I am looking for that perfect whole wheat bread recipe, so I thought I would ask everyone here to share their favorites. I have tried several different recipes from various sources over the years, but have never been 100% satisfied. I would also love to hear any tips and advice on making a phenominal loaf of bread. Thanks!

Until Rose publishes her new ww bread recipe with summer, I would check out Peter Reinhart’s new wholegrain bread book.  There are also some nice breads with whole wheat in the bread bible, but none of them are 100% whole wheat.

It will be worth investing on a flour mill, and grind your own wheat.  It has been reported that freshly ground wheat does not have the strong flavor typically associated with whole wheat flour.

So, technically, you could use this on most regular flour breads if you care to calculate increasing the water content (whole wheat flour, freshly ground or not, requires higher hydration).

I’ve made basic sourdough bread with 100% whole wheat flour.  It was good, except for the strong taste since I haven’t invested on my own flour mill yet!  Once I asked Rose which flour mill does she use, she answered “all the ones she recommends in the Bread Bible.”

Another route to milder flavor, if that’s your goal, is to use some white whole wheat. It’s fully whole grain, but milled from white instead of red wheat.

Cathy

What kind of bread are you looking for? Do you want a sandwich loaf to make the ultimate PBJ, or a rustic loaf, or…? Do you want 100% whole wheat?

Cathy

I always like to make whole wheat bread but have not been able to make one 100% because of the heaviness. I have a Bosch and so i make at least 4 loaves using Saf. My bread comes out nice and i always put in lots of different stuff like polenta, 10 grain cereal, millet, quinoa, kamut and oats. I use some gluten, honey, powdered milk, bread flour and grounded red wheat. My problem with it is that when it is baked I don’t like the yeasty smell. That being the case I am trying to convert all my breads to sourdough. I have used Rose’s BASIC SOURDOUGH BREAD recipe twice and love it. It is much better than the bread i have described above. My last batch i did the bread with half bread flour and half whole wheat. It turned out light with a nice texture as well. My only problem is knowing how to make a large batch of sourdough starter without tossing out so much. I definitely will stick to sourdough and transfer it to the Basic Sourdough using all the goodies i normally put in a loaf. So much as said, if you are still interested in the recipe I will be most willing to share.

After decades (literally) of slaving over kneading and sourdough I switched to no-knead bread, and it comes out delicious every time. (Disclaimer: I’m German, and I like my breads fairly dense and definitely not sweetened).

3 cups of White Whole Wheat (either King Arthur or Trader Joe’s, the traditional whole wheat comes out too gritty for me)
1/2 tsp of yeast
1.75 cups of water (or thereabouts)
1 heaped tsp of salt
sunflower seeds or walnuts optional

mix dough with a cooking spoon until it holds together. Mine is not too liquid, not too firm, but it’s just harder to work with when it’s too liquid or too firm, it doesn’t make too much difference in taste or the final bread I find.
stick in fridge. Overnight, or up to 3 days.
pull out, let come to room temperature, for an hour or two.
pour on floured surface, fold over twice in each direction, taking care that not too much air is pushed out
let rise for 1 hour.
in the meantime, prepare oven: I bake in a 4 or 6 qt cast iron pot, Staub or Le Creuset or Mario Batali or inherited. Pyrex or ceramics doesn’t work quite as well). Place that in the oven with the lid. Preheat to 500 F.
place dough in iron pot, put the lid on for 30 minutes. When at sea level leave in oven for 30 minutes with lid on, then take lid off, reduce temp to 450 F, and bake another 20 minutes. Internal temperature should be at 200 F or above. I also bake at 6000 ft. This is the only bread that works there, but I do 25 minutes at 450 with lid on (after preheat to 500 F), then 25 minutes at 400, then until internal temp reaches 200 F at 400.

Perhaps that’ll work for you! I have one in the oven right now

Edited to attach photos of yesterday night’s baking. The breads come out pretty traditional German, with a very crusty crust, and fairly dense. It doesn’t have any yeasty taste.

Silke,

Thank you for sharing your recipe. That sounds so good. As I know my husband would love it as he loves German bread and he was there for a few years in Tubigen attending the University. Further, I have been looking for a no-knead bread recipe. I know i will just love it. Then, just knowing it has no yeast flavor is an added plus. I definitely need to go on a search for a smaller dutch oven as my smallest one is 10 quarts. I have been looking for one but was not seriously searching; now i have a good reason.

Ginger,

You’re welcome. I also use other flours in it. Spelt works extremely well. I also use Rye, but never more than a cup, I seem to have trouble baking it through otherwise. When I have sourdough I make it with soughdough, it seems to improve how long it lasts. If I have leftover bread, I’ll soak a slice and put it in the dough - that as well improves how long the bread lasts. If I don’t have those, I don’t care, I’ll just put in more sunflower seeds…

Regarding the dutch oven: I lucked out and found a Staub 4 quart cocotte for something like $40 - new! Twice! Mario Batali seems to have fairly reasonably priced cast iron cookware. And I think Lodge as well.

If you ever plan on making the bread whiter (I sometimes do 2 cups of bread flour, 1 cup of whatever whole grain I find in my shelves), you should go for a 6 qt. pan as that gets much much bigger. It’ll still work with the whole wheat bread.

Disclaimer: The Peter Reinhart recipes make a slightly better bread, his method of soaking the grain separately from the starter seems to coax more taste out of the grains. That being said, the amount of work I put into his recipes compared with the no-knead bread make the no-knead my bread of choice, especially for everyday bread. For a superb white bread I still resort to kneading

- s.

edit: I may have my pot measurements off… My Staub cocotte is about 8” inside diameter. Perhaps that’s less than the 4 qt? The smaller of the Mario Batalis is 4 qt, and that’s definitely bigger than my Staub pot.

I will see what i can find. If i have any further questions i will let you know.