and stretching and putting it on top". Is it possible to use a dough hook on electric mixer instead?
delicieux says
Hi Happibarri,The purpose of pulling the dough, or the "stretch and fold" is similar to kneading. If your bread didn't quite cook through, perhaps the cooking time needs to be adjusted for your oven. My oven reaches a maximum temperature of 250 degrees celsius and the bread bakes in half an hour. You may need to play with timings for your ovens. Also, did you bake 2 loaves out of the dough or one large loaf? If you bake one large loaf the timing might need to be adjusted. Sorry I can't be more direct as to what went wrong. If you let me know a little more I might be able to help.
Elizabeth says
Hi there, just wondering, did you use bread flour or ordinary flour?
Paul Borowiak says
When you say turn the loaf in the final paragraph what do you mean by turn? Turn the whole loaf upside down in the tin or move it around in the oven.
Jennifer says
Hi Paul,I mean to turn the loaf around in the oven so it browns evenly (ie move the front to the back). 😀
Paul Borowiak says
That's what my wife ended up doing. The bread tastes beautiful,thanks for the reply.
Veronica says
Wow, this is the shortest time to make bread!! I've starting making my own bread lately and it took me at least 2.5 hours before I could smell the aroma of the bread. I find it so time consuming. Thanks for sharing your recipe and I think I will give it a try.
Ernest Taylor says
Sounds like a great recipe
Christine says
thank you for the post.. now I am tracking down a conversion chart 🙂
Jennifer says
Hi Christine,I have a conversion chart here https://www.deliciouseveryday.com/conversions/ I hope that helps 😀
Christine says
Wow!! thank you Jennifer!
Elizabeth says
I finally tracked down some fresh yeast, time to make this loaf! Just wondering, did you use ordinary wholemeal flour or wholemeal bread flour? Thanks!
Jennifer says
Hi Elizabeth,I just used ordinary wholemeal flour as it's what I had on hand and I think it's perfectly fine with that. You can also make the bread with dried year. Just divide the year quantity by 4.
Carrie says
This looks delicious! I've been trying different whole wheat bread recipes and always end up with a very heavy, dense, bread 🙁 From your picture, your's look light and airy. Is there any tips to getting that kind of texture? Most of my recipes are almost identical to what you have here. Thanks in advance 🙂
Jennifer says
Hi Carrie,I think the key for this recipe is the amount of water, which makes for a light loaf. The dough will look very sticky, but it's exactly as it should be. I don't have any particular tips, if you follow the recipe and the rising time you should end up with a light loaf too. Let me know how it turns out 😀
Carrie says
Thanks for the info! My bread turned out great!! I made sure to add enough water like you said, and it definitely did the trick. No more dense heavy loaf but now I have a nice airy light loaf. Something I never thought I would achieve in a whole wheat bread 🙂
Jennifer says
I'm so glad you enjoyed the bread Carrie. It really is such a great recipe, and so easy too. 🙂
Lydia says
Delicious!! Super light and fluffy! Just about to start a second batch for my 1 year old baby, toddler and ourselves. Yep, even my 'I don't eat brown bread'-hubby liked it very much 🙂