100% Whole Wheat Bread

When I made the Easy Cinnamon Bread I got the recipe out of my KAF All-Purpose Baking Cookbook which is an awesome cookbook. On the very next page is the recipe for their 100% Whole Wheat bread recipe. Mike requested that the next bread I try making was that one.


100% Whole Wheat Bread
King Arthur Flour

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) lukewarm water
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons honey, molasses or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon King Arthur Whole-Grain Bread Improver, optional
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, chopped*
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped*
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

*A quick whirl in the food processor does the job nicely.

To prepare the dough: Combine all of the ingredients, and mix them till you have a shaggy dough. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes, then knead till fairly smooth. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's puffy and nearly doubled in bulk.

Gently deflate the dough, shape it into a log, and place it in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch bread pan. Cover the pan with a proof cover or lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for about 1 hour, till it's crowned about 1 inch over the rim of the pan.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 45 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil for the final 20 minutes of baking. Yield: 1 loaf.

Review: In the book's recipe it mentions something about using a bread machine...the one above which is from the website does not. I asked the baker's hot-line about it and they said it was ok to use the bread machine which is what I did. So from that sense it is a very easy bread to make because you just put all the ingredients into the machine and let it do it's work on the dough cycle. I used molasses this time because I knew out of the three choices that is what Mike would want but next time I might use honey instead. It was a great tasting bread and very yummy when I made a tuna sandwich with it but I felt it needs a tiny bit of sweetness which I think the honey might give it. I think this one is a keeper and I would love to see if I could make it into mini loafs because it reminds me of something you can get at restaurant that brings mini loafs to the table.