REAL Food Recipe - My Basic Whole Wheat Bread

 

For many, many years now I have made this whole wheat bread for my family.  Recently I made a few tweaks and changes to adapt it to better serve me in my current stage of life as I find I don’t need a large loaf of bread, but rather two smaller loaves now.  By doing it this way I can have a fresh loaf now and one to tuck away in my freezer for later.  I thought I would share it with you today.

 

Whole Wheat Bread 

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

2 ½ tsp. yeast

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbs. sugar

1 ¼ cups very warm water 

Set your bread machine to the dough cycle.  Place all dry ingredients inside and press start to begin the cycle.  After a couple minutes add oil and water until dough ball begins to form.  You may need to add more water if mixture appears dry being careful not to add too much.  Allow dough cycle to finish.

 

Perfect dough consistency

Remove dough from machine and knead lightly on a floured surface making sure it isn’t sticky.  Divide in half and shape into loaves.  Place each dough into two buttered loaf pans, cover with towel and allow to rise for one hour in a warm place.  Bake in a preheated 400° oven for 22 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush tops with butter and allow to cool for ten minutes before removing loaves to a cooling rack.  Do not slice bread until it is completely cooled.

 

I use the original vintage glass Pyrex loaf pans to bake my bread in.  You can still get new ones in this size as well.  I find these loaves will fit nicely inside a gallon Ziploc bag for storage and freezing.  They are the perfect size for making toast and sandwiches.  To maintain freshness I do not slice the bread until I need it and I keep it in the refrigerator so it lasts longer.