Wheat Sandwich Bread

Thanks to a little light reading of my new Michael Pollan books, along with some good talks with my husband, we have decided to start trying to change our diet. How? Eating more local foods (the switch to local beef and hopefully to all meats soon) and eating more whole foods. We’ve been cutting processed foods out of our diet one item at a time and replacing them with homemade versions. Although some of it can be challenging (snack foods remain the last item we’ll address) it’s working out pretty well. It helps that I love cooking and that every homemade version we make tastes 10x better than the store-bought junk.

The one item that remained a challenge was bread. Sounds funny, right? Well, my husband is very particular when it comes to his sandwich bread. He likes his bread really soft, but he likes wheat bread. So pretty much any homemade bread I’ve made in the past has been too dense. Sure, he’s liked it all, but it never passes the work week sandwich test-until now. Ryan came home from work today and this batch passed!

 How good was it? See that empty plate there? There was a sandwich on that at one time. And the fact that he likes it AND I like it and approve of it is HUGE! So without further ado, I’d like to share with you the ultimate, soft, sweet, light wheat sandwich bread!

Light Wheat Sandwich Bread
*All the credit goes to the amazing Beauty that Moves*

NOTE: This recipe has been adapted for a bread machine. If you are going to make this recipe by hand, please use the original recipe found at the “Beauty that Moves” link above.

1 1/3 c. warm water
1/3 c. honey (or sugar, or agave nectar, or anyone want to try maple syrup?)
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sea salt (regular salt will work just as fine)
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp. vegetable oil
2 2/3 c. white bread flour
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour

*Makes two loaves*

Add ingredients according to your bread machine’s instructions (usually liquids at the bottom, followed by additives, flour on top, then yeast on top of the flour in a depression). Select dough setting. As with any bread batch, watch it carefully. After a few minutes, check to see if you need to add a pinch more water or flour to allow one nice ball of dough to form. After the session is complete, turn dough out onto a floured surface. Cut into equal halves. Shape into loaves and put into two bread pans. Cover and let rise in a warm area about 30 minutes or until doubled in size. After, bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 minutes.

Enjoy! If anyone tries this, let me know what you think!