Whole Wheat Bread Machine Bread

I am happy to have finally perfected a very simple bread machine recipe that only uses whole wheat flour, yeast, water, and salt. It's an art to make good whole grain bread without added oils and sugars, and this one is a true success. 

Not all bread machines are created equal, and I can't guarantee this recipe will work in your machine, but it's definitely worth trying! I have one machine where this recipe rises well and then falls while baking. But in my Panasonic SD-BT65P bread machine on the quick whole wheat cycle (3-hour cycle), it rises perfectly and doesn't fall (The 5-hour regular whole wheat cycle didn't work as well with this recipe). My kids say the texture is like white bread, but the flavor is like whole wheat bread. I have never made whole wheat bread that is so light using any method.

I always weigh my water and flour to ensure consistent results. A good kitchen scale is so valuable! I use mine all the time. I'm not including cup measurements because I grind my own flour, and I know this really affects the volume per weight. So if I were to measure the flour I've weighed, it very likely wouldn't be the right amount for store-bought flour.

Place in bread machine loaf pan:

390 grams water

1/2 Tbsp. salt

490 grams whole wheat flour

1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast

Place pan into bread machine. If your machine has a yeast dispenser as mine does, add the yeast to the yeast dispenser instead of to the other ingredients. Select whole wheat cycle and start machine. As I mentioned above, this should be about a 3-hour cycle. On my machine, I have to select rapid whole wheat. A longer cycle may allow it to rise too much and then fall.

If this recipe doesn’t work well in your machine, you can try one of the following variations:

This variation did work with the 5-hour cycle.

390 grams water

1/2 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. gluten flour

480 grams whole wheat flour

1 tsp. instant yeast

OR

365 grams water

1 Tbsp. honey

460 grams whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. gluten flour

1/2 Tbsp. salt

1 tsp. instant yeast