100 Percent Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread made with a Stand Mixer
100 Percent Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf Made with KitchenAid Mixer
After I published my food processor method for making a light-textured 100 percent whole wheat sandwich loaf (https://thebakingwizard.com/100-food-processor-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread/), one of my readers asked if the bread could be made with a stand mixer. I was doubtful because the dough is very wet and sticky and not at all suited to being kneaded with a dough hook. But I decided to give the mixer a try, and it worked like a charm.I could not tell the difference between a mixer-made loaf and one made with a food processor. Boy, was I surprised. I make this bread with the flat beater to hydrate all the flour and to beat in the molasses, egg, oil, and salt. Once the dough has rested for 5 minutes after these ingredients have been beaten in, I find that either the flat beater or the dough hook works to complete the 5 minutes of kneading this wet and sticky dough. Be sure your flour is fresh. by that I mean you should use flour from a recently-opened bag, just-opened or up to a month or so ago. If you have whole wheat flour sitting around for a few months at room temperature, I'd toss it. I've not tried freshly milled whole wheat flour, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work.My model K5A KitchenAid has a 5-quart bowl that's lifted and locked into place before beating. I have not tried a smaller bowl size or a different style of stand mixer. A 6-quart KitchenAid mixer also does a great job with this bread.
Equipment
- 5-quart Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 15 ounces whole wheat flour I use King Arthur
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (one envelope) I use SAF instant yeast
- 9 ounces warm water 105 - 115˚F
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (grapeseed, avocado, rice bran, sunflower)
- 3 tablespoons molasses I use Grandma's
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Combine the flour and yeast in the mixer bowl. Pour in the water, attach the flat beater, and mix on low speed (#2) until every particle of flour is moistened into a mass of dough. This will take 1 to 2 minutes. Make sure there are no stray bits of flour in the bowl.
- Work this very stiff dough between your hands to form a ball. Replace the dough in the bowl.
- Cover tightly and let stand at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours, more or less, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Add the egg, oil, molasses, and salt, and beat on low speed (#2) for 2 minutes, until the dough is well mixed and it begins to become stretchy and elastic and alternately sticks to and pulls away from the side of the mixer bowl. Cover and let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
- Uncover the dough and beat nonstop on medium high speed (#6) for a 5 full minutes. The dough will become very moist and elastic and it will cling to all parts of the flat beater. It will be a sticky mess--it will never form into a ball of dough--and you will think it could not possibly become a loaf of bread. But it really will!
- Coat a 3-quart bowl lightly with cooking spray and scrape the dough into the bowl. Spritz the top of the dough with cooking spray.
- Pick up the dough and work it briefly between your hands to make a smooth ball. Replace the dough in the bowl.
- Cover tightly and let the dough rise to almost triple in size. It will almost reach to the top of the bowl. Rising takes about 1 1/2 hours, but it could be more or less depending on kitchen temperature.
- Spray top of dough lightly with cooking spray and turn dough sprayed top down onto your counter. Gently pat into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle. Roll up tightly from a short side like making a cinnamon roll and pinch edges to seal. Turn loaf seam side down, crimp ends to make a loaf and place the dough into a loaf pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 inches) coated with cooking spray. Tamp all around the loaf so make sure the dough touches all sides of the pan.
- Cover the loaf loosely with a shower cap and let the loaf rise until the center of the loaf is 2 to 2 1/2 inches above the rim of the pan. This may take 1 1/2 hours, again depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees about 30 minutes before you expect the loaf to be fully risen. Here's the fully-risen, uncovered loaf, ready to bake.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until well-browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the baked loaf registers 195 to 200˚F. Tip the loaf out of the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack, 2 to 3 hours, before eating. Wrapped airtight, the loaf stays fresh at room temperature for about 4 days. Better yet, slice the cooled loaf, bag it airtight, and pop it into the freezer. Take out slices as needed and thaw at room temp or in a toaster.
Beautiful loaf!
Thank you, Kate!
Would this dough bake up well in a pullman pan?
I’ve not tried this recipe a pullman pan, Melissa. This loaf rises so high in a standard loaf pan I’m not sure you’ll have enough space to accommodate it in a pullman pan. And I think the texture would suffer by the dough being stifled in its final rise. You could always try it and see what happens! And if you do, please let me know the results.
I used White Whole Wheat Flour and this came out great. This is definitely one recipe that I will be making quite often.
Thank you very much for letting me know white whole wheat flour works, too!
Unfortunately despite following the directions to a T the dough never came together. Step 4/5 just made a big sticky mess that never came together. Everything was weighed precisely. I had to throw it all out.
Oh well!
Dear Harley–I can totally relate to your frustration, but based on what you wrote, I believe you made the recipe correctly. You describe the dough as “a big sticky mess,” which is just as it should be. (See the photo showing the beaten dough in the mixer bowl). I have changed the wording in the recipe to say just that. After scraping the dough into a bowl spritzed with cooking spray and spritzing the dough, too, you can pick the dough up and shape the soft mass into a ball before replacing it in the bowl to let it rise. Also note that I changed the amount of salt to 1 teaspoon. If you decide to give the recipe another try, please let me know how you like the bread. I can’t thank you enough for writing.
I am commenting on the method, not the recipe. I used my home milled organic hard white whole wheat flour and my own recipe with some sprouted wheatberries and some organic old fashioned oatmeal. Great method for the vintage Kitchen Aid mixer. Oher times it had gotten too hot too fast. Saved me the price of another mixer I was considering after my 30+ year old bread machine died.
Many thanks
Seriously time consuming but the best whole wheat bread I have ever made. A keeper recipe for sure, will definitely start earlier in the day next time. Thanks for an excellent stand mixer WW bread recipe!