100% Whole Wheat Bread That Actually Tastes Great – Healthy & Delicious!
Have you ever eaten 100% Whole Wheat Bread? It can be grainy and not very good. By using a no knead, sourdough method, I created a Whole Wheat Bread that actually tastes great! That’s right. Don’t believe me? Give this recipe a whirl in your own kitchen and see if you don’t absolutely love it, too! It’s now one of my absolute favorites and I have tried lots of breads.
There are Lots of Whole Wheat Bread Recipes – Why this one?
This one is made from 100% whole grains (whole wheat flour & rye sourdough starter). If you said, but wait, there are lots of whole wheat bread recipes. You would be right. But, have you actually read them? They are only a small percentage of whole wheat flours normally mixed with white flour to give the bread better structure, taste, and lightness. So, yes, you will get some whole wheat from them but the majority is still white flour. Not this recipe, this is 100 PERCENT whole wheat with a rye whole grain starter.
Why use 100% Whole Wheat Flour for Whole Wheat Bread?
First off, it is Healthy and second, it tastes great! Whole wheat flour retains the endosperm, wheat bran, and wheat germ from the hulled wheat. It is processed whole (thus the name). White flour has the wheat bran and wheat germ sifted out, leaving only the endosperm (center), giving you a softer flour, like white all purpose (AP) flour. Some AP white flours are even bleached, yup! That’s right, you read correctly, bleached. Really? Who needs that in their system? White flours are also “enriched” so after taking out the good parts, they add back iron, thiamine, niacin, ribloflavin and folic acid. Why not just eat the healthier whole wheat flour?
100% Whole Wheat Bread – No Knead Method
Add whole wheat flour to the mix 
Use a Danish Dough Hook to thoroughly mix whole wheat flour with wet mix 
Sliced 100% whole wheat bread
Whole Wheat Flour provides natural nutrients and fiber from germ and bran that you will not get from white flour. These nutrients and fiber help you maintain a healthy gut by hanging out for a while. White flour spikes your blood sugar and passes quickly through your gut. Don’t get me wrong, white flour has it’s place for delicate baked goods, but whole wheat flour is better for you when included in a healthy, balanced diet.
A second reason is that Whole Wheat Flour tastes great in bread. Whole Wheat Flour is more flavorful and when added to bread it changes the taste profile completely. I often add a small portion of whole wheat flour to my white bread flours in order to add a boost of flavor. I also use a whole rye sourdough starter which adds flavor and nutrients, too.
Quick Vignette
I have a confession to make. When I was a child, I was a terribly picky eater. Now in my family’s defense, my mother was a great cook and my father could grill some great BBQ. But, I preferred to eat pastina (small bits of pasta with butter and milk), pizza, peanut butter with jelly sandwiches (on you guessed it, white bread) and raspberries. Plus, I never tasted a sweet bakery item I did not like. But, when it came to brown bread (whole wheat bread) I just would not budge. I absolutely could not stomach it. My sandwiches were always made on Wonder Bread (am I dating myself).
Fast forward to today and I am happy to report that I eat darn near everything. My taste buds just took a long time to catch up to the rest of my body. Also, thanks to travels around the world I now crave and appreciate all sorts of food and cuisines.
Sharing is Caring
Try this no knead, 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe in your kitchen. It makes one loaf but you can easily double the recipe. Help me achieve my vision of Bake One & Share One – Great Bread for All by sharing one of your loaves of bread with a neighbor, co-worker or friend. Their tummies (and hearts) will be filled with deliciously homemade generosity from your kitchen. Post pictures of your results and tag me @christinasbreadbakes on FB or IG! I love to see your beautiful breads. Happy baking, Bread Bakers!
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- Dough Whisk
- Digital Metric Scale
- 4 L food container with lid or bowl with plastic wrap
- 8.5" x 4" Loaf Pan
Ingredients
- 100 g Rye Sourdough Starter
- 350 g Water
- 110 g Honey
- 400 g Whole Wheat Flour
- 11 g Sea Salt
Instructions
Scaling
- Measure all your ingredients using a metric scale. All ingredients are measured in grams for ease.
Mixing
- Put the sourdough starter, water, and the honey in a 4L/4Q container.
- Mix ingredients together until you form a slurry with a danish dough whisk.
- Add whole wheat flour to the sourdough/water/honey mix.
- Mix thoroughly until no dry flour remains. Set aside for 20-30 minutes to autolyse (hydrate) the flour. Hint: Using a danish dough whisk makes this step easier.
- Sprinkle salt on top of the autolysed flour.
- Using your middle finger and thumb, pinch together through the dough several times to "cut" the salt in to the hydrated flour. Pull the sides of the mix up and over the salt. Repeat cutting and folding until the salt is evenly distributed. Set aside for ten minutes.Hint: Do not worry if the mix is hard to work with, it will come together and smooth out as you conduct several stretch and folds over the next couple of hours.
- Perform the first of four stretch and folds. To do this, pull the sides of the dough up and lay it over itself. Turn the container 90 degrees and pull the dough up again and lay it over itself. Do this all the way around until the dough is well stretched and folded. Flip the resulting dough ball over so folds are on the bottom. Rest for 30 minutes.Hint: The dough may be difficult to stretch and fold at this point. As it relaxes and the gluten begins to develop, the stretch and fold process becomes much easier. When you stretch the dough, try not to rip it, stretch only to the point where it does not rip.
- Perform a series of three more stretch and folds over the next two hours. Allow the dough to rest 30 minutes in between folds.
Bulk Fermentation
- After four stretch and folds (about 2½-3 hours after the first mix) place the container in a warm place (68-75) degrees. Allow it to rise until doubled in size.Hint: This may take 4-8 hours depending on two factors: how active your sourdough starter is and the temperature in your room. A warmer temperature results in a quicker bulk ferment while a cooler temperature results in a slower bulk ferment.
Folding (sometimes called punching)
- Once the dough is doubled in size, flour a work surface, remove the cover and gently dump or scrape the dough out. Hint: This achieves "punching" the dough down, releasing some of the CO2 gas that has developed during bulk fermentation.
Dividing
- Dividing means cutting the dough into pre-baked portions. This recipe makes exactly one loaf of bread baked in a 10cm x 20 cm (8" x 4" inch) loaf pan. So no need to divide the bread dough.
Pre-Shaping/Rounding
- Gently shape the dough into a 12 cm x 25 cm (5" x 10") rectangle.
- Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap or kitchen towel.
Bench Proofing/Resting
- Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Hint: This allows the gluten to relax so it can be shaped.
- Prepare the 10cm x 20 cm (8" x 4" inch) loaf pan by spraying it with oil. Set aside.
Makeup & Panning
- After the 10 minute rest, roll the relaxed dough away from you into a log. Half way, tuck the sides of the log into the center and continue to roll into a tight shape. Turn it over so the crease is under the bread. Cup your hands around the shaped bread and pull/drag it towards you to tighten it up. Finished size should be a 17 cm x 7 cm (7" x 3") rolled log.Hint: Rolling the bread tightly here gives you a nice closed crumb in your final bread by expelling all the CO2 gas that has developed during the bulk ferment. The closed crumb is desirable and appropriate for a sandwich bread of this type. A loose roll results in a more open hole structure.
- Gently pick up the rolled dough and place it into the prepared pan.
- Cover the pan with sprayed plastic wrap.
Proofing (second rise)
- Set pan with dough in it aside for 45 minutes – 1½ hours to proof. Hint: It is done proofing when it has filled the pan and has risen to about 2 cm / 1 inch above the top of the pan.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
- Once bread has finished proofing and oven is preheated, cut the top of the dough the long ways down the center with a sharp knife.
- Coat the top of the bread with melted butter or spray oil to keep it soft during baking.
- Immediately place the pan into the preheated oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes and rotate the pan 180°.
- Continue to bake for 25 – 35 more minutes until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Total baking time is 45-55 minutes. When removed from the pan, the bottom should also be nicely browned. Hint: If top browns quickly but bottom is not, cover the top of bread lightly with aluminum foil and continue to bake until top and bottom is brown.
Cooling
- Remove the bread from the pan immediately. Place it on a cooling rack.
- Cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing. The bread continues to bake and set until it is cool so do not slice before this time has passed.
Storing
- After the bread has cooled completely, wrap in a plastic wrap, bag or container and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Bread can also be sliced and placed into the freezer, take out one slice at a time and toast for breakfast.
Can I use white flour sourdough starter for this? I’d like to get a rye sourdough starter going but don’t have time right now
Hi Pam! yes, you can use your white sourdough starter, although the flavor will be slightly different. If you want to add a rye flavor, substitute 50 g of rye flour for 50g of the whole wheat flour. And, if you want to learn more about your starter and how to create a rye one, read this great starter article! Happy Baking.
My family love this bread. I used 100% whole wheat instead of rye because my family aren’t fond of rye. I’ve made it half a dozen times mostly during a very hot humid summer. I found the dough too wet. It wouldn’t form up the way you would expect dough to form a ball. Now that the fall weather has arrived (much less humid and cooler) the folding is working out better. In hindsight, in the humid weather I’d reduce the water a little. Although the dough didn’t form up in the hot weather the loaf still tasted great. Thank you so much for this recipe I’m making the change to whole wheat in my diet generally. Until I found this I would have described whole wheat bread as tasting like sand!
Cathy – I am so thrilled that you loved this 100% whole wheat bread, it is a personal favorite of mine. Thanks for sharing your experience with the high humidity hydration mix for this dough. You are completely correct in that you must adjust for ambient humidity (high humidity = less water; low humidity = more water). Great observation! Happy baking and enjoy your new found love of Whole Wheat Bread.
This bread is so delicious! It surpassed my expectations! I used freshly milled hard red wheat and the flavor is just incredible.
Welcome to my site Sharla and thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I am really glad you liked the 100% whole wheat bread, happy baking!
This is the post I have been waiting for. Yaay. can’t wait to make this bread.
Hi Gabriela – I am so glad you liked this recent one, it is soooo delicious, enjoy baking it.
I love the sound of this bread. I only have a white sourdough starter at the minute so I’ll investigate creating one based on rye flour. I quite like the taste of rye in ordinary breads so I’m sure that this is going to be delicious. Off to locate a pot to create this starter in…
Hi Julia! It’s super simple to create one starter from another. Just use a tablespoon of your white starter and refresh with water and rye a couple of times, you will have a rye starter in no time!