Best Whole Grain Bread Recipes

100% WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• Place the first five ingredients in the bowl and mix.
• Add: 2 Cups 100% Whole Grain Wheat Flour. (to cool the water and end up with warm dough) Mix then add 2 Tbs of Dry Active Yeast. If your not sure about your yeast proof it in a little warm water first.
• Add: 4 Cups of 100% Whole Grain Wheat Flour.
• Mix until the consistency is some what even. Then continue to slowly add flour 1/2 Cup at a time until the dough quits sticking to the sides of the bowl. It should be tacky to the touch. The trick is to have enough consistency to stand up with the least amount of flour so the bread will be fluffy. It will most likely be 6 1/2 cups but in any case do not exceed 7 1/2 cups of wheat flour. You can trade one cup of wheat flour for one cup of all purpose white if you wish. Don't over mix or the bread will be tough.
• When your dough is finished, leave it in the mixer, cover the bowl and let it rise for about 30-45 minutes. The dough will be larger but it doesn't need to double.
• Grease two bread pans with Crisco. You can also flour the pans to reduce sticking.
• Mix the dough again just enough to knock it down at least close to the original size.
• Drop the dough on a floured surface so you can work the dough and shape it. Shape it with your hands to make a nice ball getting enough flour on it so it isn't sticky. Divide the ball in half and do it again. Shape the loaves by turning the dough under it's self over and over. When the dough is shaped the sides and ends will be sealed and all you will see is a nice oblong shaped loaf with smooth sides and top. Drop the loaves in your bread pans and let them rise until almost doubled. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 36 minutes. If you forgot to preheat 41 minutes. (gas oven).
• When done turn the bread out of the pan to a rack to cool. You can eat it right away (a great time for real butter) don't wrap it until completely cooled. (Condensation will make it soggy) Put in tinfoil to store on the counter. If you put it in the refrigerator it will turn into a brick. Enjoy.

NORDIC WHOLE-GRAIN RYE BREAD

Steps:

• On Day 1, make the starter: In a medium-size bowl, mix 3/4 cup warm water with the buttermilk or yogurt. Whisk flour and yeast together, add to the buttermilk mixture and use your hands to mix together until sticky and moist; add more warm water as needed. Cover tightly and set aside at cool room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
• Also on Day 1, soak the grains: Mix 4 cups cold water with the rye berries (or meal) and sunflower seeds. Cover and set aside at cool room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
• On Day 2, make the bread: Drain the soaked grains in a colander. Measure 35 ounces/1,000 grams of the grains and place in a deep bowl. Add 14 ounces/400 grams of the starter and mix well. (Any remaining starter can be saved to use with other bread recipes.) Add the flour, salt, malt (or molasses), yeast and 2 cups water. Mix dough firmly by hand to combine. The dough should be grainy, but quite runny and wet, almost like a thick batter. To achieve that texture, add cold water, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. To test: When a walnut-size piece of dough smeared on the rim of the bowl slides slowly and smoothly down the inside, like a snail leaving a trail, the dough it is wet enough.
• Thickly butter 3 medium or 2 standard-size loaf pans. Divide the dough evenly among the pans, filling them about half full. Cover and let rise at room temperature until dough almost fills pans, about 2 hours. (Dough will not rise more during baking.)
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake loaves for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 360 and bake until firm and glossy brown, 80 minutes to 2 hours more depending on size and moisture content of loaves. Let cool completely in the pans before turning out. Bread freezes well, and lasts for at least a week at room temperature, wrapped in paper.

WHOLE-GRAIN BREAD

Steps:

• Stir whole-wheat flour, bran, and 1 cup water in a bowl. Let stand 30 minutes.
• Stir milk and 1 tablespoon sugar in a bowl until sugar dissolves. Stir in yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Put whole-wheat flour mixture, milk mixture, remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, the cornmeal, 3 tablespoons oats, the ground flaxseed, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook; mix on medium-low speed until combined. Add 2 1/2 cups bread flour; mix until dough is tacky, but not sticky, about 2 minutes (if dough is too sticky, add more flour, 1 teaspoon at a time). Continue kneading until dough is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes more.
• Coat a large bowl with cooking spray. Add dough to bowl; turn to coat. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight; bring to room temperature).
• Turn out dough onto a work surface; shape into a loaf about 9 inches long. Using a spray bottle, mist with water; sprinkle top with remaining 2 teaspoons oats and the whole flaxseed. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan and a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray. Transfer loaf to the pan, and cover lightly with the plastic wrap. Let stand until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mist oven with water; place loaf in oven. Bake 5 minutes; mist oven again. Continue to bake, rotating pan once, until well browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Unmold bread onto a wire rack; return to oven, and bake directly on oven rack 5 minutes more. Remove from oven; let cool completely on rack.

SEEDED WHOLE GRAIN SODA BREAD

Steps:

• Mix millet, quinoa, amaranth, 1 cup oats, 1 cup buttermilk, and 1/2 cup water in a small bowl. Cover and let sit 8-12 hours. (Alternatively, bring ingredients to a simmer in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and let sit until mixture is thick like porridge, about 2 hours.)
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil an 8"-diameter cast-iron skillet or cake pan. Whisk whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, flaxseed, salt, baking soda, and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds in a large bowl. Work in butter with your fingers until largest pieces are pea-size. Make a well in the center and add brown rice syrup, oat mixture, remaining 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, and remaining 1 Tbsp. oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough is smooth, homogenous, and still slightly sticky.
• Form dough into a ball and place in prepared pan. Brush with buttermilk; top with more oats and sunflower seeds. Cut a large X into the top and bake until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of loaf registers 190°F, 55-70 minutes. Let cool in pan.
• Do ahead
• Bread can be baked 2 days ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

MULTI GRAIN WHOLE WHEAT-MACHINE BREAD

Steps:

• 1. Gather all 6 ingredients.
• 2. also the brown sugar, salt and yeast.
• 3. Put all ingredients into your bread machine in the order for your bread machine directions. Close lid. For the Seiko machine. Press select until the desired bread selection is selected. I select #6 for a 2 pound loaf (in a Seiko) Press start. Bread will be done in the number of hours as indicated.
• 4. Picture of the cooked bread, shown with my CREAMED CABBAGE CHOWDER recipe. If you need the 1-1/2 pound bread recipe or the 1 pound recipe...let me know You might want to check out the bread machine cookbooks on JAP for some great recipes.

HONEY WHEAT OATMEAL BREAD - ALL WHOLE GRAIN VERSION

Steps:

• Put ingredients into bread pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer of the bread machine.
• If you're going to use a timer, it is vital to keep the yeast away from both the liquids AND the salt.
• I make this on the white bread cycle and it comes out great, but you may wish to use the whole wheat cycle.
• I never noticed any difference except that the whole wheat cycle took a lot longer.
• Your machine may yield different results, tho.
• If you like crusty bread, just let the finished bread set on a rack to cool.
• If you want a softer crust, slip the hot bread into a plastic bag so that the crust will get steamed and be nice& soft- and good for sandwiches.

WHOLE GRAIN KAMUT SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Mix the ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover and let the dough rest for about 20 minutes, and then stretch and fold the dough with damp fingers. The dough should be sticky but not wet and gloppy. If the dough is soupy, add 30g more flour i.e. a couple tablespoons.
• Repeat the 20 minute rest followed by stretching and folding with damp fingers two more times, and then let dough rise until it has expanded by close to 40%. This took my dough about 4 hours from when I initially mixed it, but could be anywhere from 2-8 hours depending on your ambient temperature and starter strength.
• Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured countertop and shape it for your proofing basket (batard, boule, oblong). The dough has almost no gluten tension, so there's no need to do a pre-shape.
• Place the shaped dough in a floured proofing basket, cover, and let it expand for 1-2 hours.
• When the dough has expanded (see photos above), put the proofing basket in the refrigerator, and then begin to preheat your oven and baking vessel at 500°F for 30 minutes.
• Remove the chilled-stiff dough from the refrigerator and flip it onto parchment paper or directly into your hot baking vessel. Score the dough and bake as follows:
• 20 minutes at 500°F with the lid on
• 8 minutes at 450°F with the lid on
• 8 minutes at 450°F with the lid off
• If you're using a cast iron baking vessel, you may want to lower the oven temperature earlier.

BREAD MACHINE WHOLE GRAIN BREAD

Steps:

• Put ingredients into bread machine in order listed and select desired time and crust.

WHOLE-GRAIN OAT BREAD

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cover steel-cut oats with the boiling water. Let stand until room temperature. Stir in bulghur wheat and honey; set aside.
• Place the warm water in a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the reserved oat mixture with the yeast mixture, whole-wheat flour, and salt. Add the all-purpose flour until the dough is tacky, but not sticky. Continue kneading about 5 minutes more.
• Place dough in a buttered bowl, and cover with buttered plastic wrap directly on the surface. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes, or refrigerate overnight.
• Turn out dough onto a clean work surface; form into a loaf about 9 inches long. Lightly mist with water; sprinkle with rolled oats. Place in a well-buttered 9-by-5-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pan; let stand until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a serrated knife, slash top of loaf lengthwise down center. Place immediately in oven. Bake until nicely browned and cooked through, about 1 hour. Remove from pan; let cool on a wire rack.

FIVE-GRAIN BUTTERMILK-CRANBERRY BREAD (WHITE WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR)

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cereal.
• In large bowl, mix remaining cereal, the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in dried cranberries.
• In small bowl, beat egg and buttermilk with whisk until well blended. Reserve 1 tablespoon buttermilk mixture. Stir remaining buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients, stirring just until mixture is moistened; dough will be soft. On floured surface, knead dough 5 or 6 times.
• On large cookie sheet, shape dough into 7-inch round. Cut large X shape, 1/4 inch deep, into top of dough, using sharp knife. Brush top of dough with reserved buttermilk mixture; sprinkle with reserved cereal.
• Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool 30 minutes. Using serrated knife, cut into slices or wedges to serve.

SPELT AND KAMUT WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Autolyse
• Mix together the flour and most of the water (reserve 20g water) until completely incorporated. Cover and let autolyse for 1-2 hours.
• Bulk Fermentation
• Add the starter to the dough by spreading it on the surface, stretching and folding the dough over the starter and gently kneading it into the dough. Cover and let sit for about 30 minutes.
• Dissolve the salt into the 20g of reserved water and add the mixture to the dough the same way you added the starter. Cover the dough and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
• With 30 minutes rests in between each gluten development maneuver, coil fold the dough, then laminate it, and then coil fold it twice more. Here are videos of gluten development techniques.
• Let the dough continue to rise until it has grown by about 75% and has some surface bubbles. See photo gallery below for before and after photos.
• Calculating from when the starter was added, Version 1's bulk fermentation was 6 hours at room temperature, 12 hours in the refrigerator, and another 1 hour at room temperature. Had I not refrigerated the dough, I suspect 7-8 hours would have sufficed. Version 2's bulk fermentation was 5 hours at room temperature. This shorter time can be attributed to both the larger amount of starter and higher hydration of the dough.
• Pre-Shape, Bench Rest, Shape
• Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and pre-shape it into a ball.
• Lightly dampen the top of the dough or cover it, and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Prepare your proofing basket with flour.
• Shape the dough. Here are some videos if you want shaping pointers.
• Flour the top of the dough, flip it into your proofing basket and cover.
• Final Proof
• Let the dough proof until it has expanded in volume and looks a bit puffy. See the photo gallery below for before and after photos.
• Version 1 proofed 1.5 hours at room temperature and Version 2 proofed for 13 hours in the refrigerator.
• Bake
• Preheat your oven to 500F for 30 minutes with your baking vessel inside.
• Flip your dough onto parchment paper, score it, and load it into the hot baking vessel.
• Bake at 500F for 20 minutes with the lid on.
• Then, if you're baking in cast iron, slide a baking sheet under the vessels, same shelf, direct contact.
• Lower the oven temperature to 450F and bake for an additional 10 minutes with the lid on.
• Remove the lid and bake for 5-10 minutes more.

FRESH MILLED GRAIN WHOLE WHEAT BREAD IN BREAD MACHINE

Steps:

• Grind about 5 cups of hard red or hard white spring wheat. This should make a little more than 600 grams of flour. Weigh the flour out.
• Tip for using Vitamix--store grain in freezer so it does not get hot during grinding. Do only 1 cup at a time. You can re-grind the larger pieces.
• Measure it out on a scale because the weight of flour is different depending on the grind. This is key. It will be around 4-5 cups, but you won't get bread that is as good if you use volume over weight.
• In your bread machine, add everything EXCEPT yeast and about 1 cup of flour.
• Turn on your bread machine and let it mix. It'll be kind of gloopy, that's fine. You might need to help get all the wheat wet by mixing it inches It doesn't have to be perfect, but we want the wheat wet. Stop once it's mixed (turn off machine). Of course you can do that by hand if you want to.
• Set the timer on your bread machine for at least 8 hours later and use the dough cycle for the best bread. You can wait up to 24 hours.
• The wait is so that the whole wheat can do a few important things; develop a good gluten and break down phytic acids. By using buttermilk (you can make your own or use water and 2 tsp apple cider vinegar) you give it an acidic environment to do it's thing.
• Pour the remaining flour on top of the dough and make a little "bowl" in the flour and carefully pour the yeast into the indent so that it is separated from the dough. If you don't, it will activate too early. Even better if you have a bread machine with a separate yeast chamber. If so you do not need to hold back any flour.
• When the machine beeps the next morning, the dough should be nicely risen, although you might expect it to be a bit higher if you're used to using regular bread flour. Worry not, my friend.
• Wash your counter very well and spray a little oil on it. Oil up your hands and turn the dough onto the counter. Fold it over itself a few times and then tear the dough in half. Just using your hands make it into a rectangle and roll it up tightly. Place it into an oiled bread pan. Cover with a towel and allow to rise for another hour or so. I just turn on my oven for a bit at low heat and then turn it off.
• Take the towel out of the oven (very important part) and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350.

BEST WHOLE GRAIN GLUTEN-FREE BREAD FOR A BREAD MACHINE

Steps:

• Mix cornstarch, millet flour, tapioca flour, rice flour, teff flour, ground flax, psyllium husk, and guar gum in a bowl.
• Place eggs, warm water, canola oil, vinegar, sugar, yeast, cornstarch mixture, salt, and milk in a bread machine pan in the order listed, or in the order listed by the manufacturer. Stir gently with a wooden spoon to combine yeast with the rest of the ingredients.
• Run "rapid bake" cycle for 2 hours. Select "dark" crust setting; bake for 50 minutes.

DIJON-CILANTRO TUNA SALAD ON WHOLE GRAIN BREAD

Steps:

• Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Mix in tuna. Add celery, onion, and cilantro; mix well. Cover; chill at least 30 minutes.
• Spoon 1/2 cup tuna on each of 6 bread slices. Top with tomato slices, arugula, and bread slices. Cut sandwiches in half.

100% WHOLE GRAIN BREAD WITH BIGA/SOAKER

Steps:

• .Mix the biga ingredients, cover and let rest for 1 hour at room temperature. Then, refrigerate for 3 to 18 hours.
• Mix the soaker, cover and rest for 4 to 19 hours.
• To make the bread, warm the biga at room temperature or in low heat (
• Spread the biga on a floured counter and layer the soaker over that. Cut dough into 12 pieces and add to mixing bowl.
• Add the remaining ingredients and mix and knead for 7 - 8 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes and knead for 1 to 2 more minutes until a moderate windowpane is achieved.
• Do a stretch and fold. On a lightly floured counter, stretch the dough into a rectangle and fold it like a letter going into an envelope. Turn 90 deg and fold again. Invert and place in an oiled bowl or straight sided clear container.
• Rest for 20 minutes and do another stretch and fold and return to container.
• After the dough has risen to one and a half times it's original volume (30 to 45 more minutes), turn out onto a floured counter.
• Shape into loaves and pan. Let rise, covered with oiled plastic, for 45 minutes or so or until loaves are risen to 150% of their volume.
• Bake in preheated 375F oven until 190-200F internally, about 35-40 minutes. Cool on rack before slicing.

WHOLE GRAIN SWEDISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• combine honey, molasses, salt, butter and caraway, pour boiling water over, and set aside to cool.
• Add yeast to warm water, stir to dissolve, and add to honey molasses mixture when cooled to lukewarm.
• add 2 cups of WW flour to mixture and using dough hook, mix well.
• add the remaining flours until you have a smooth dough that can be kneaded.
• Knead for 8 to 10 minutes and place in lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours).
• Punch down, turn out onto floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.
• Separate dough into 2 equal parts, shape to fit 2 loaf pans.
• Cover and let rise for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours until almost doubled in size.
• Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. If tops are browning too much, cover with foil for the lase 15 minutes.
• Cool on wire racks, and enjoy with butter!
• note- I leave the loaf pans in the oven for the second rise, and then just uncover and turn on the oven to bake, I add 5 minutes to the baking time to compensate for the preheating time.

DELICIOUS WHOLE GRAIN BANANA BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
• Combine butter and honey in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Mix in bananas and vanilla extract.
• Mix whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and fleur de sel together in a separate bowl. Mix into the butter mixture until batter is combined.
• Whisk hot water into the batter. Fold in dark chocolate and walnuts. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out mostly clean, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes; invert onto a baking rack to cool completely.

100% WHOLE WHEAT GRAIN BREAD

Steps:

• Place sugar and yeast in bowl with 1/2 the warmed water. Stir and let sit 5-10 minutes until foamy.
• In bowl of stand mixer add: remaining water, gluten, egg yolks, honey, olive oil, buttermilk, 2 cups of the flour, 7 grain cereal, and proofed yeast.
• Stir into batter, cover with towel, and let sit 30 minutes (will rise some).
• Place bowl onto stand mixer, add salt, and remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time -- mixing with paddle attachment until dough pulls away from sides and forms ball around the paddle.
• Scrape dough off paddle and replace with dough hook. Set on 2 and knead with dough hook x8 minutes. Cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled.
• Remove dough and divide in half. Form each half into a loaf and place into greased standard size loaf pan - push dough into corners and sides to form to pan. Spritz with pan spray (preferably olive or canola), cover with towel and let rise until 1 - 2 inches above top of pan.
• Place into pre-heated 350* oven and bake x30 minutes.
• Remove from pans, brush lightly with butter using paper towel to remove excess so dough does not get soggy, and place on cooling rack to cool.
• Cool at least 20-30 minutes before cutting (if you cut while really hot the crumb does not have time to set and will feel very heavy and sticky).

HONEY WHOLE-GRAIN BREAD

Steps:

• Using a 1 quart casserole, souffle dish, or any other high sided baking pan that will fit into your slow cooker, coat with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl combine together 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, milk, 1/2 cup all purpose flour, honey, oil, yeast and salt. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add the remaining whole wheat flour and up to 1/2 cup all purpose flour until dough is no longer sticky. If the electric mixer is have a difficult time mixing the dough use a wooden spoon to mix in the remaining flour. Transfer dough to the prepared baking dish.
• Place dish in slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or until the edges of the bread have browned. Carefully lift the baking dish out of the slow cooker using oven mitts or pot holders. Let bread stand for 5 minutes and than unmold on a wire rack to cool.

NELLI'S QUICK GERMAN WHOLE GRAIN BREAD

Steps:

• Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
• Combine water and yeast in a bowl; stir until yeast is dissolved. Stir in vinegar, salt, and honey.
• Combine all-purpose flour, rye flour, walnuts, 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, and 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds in a large bowl. Stir in water mixture with a wooden spoon until dough is sticky and soft. Transfer dough to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds and 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds on top.
• Place loaf pan in the cold oven. Heat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake until top is golden brown, about 1 hour.