The smell of homemade bread is intoxicating for me! A fresh slice from the oven with a little butter on the top is like a taste of heaven! Especially when this bread comes from your very own oven and is made from quality ingredients, no additives, and soaked for the highest nutritional benefit! Who can ask for better? The question is not whether it will save you money to make your own bread (which I am sure it will all the same), but rather you will know exactly what is being put into your bread! It is all about quality and freshness! Making homemade bread was one of my jobs growing up where it was rather of a burden than a joy to complete, but now that I am married and raising a family, I have come to realize the real value of developing this art!
Read a few benefits here.
Helpful Hints on Successful Bread Making
- When possible, use fresh home-milled flour. This will have the highest nutritional content, and the best baking characteristics for higher rising loaves. If this is not possible, store good quality flour in your freezer, but bring it to room temperature before using for the best results.
- Use high quality yeast such as SAF Instant Dry Yeast. This is available in quantity at Costco for a good price. Store in the freezer. It will last 2 years or more. If your yeast does not proof, then it is too old!
- Remember to proof your yeast! Add your yeast to warm water (between 100-115 degrees) with 1 tsp of honey. This will prepare it for action!
- Remember that less flour is best! You should only add just enough flour until the beaters in your mixing bowl are scraping the sides of the bowl clean. If you add too much flour, your bread will be crumbly. Dough should still be slightly sticky before kneading.
- Develop the gluten thoroughly. When dough is properly kneaded it will be smooth and elastic. A quick test for sufficient kneading is to take a golfball-sized portion of dough; stretch it between the thumb and index finger of both hands to determine if the gluten is fully developed. The dough should stretch out thin and not tear readily.
- Make sure to give your dough two risings! The additional rising will develop flavor, gluten framework and make more fluffy loaves. It is optional, if you are in a hurry.
- Only let rise till doubled before baking! This is the mistake I make too often. 30 minutes is a good length of time. If they rise too long the structure of the loaf will become weak and it will sink or fall completely during baking.
Homemade Whole Grain Soaked Bread
Learn more about the benefits of soaking here.
11 cups of ground whole wheat flour (you can replace 1 or 2 cups with unbleached white flour for a lighter end result)
1 cup acid medium (kefir, cultured buttermilk, or whey; for dairy intolerant you can substitute with 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and 3/4 cup water)
3 cups of warm filtered water
2 cups oats
1 cup honey
3/4 cup coconut oil, or butter melted
1/4 cup raw millet, optional
1/4 cup flax seed, optional
1/2 cup water
1 tsp honey
2 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
2-4 Tbsp dough enhancer (I highly recommend this dough enhancer, as it works very well, but you can also replace with any combination of the following: 3 table spoons vital wheat gluten, 1/2 tea spoon soy lecithin, a pinch of citric acid (use sparingly!), and a sprinkling of ginger)
1 cup unbleached white flour or sprouted flour, if necessary
Sunflower seeds, if desired
Directions:
- Combine the flour, acid medium, oats, honey, melted oil, millet and flax seeds, and 3 cups of filtered water. Cover and soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
- After soaking, in a separate small bowl, combine yeast, 1 tsp of honey, and 1/2 cup warm filtered water. Let sit for 5 minutes or so, until fully proofed.
- Combine the yeast mixture, soaked flour mixture, and all the rest of the ingredients in your mixer. You may need to add an additional 1-2 cups of flour. Dough should clean the sides of the mixer.
- Knead the dough for 10 minutes until the gluten is fully developed.
- Remove to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Punch down, turn dough over, and allow to rise until doubled again, about 45 minutes. (OPTIONAL, but preferred for best results)
- Punch down dough and divide into 4 loaves. Roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle and roll up into a loaf (this makes the perfectly shaped loaves).
- Place in greased bread bans and rise again until doubled, about 30-45 minutes minutes (the best place is the oven! Just turn it on low 150-170 degrees till heated and then turn it off, prior to putting the loaves in).
- Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes. Bread is done when it is fully browned on all sides! Remove from oven, rest in pans for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
Yield: 4 loaves.
If you do not desire to soak your flour, follow these instructions:
You have the option of replacing the 1 cup acid medium with water in the recipe above, so you have a total of 4 1/2 cups of water, or you can use the acid medium and just skip the soaking and proceed as described here.
- Combine yeast, 1 tsp of honey, and 1/2 cup of the total water required. Let sit for 5 minutes or so, until fully proofed.
- Combine the yeast mixture, remaining 4 cups of water (or 1 cup acid medium & 3 cups water), and all the rest of the ingredients in your mixer. Only add as much flour until it cleans the sides of the bowl.
- Knead the dough for 10 minutes until the gluten is fully developed.
- Remove to a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Punch down and divide into 4 loaves. Roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle and roll up into a loaf (this makes the perfectly shaped loaves).
- Place in greased bread bans and rise again until doubled, about 30-45 minutes minutes (the best place is the oven! Just turn it on low 150-170 degrees till heated and then turn it off, prior to putting the loaves in).
- Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and bake for 30-45 minutes. Bread is done when it is fully browned on all sides! Remove from oven, rest in pans for 10 minutes before removing from pans.
Further Resources
A few excellent articles and tips on making your own homemade bread! Urban Homemaker has an abundance of resources on this topic!
Bread Baking Problems & Solutions
Tips for the Best Bread
Want to make this bread in your bread machine? Check out Inspired Homemaking’s adapted version of my recipe for use in a bread machine.
Thanks for the recipe- it sounds amazing! I have a question…
Do you have any suggestions for adding other grains or tubers into this bread recipe? (ex. cracked wheat, potato, yucca, batata). Because I live in the D.R., I don’t currently have access to fresh whole grains. My choices are either: bleached white flour; processed, imported whole wheat pastry flour; oat flour (they sell packaged, ground oats to use in drinks, I’m guessing it’s still processed) or mixing wheat germ, wheat bran, and the white flour to “make” a whole wheat flour (for some reason I can get the germ and bran in the “big city” an hour away, but not good w.w. flour). However, locally, I can buy cracked wheat, (which I cook with frequently) and they have many tubers here that they grow and sell. I would love to incorporate some of the local things I can buy (and not need to use super processed flour). Any suggestions are appreciated!
1st, I love your blog!
I just started making more than one loaf of bread at a time since I got a Bosch for my birthday! Thanks to my honey!! I assume you freeze the 3 extra loaves you make when you make the 4 loaf recipe. Is there a special way you wrap them so they won’t get dry? You may have covered this & I hope I am not asking you to repeat yourself. Please point me in the right direction in comments if it has been answered.
BTW, there really is a Paula at Paula’s Bread and she is so sweet! Luckily we live not far from each other & I was able to tell her I found her on your site. : )
The bread has been wonderful!
I wold simply slice them up and freeze them in Ziploc bags. Yes, Paula is an awesome mommy!
Hi. I was curious, i have a friend with diabetes and was wondering if i could use almond flour in place of the other flour.
Hi Lindsay,
Love what you’re doing–from your faith to the kitchen. It’s a treat to sit down and see what’s new on your site. Thanks for sharing with us.
Was wondering if you or anyone else reading might be able to answer my question. I have tried a couple times to soak my bread recipe that I love using. It’s been simple enough and seems to work fine except that my loaves don’t rise nearly as tall and the dough doesn’t grow as much. The yeast (I also use costco stuff) does proof fine, and the dough rises–just much more dwarfy than when I don’t soak the flour. Does soaking somehow retard the dough like that or maybe make it take a much longer time to rise?
Blessings,
Camille
The link to the dough enhancer didn’t work. Can you post what is is and where you get it?
http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1635&idcategory=330
That’s the link, I believe, to the dough enhancer. I bought 3 of them from that site and don’t think I’ll be using them (we’re mostly gluten/grain-free now, actually). So if you’re interested, I’d be willing to sell any or all of them to you for a discounted price. I did open one a couple months ago and used two tablespoons, but that’s it, so practically like new Anyway, if you’re interested, email me at jrcrhansen at gmail dot com. Happy bread making!
LOVE this recipe. i am a newbie at making bread, and mine turned out fantastic. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy
This bread is sitting on my table, steaming hot, and it tastes fantastic! I didn’t have dough enhancer or enough bread pans, but it still turned out FANTASTIC
) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve butchered whole wheat bread before. I’m so happy to have found this recipe! Nice job Lindsay! Thanks for sharing.
I have a question regarding the soaking part of the recipe. I do not have kefir, cultured buttermilk or whey to use, nor do I have the raw apple cider vinegar. BUT I do have buttermilk that is not cultured. Could I use this in place of cultured buttermilk or maybe use 3/4 cup regular buttermilk with 1/4 cup lemon juice instead of just using water and lemon juice. Just wondering if this would work. I don’t know how much of a difference 3/4 cup of buttermilk vs. 3/4 cup water would make in the end result of the bread since I am new to bread making. I never know how all the ingredients work or what purpose they serve. I am new to your blog and look forward to your response. I love your outlook on food and agree with your views. Thanks so much for what you do. I’ll let you know how this bread turns out for me
.
Jennifer
I would recommend the buttermilk and lemon juice combo. Buttermilk will give it a more moist texture than water. Use about 1/4 cup lemon juice and the rest buttermilk.
THIS BREAD RECIPE LOOKS GREAT! I HAVE JUST STARTED TO TRY SOME NOURISHING TRADITIONS RECIPES AND AM SLOWLY GETTING THE HANG OF THE WHOLE SOAKING THING! THANKS FOR THE GREAT SITE!
Hi! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I’m wondering if you can make it w/out the oats & olive oil instead of butter?
Thanks for the education on soaking!
I saw how you usually soak your grains. I would really like to try this recipe. My kids have been gluten free for 1 year and I have considered adding gluten back in (but in a healthy whole grain way.) I am concerned about all of the whole grain not being soaked. Help, any suggestions?! By the way, they do not have celiac disease, it was more for adhd, etc behavior.) It has definitely had a noticeable affect going gluten free, but I don’t think that is the only answer. Is there a way to add say 90% of the flour and soak it over night, then the only non-soaked flour would be the flour used to knead it? I don’t have access to sprouted grains. Help! Any suggestions would be appreciated! Kelly
I have a child who is gluten free except with the fresh ground whole grains…I have found it to be more an issue of what chemicals foods are treated with more so than the gluten itself and it seems the gluten free foods are more organic and less chemically treated. I would try a mini muffin first just to see how the body reacts but only use FRESH ground flour. If you want to talk more about it feel free to get in contact with me!
Do you soak couscous and qiouna as well? If so how long?
Should I soak grains such as couscous and quiona first as well? If so how long?
I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but I have a few questions. I’m completely new to the art of homemade bread, let alone soaked! First, I bought Fleishmann’s “Instant Dry Yeast” at Sam’s, which apparently doesn’t need to be proofed first. You say in your instructions to use instant dry yeast (under Helpful Hints on Successful Bread Making, letter B) but that is clearly a typo. So, if I’m using instant dry yeast, when would I add it? At the same time as I would add the proofed yeast, only without the “proofing,” I’m assuming? Also, is adding the vital wheat gluten or dough enhancer imperative? I don’t have any at home, so if it is, I guess I’ll have to wait for my next trip to Natural Grocers!
Hi Alyssa, I had a similar question regarding the yeast. I believe what you need for this recipe is “active dry yeast”, not instant. I bought Red Star from costco, which did need to be proofed. It worked great. I believe that’s what Lindsay uses sometimes, too. I’m not sure though how you could use instant in this recipe, sorry can’t help with that.
Also, as far as I know, the dough enhancer or vital wheat gluten aren’t necessary, but they do help make the bread softer and extend the shelf-life. I bought the dough enhancer and used it the one time I’ve made this recipe so far (my very first time EVER bread baking!), and the bread was fantastic. BUT, I have no way of comparing what it would be like without the dough enhancer.
I’m actually not going to be using the dough enhancer anymore, since my husband and I are mostly gluten/grain-free now, and I have three large canisters (one is open and I used 2 T of it) of it sitting in my pantry from 4 months ago. As I said to someone else above, if you want to buy any or all of my dough enhancer (I bought them from the urbanhomemaker.com site), I’d be willing to sell them to you at a cheaper price. Email me at jrcrhansen at gmail dot com if you’re interested. Hopefully this all helps!
Quick question, you mention to “F.Punch down, turn dough over, and allow to rise until doubled again, about 45 minutes. (OPTIONAL, but preferred for best results)” in the soaked directions, but not in the other… is there a reason to do this when dealing with soaked grains versus not soaking? Or can it give “best results” for both methods? (FYI, I did not soak my grains…) Thanks in advance for your reply
-Michelle
It is simply an oversight on my part…it is optimal for both methods.
Lindsay, I wonder if you could help me with this mess-up. I accidentally put in double the amount of honey! Yikes. I just went ahead and mixed the dough in my Bosch and it is really sticky. I wonder if there is anything I can do… Thanks!
Hi!
We’re new to this (just got a mill tonight by Fed Ex!) and I’m wondering about your homemade bread recipe and soaking the flour. In your recipe, part A, it doesn’t mention putting water with the flour, oats, honey, acid medium, etc. Am I missing the obvious? I assume that the 3 cups of warm filtered water is a part of “part A” also? Thanks for your help!
Yes, you are correct. I’ve updated it above.
Hello!
My beloved and I are just trying out your soaked whole wheat bread recipe (it’s in the soaking phase right now) and had a silly question: when we add the liquid to soak the bread are we supposed to mix it to a homogenous dough ball, or just leave it un-mixed to soak? (We currently have it mixed to a dough-ball.)
Thanks for your help! We’re looking forward to the finished product tomorrow:)
You want to fully incorporate all ingredients.
I followed this recipe to a tee, and the loaves came out perfectly!!! So delicious. It tastes like the Seeduction bread from Whole Foods!
Do you know how many calories are in a slice (an average size bread slice) Just curious.
Thanks for the recipe
Hi Lindsay, I just purchased a mill and I was wondering if you could tell me what wheat you use to get a light loaf? Also have you been able to find a good dough enhancer that you can purchase at a local store. Thank you so much a really enjoy your postings.
Blessings, Amie
I use Prairie Mountain Gold Hard White wheat. No, I order dough enhancer online through the source provided.
This recipe looks wonderful! I've been baking my own bread for about a year and a half now but have only begun grinding and soaking my flour about a month ago. So far, I've only attempted muffins, non-yeast breads, and a flopped sourdough recipe. Anyway, I want to try this, but I do not have a heavy duty mixer. In the past, I've made my bread dough in a bread machine (dough cycle), then let it rise on the counter, and baked in my oven. My questions are:
1. Will a hand held mixer work for getting all the ingredients together?
2. If I would put it in my bread machine after soaking, would I need to mix the flour and other ingredients first or would the machine be able to knead all of that together? If in the b. machine, would I used bread machine yeast (I have the Red Star brand)?
3. Why do you prefer dough enhancer over vital gluten?
Thanks for your help!
First off, the best method here would be to single the recipe and kneed in your bread machine as you have done before. Several other readers have tried that previously in the comments above and it worked. I would not recommend a hand mixer. Better rather to mix it by hand than a hand mixer. I do not know the power of your bread machine, but a single recipe (1 loaf I mean) should work just fine after soaking. I prefer dough enhancer because it is more effective in producing a softer texture to the vital wheat gluten.
A few questions, how would you half this recipe if you only wanted two loaves? Or is it easier to bake the 4 and then freeze the ones you don't eat? if frozen does the bread lose it's nutritional value? I know with fresh ground wheat it loses it's value quickly once the grain is cracked open.
Thank you!
I always make four loaves and freeze the extras. Freezing helps preserve the nutritional value.
YUM! i just made this bread and it is fabulous! thanks so so much for sharing! i halved it since my mixer can’t handle the whole batch, but it still turned out great and i love that it is basically the healthiest bread you could eat!
I combined this recipe with another that I like and adjusted it so I could make it in a 1 lb bread machine. Here are my results http://cottonwoodcottagefarm.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/soaked-whole-grain-spelt-bread/ It turned out great, Thanks Lindsey.
Hi Lindsay. Thanks for your delicious bread recipe that I have made twice! The second time it was the BEST bread I’ve ever tasted. The first time I made some mistakes that others might benefit from hearing. First, I “soaked” the bread without the 3 c. of water because it’s listed in the ingredients, but not in the instructions. Whoops. Then, I didn’t heat the water for the yeast up hot enough and it didn’t proof as well as it should have, so my loaves were shallow. Last, I misread your instructions to TURN OFF the oven before the last rise, and pre-baked them a little. Regardless of all my awful abuses, it still came out tasting wonderful.
Question – I bought dough enhancer just to make your bread, and while I think that the soy lecithin is a very, very small, small portion of the recipe and it doesn’t matter too much, I was wondering if you have any suggestions for purists? I’d like to link your recipe to my blog and I want to be prepared! (What would happen without the dough conditioner, anyway?)
Thanks for everything!
Michelle G
Vital wheat gluten alone can be substituted for the dough enhancer. It’s purpose is to give the dough a better rise and softer texture.
I made the same mistake, soaking without the water, I wasn’t able to achieve a good stretchy dough after correcting the error and letting it soak another 24 hours. After reading your message, I’m hopeful that it will turn out just fine.
Tamie S.
I just tried your bread, soaking and all, and it is the best bread I have ever made! Thank you for sharing this recipe. Now soaking doesn’t intimidate me as much!
Just curious if you had researched soy lecithin at all. I did a web search on it and came up with a page from the Weston Price Foundation http://www.westonaprice.org/Soy-Lecithin-From-Sludge-to-Profit.html
Thanks for the bread recipe, though. For some reason converting recipes to incorporate soaking is intimidating for me.
I am working at a high elevation and when I add the oats and flax qith the 11c fresh ground winter red wheat flour there is not enough liquids to wet all the dry. Oh yea I also add the coconut oil and honey. I prefer the flavor of why and since I have a lot from my cheese making I use that. So my question is do you add more liquids some times? I have just tried today adding 1 extra cup water! I made it the first time with one cup of oats and no flax and it came out beautiful but when I added the other cup oats and flax it was heavy and didn’t rise as it had last time! So would you add more water? Also I want to add some molasses for the vitamin content. Would I have to change anything if I did?
Thanks
I am not sure how high elevation affects bread, but I think you are on the right track. Add just enough liquids to make a moist dough…if you need to cut back a bit on the flour, then do that. If it worked to cut out some oats and flax, I would go with what works for you. As to adding molasses, simply substitute it for part of the honey. Say 1/3 cup molasses and 2/3 cup honey, or similar.
I just made this recipe today (well, I started soaking last night…). It is so delicious! I’ve struggled with making good 100% whole grain bread for a while and this one is great!
I just made bread using soaked freshly milled wheat. It was the first time i have soaked the wheat. I used my usual recipe because that is what has worked in my bread machine for a while now.
I added my usual quantity of water and the resulting consistancy was a ball a dough…..is that ok? Is that right amount for soaking?
Loaf was fine, consistancy was not quite a good as usual, but tasted stronger and a little better.
It took me ages to tweek the ingredients of my bread for the bread machine, do you have a recipe for the break machines. (i guess i should search around some more…!)
Thx a mill
Would probably add a bit more liquids, but if it turned out well you are on the right track. I have had several readers divide my recipe into fourths and doing it in the bread machine with great success. You can look through the comments here.
P.S. I have another question:
I have a container of soaked and cooked steel-cut oats in the freezer. Do you think I can use it in this recipe? It’s quite thickened, and when I reheat it for breakfast I do usually add some water. But it’s cooked! What would you recommend I should do if I wanted to use it or some of it in this recipe. I have bought an oatmeal bread and loved it.
New bread baker. Thanks for your help.
I would probably recommend just using less…since it is already cooked. Maybe half the required amount?
I’ll try. It’s daunting enough when you follow a recipe exactly, but when you start by breaking the rules… . Whew. I think someone among your readers must have done this. With a family it would be easy to have leftover porridge, and why waste it?
When you say to put the loaves in the oven to rise, and then say to bake at 350, do you remove the loaves while the oven rises to temperature, or just turn the oven up and let it go. My oven takes some time to come to temperature, and I wonder if the risen bread would deflate while it waited on the counter.
No, I leave them in the oven while it is heating.
A couple questions from a first time breadmaker (these are going to be embarrassing to ask!).
The only mixer I have is a sunbeam stand mixer, and as far as I know there’s not a part for kneading dough. Can I mix the ingredients in a bowl with a spoon/spatula and then knead by hand? Or do I need the Bosch or something similar? Is there anything that is cheaper than those?
Regarding steps 3 and 4 in the soaked version: when you say ‘dough should be clean on the sides of the mixer’ are you referring to when you’re simply combining the ingredients or is that when you’re kneading? How do you know when the gluten is fully developed? This is another language to me!
What is the dough enhancer you recommend? I don’t see the link that used to be there.
Is “active dry yeast” the same as “instant dry yeast”? I found Red Star active dry yeast at Costco, not SAF instant (it was at our local health foods store but was much more expensive). Is Red Star an okay brand? Regarding the SAF brand, I noticed on the amazon page many people saying it doesn’t need to be “proofed” but you said it will need to be… Just want to check!
SORRY for asking a bajillion questions… I’m 100% new to making bread and I’ve hardly ever bake anything other than cookies. And I’m much more of a visual learner, so this is obviously why I can’t figure things out with even good written instructions most of the time. I wanted to do that eCourse that just started but can’t financially for now, but I know that will help me a lot if I can take the next course!
Thanks Lindsay for all your time and help, you have no idea what a resource you are to me and others!
Dear Carrie,
Unfortunately, I do not have the time to adequately address your questions, so I am going to direct you to a great little book that will help you out with breadmaking. Its called the Beginners Guide to Bread Making by Marilyn Moll. That should help you get launched in the right direction. This recipe can be mixed in a bowl and kneaded by hand. A Bosch only makes it ten times easier. When I say ‘dough should clean the sides of the mixer’ that is in reference to adding the flour but with a mixer. You don’t want to add too much. If mixing by hand, you will just have to determine it by stickiness. Add more flour and kneed until it is a soft pliable dough and doesn’t stick all over your hands. Cover hands well with oil to help.
Here is a link to the dough enhancer: http://urbanhomemaker.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1635&idcategory=330.
Active dry yeast is not the same as instant. The Red Star yeast from Costco is what I use. Yes, it needs to be proofed.
Check out the ebook mentioned above. I think it would be very useful to you! Hope that helps! Bless your bread baking endeavors!
Thanks so much!! So even though you say to use SAF instant dry yeast, and since you said it isn’t the same as active dry yeast, it’s okay to use the Red Star active dry yeast for this recipe? Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!
I did not say to use the instant dry yeast…you need active dry and the costco brand (red star) qualifies for that.
I was just confused when it said at the top: “Use high quality yeast such as SAF Instant Dry Yeast”… that’s where I got the “instant” part from. Thanks for clarifying!
Sorry, my fault!