Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread5 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour, or whole wheat bread flour
1 ½ Tbsp. instant yeast
¼ cup vital wheat gluten (I’ve used as little as 2 Tbsp. with good results.)
½ Tbsp. salt
½ cup potato flakes (I’ve used as little as ¼ cup with good results. Even if you omit the flakes, your bread should still turn out well, it just may be slightly dryer.)
1 ½ Tbsp. liquid lecithin ( You can also sub about 2-3 Tbsp. butter or oil.)
1/4 cup honey (spray the inside of the measuring cup with non-stick spray before you measure the honey and it will slide right out; you could also use sugar in place of the honey but It helps with good flavor and moistness of the bread)
2 cups very hot tap water (If you want your bread even more moist , substitute ½ cup of the water for unsweetened applesauce.)

In a mixing bowl, fitted with a dough hook, measure in the flour, yeast, gluten, salt, and potato flakes. Pulse to evenly distribute, for a second or two. Add the lecithin/butter, honey and ALMOST all of the water and mix for about 30 seconds. If the dough is too dry, add more water,about a tablespoon at a time and if it is too wet, add a little more flour. The dough at this point should be wet enough to leave a little residue on the sides of the bowl. Mix for 7 minutes. Do not add any more water or flour at this point, it will ruin the dough.

When it's done mixing, the dough will look smooth and elastic. If it seems a little sticky, it will still be ok, most likely. If you have a Kitchen Aid-type bowl, remove dough hook and ball of dough. If you have a Bosch-type bowl, you’ll need a separate large mixing bowl. Spray the inside of either bowl and put the dough back in the dough to rise. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. (Time will vary greatly here, anywhere from 30 -60 minutes or so, so just watch over the dough.)

After the first rise, gently deflate the dough (spray your hands with cooking spray) and separate into 2 dough balls. For a perfect looking loaf, roll each dough ball out (on a counter coated with cooking spray not flour) the width of your loaf pan, and about 12 inches long, getting all the air bubbles out. Then, tightly roll the dough up, pinch each side closed and tuck them under a bit and lay it in a greased loaf pan. (Don't worry about the dough touching all the sides yet, as it raises, it will fill in.) Repeat with remaining dough ball. Cover bread pans with a light kitchen towel. Let dough raise again until about doubled; it should rise just above the top of the pan. Near the end of the second raise, preheat your oven to 350 F.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let loaves cool for 10 minutes, then take the bread out of the pans and completely cool on a wire rack. (Do not let the bread cool completely in the pans, it will become a sticky mess and ruin the bread.)

Makes 2 5x9 loaves (If you have 4x8 pans, just reduce the amount of flour by about ¼ - ½ cup.)


If you are new to bread-making, here are some tips from King Arthur Flour:
-If you're kneading bread by hand, it's tempting to keep adding flour till the dough is no longer sticky. Resist the temptation! The more flour you add while you're kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be.
-The amount of liquid you use to make the "perfect" dough will vary with the seasons. Flour is like a sponge; it absorbs water during the humid days of summer, and dries out during the winter. Your goal should be making the dough as it's described (e.g., cohesive, soft but not sticky), rather than sticking religiously to the amount of liquid.
-When making yeast bread, let the dough rise to the point the recipe says it should, e.g., "Let the dough rise till it's doubled in bulk." Rising times are only a guide; there are so many variables in yeast baking (how you kneaded the dough; what kind of yeast you used) that it's impossible to say that bread dough will ALWAYS double in bulk in a specific amount of time.