Soft and tender whole wheat sandwich loaves that can be ready in just two hours!
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It took me years to find a consistent, delicious whole wheat loaf bread recipe. Either the bread was too dense. Or I ended up with loaves half as tall as I would like. Or the it simply fell apart when I tried to slice pieces for a sandwich.
But now I can say that I have a recipe that I love and that has turned out well many, many times. And I’m excited to share it with you.
Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaves
This recipe makes two large sandwich loaves. And with only 30 minute rise and bake times, it can be made it 2 hours or less. The bread itself is so delicious and will leave your house smelling incredible.
Bake a couple of fresh loaves for yourself. Be sure to eat a few slices warm with butter (you’ve earned it), and then save the rest for toast with jam, a fancy grilled cheese, to take on a picnic, or for whatever else you like whipping up in your kitchen.
You can watch how to make this bread, two ways. Check out the fast version in a highlight on my Instagram profile, or watch the first part of the video below (the second portion is how to make peanut butter and chia seed jam for a completely homemade PB&J).
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Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaves
- Prep Time: 90 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: bread
- Method: baking
Description
Soft and tender whole wheat sandwich loaves that can be ready in just two hours!
Ingredients
- 3 C hot water
- 1/3 C coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 C honey
- 1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
- 2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten (or other dough enhancer)
- 8–10 C flour (half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, oil, honey and yeast. Let the mixture stand for five minutes while the yeast starts to foam and bubble. After about five minutes, stir in the vital wheat gluten, 6 cups of the flour, and the salt. Stir well to incorporate all of the flour. Add additional flour in 1/2 C increments and continue to stir until the dough begins to come together and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
- Transfer the dough onto a clean counter and knead, working in additional flour until the dough no longer sticks to your hands or the counter. Continue to knead for 5 more minutes until the dough is soft and smooth.
- Turn on your oven and set a timer for 2 minutes. After two minutes, turn the oven off. Place the dough in a clean bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom. Flip the dough once to coat the top. Cover the top of the bowl loosely with a dishtowel and let rise in the warm oven until the dough is doubled, about 30 minutes. Use a timer to keep track of the time.
- After the dough has risen for about 30 minutes, punch the dough down in the center. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured counter and divide it into two pieces. Roll each piece out into a 8 x 10 inch rectangle, then roll tightly into a long 10″ log. Place log in a greased bread pan. Repeat with second half of dough.
- Cover the pans with the dishtowel, and let the loaves rise a second time for about 30 minutes again. (I return them to the still-warm oven for part of the time). The bread should be just rising out of the pans. It will continue to rise when it is baking.
- About halfway through the second rise time, preheat the oven to 375°.
- When the loaves have risen until they are just beginning to come out of the pan, drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil on top of each loaf and bake them in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reads 180°.
- Remove the bread from the oven and let them cool in the pans an a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then remove the bread from the pans to continue cooling. You can also return the loaves to the oven (now turned off) to let the exterior get crustier.
Sarah says
Can I use all whole wheat?
Lisa says
The loaves will just be denser, but yes you can.
Lindsey says
What bread pans do you use?
Lisa says
Mine are really old, but I linked similar ones in this post: http://www.thispilgrimlife.com/easy-homemade-bread-recipes/
Ginger Frisbee says
I make this bread all the time! So much better than store bought bread! Thanks Lisa for sharing the recipe!!
Julie Taylor says
My son will only eat white bread at the moment ?Would this recipe work if I just subbed in all bread flour instead?
Thank you!
Lisa says
Definitely!
Julie Taylor says
I’m wanting to make multiple loaves at one time because we love this bread so much!
Have you ever made multiple and frozen it? I’m wondering what the best way would be so it doesn’t get ruined.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Lisa says
I have frozen these loaves before. I wrap them in plastic wrap and then put them in a freezer bag. However, frozen/thawed bread isn’t my favorite, so it is not something I do regularly.
I’m so glad you have been enjoying this bread!
Heather C says
What do you store your sandwich bread in?
shannon says
This recipe was alot easier than I would have thought before attempting to make my own bread. It’s pretty fast too…
I love that this recipe has a video to refrenrece back to aswell.
★★★★★
Susan says
Love your WHOLE WHEAT sandwich bread! I used fresh milled flour and will be making this again and again!
★★★★★
Alli says
So I am about to try this for our beach trip (I think…). And I wonder: what is the secret magic behind rolling the two halves out and rolling them tightly into a log, instead of just forming them into a blob that will fit in the pans?
Lisa says
Alli, you need to punch down the dough and roll it out to release the air. If you form it into a loaf without rolling tightly first, you are much more likely to end up with holes or pockets in your loaves.
Ai says
Yay! Thanks, Lisa! Been waiting for this post! I’m sharing it on FB and pinning!
Lisa says
Thank you Ai! I hope you love it!
Julie says
This looks wonderful – guess I need to get myself some of that vital wheat gluten!
Lisa says
You can make it without it Julie, but it will definitely help your dough rise better.
Melanie Moore says
Two questions: Is the dough enhancer necessary and does yeast ever go bad? I’ve had some in my fridge for quite awhile (opened) and didn’t know if it was still good or not. Along those same lines does the dough enhancer go bad?
Lisa says
The dough enhancer will certainly help, but you can make it without it (the dough may just not rise as well). And I would replace the yeast if it is older than a year just to be sure. I have had my dough enhancer for almost two years and it still works.
Salina says
Hi, I have some whole wheat white flour (store bought) and was wondering if I should use have of this with half all purpose flour? I am needing more whole grains in my diet so would this count for that? Thanks.
Lisa says
You can use a variety of combinations of flours. My favorite is 2/3 freshly ground whole wheat and 1/3 bread flour. Anytime you are using whole wheat flour it is also good to use a dough conditioner like vital wheat gluten. If you wanted to use your white whole wheat, you could either use all white whole wheat or do a 2/3 1/3 combo. It would work either way!
Salina says
Thank you Lisa. The recipe up above, is this the one you used in the video, or did you use some bread flour too? 🙂
Salina says
I think I am still confused. LOL! So could I use half all purpose and half whole wheat whitet or half bread flour and half whole wheat white as well? Sorry for the confusion. 🙂
Lisa says
Yes, either combination would work. The bread flour would help it to rise a little better, but I’ve successfully used both combinations before.