I've just baked my first normal-looking loaf of whole-wheat bread in my bread machine. The recipe is a little fiddlier than I'd like — I'm going to experiment now with modifications of it — and the structure is a little more open (the air bubbles are a bit big) than I'd like — but this is definitely working now.
- 9 ounces water
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 3 and 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
- 3 and 1/2 teaspoons gluten
I used the standard "wheat" cycle on the machine without the extended rise. It turned out soft and very tasty, if a little bit sweet. I used honey because I decided I don't like the flavor of molasses in my bread (haven't tried plain white sugar yet). Coconut oil is the all-purpose fat that I use for most cooking.
Things still to try: I will try leaving the nonfat dry milk out, and then try leaving the egg out, and see what happens. Then I may try some experiments that leave out the gluten but have different combinations of whole wheat flour and bread flour. I'd also like to attempt a sourdough and a rye bread at some point, but I really think I need to get "the family's standard whole wheat sandwich bread" perfected as soon as possible.
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