Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

It is glorious to be able to take photos outside in the sunshine! The weather here is perfect Michigan spring and we're just eating it up. My kids love to eat outside and they will merrily cart plates and silverware outside even just for a quick snack. After I was done with this photo shoot, we enjoyed slices of still-warm wheat bread smeared with butter and drizzled with honey. The rest of the bread was saved for school lunches.

This light wheat bread it is the perfect sliced bread. It's pillowy and sweet from the malted milk, slices well, and my kids love it. It requires two very short rises and is done in 2.5-3 hours. The hardest part of making this bread is waiting for it too cool to slice it. Make it the night before you need it and you'll have the best sandwiches the next day.

This recipe is based on Stella Parks, "Homemade Wonder Bread." I've simplified the ingredient list, and changed up the proportions a bit, but kept her techniques. Getting this perfect texture and underlying sweetness requires two elements, neither of which is tricky: adding malted milk powder and making an easy roux. You can find malted milk powder at most grocery stores or buy it online. It keeps for a long time and is a great addition to things like waffles, cookies, pancakes, and brownies. The roux is just some milk and flour cooked on the stove until it has the consistency of mashed potatoes. It takes about 2 minutes of cooking over medium heat to get it to that texture, and that's it! With these two tricks your bread will stay moist and have a sweet lingering taste that kids (and adults) love.

NOTE ABOUT SUGAR: We like this bread with either the full amount of sugar or 1 tablespoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of honey. It honestly just depends on your personal preference. If using honey, just add 1 tablespoon of sugar when you're activating your yeast and add the honey when you add the coconut oil to the dough.

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Wheat Sandwich Bread

Time 2.5-3 hours plus time to cool

Special equipment: 8" bread pan, stand mixer (or very strong arms)

Adapted from Stella Parks "Homemade Wonderbread" in BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts

Ingredients

Milk Roux

1/3 cup or 1.4 ounces bread flour 3/4 cup whole milk

Activating Yeast:

3/4 cup whole milk warmed but not hot (about 110 degrees)

2 teaspoons dry active yeast

1/4 cup sugar

Dough

2 and 1/3 cups or 10 ounces bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour or 4 ounces (not white wheat or stone ground)

1/3 cup (1.5 ounces) malted milk powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons Diamond brand kosher salt (half as much table salt)

1/4 cup coconut oil or 1.5 ounces (virgin or refined your bread will not taste coconutty) at room temperature (sold but not hard)

STEP ONE: Make the Roux

Combine milk and flour in a small pot and cook over medium heat stirring constantly with a fork or heat-safe spatula. The milk and flour will quickly go from unmixed, to a glue like consistency to mashed potato consistency. When it's thick like mashed potatoes remove from heat and set aside to cool (about 5-10 minutes).

STEP TWO: Activate the Yeast

Add the sugar and yeast to warm milk (milk should feel warm not hot) and set aside to bloom. Once yeast has bloomed and roux has cooled move on to step 3 (about 5 minutes).

STEP THREE: Make the Dough

Add both flours, salt, malted milk powder, coconut oil, yeast-milk and sugar mixture, and roux to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with dough hook attachment. Start on "stir" and combine ingredients. then on 2 to kneed for 12 minutes. Dough should be sticky and not look ragged when you pull pieces apart. Dough should pass the "bubble gum test" of being able to stretch without tearing in half, instead it should look like it's a popped bubble gum. Grease your stand mixer bowl and form dough into a smooth ball and turn once to cover in oil. Set dough in a warm spot for about 30 minutes until dough becomes puffy and feels firm. You should be able to make an impression on your finger. See photo below. In a cool kitchen this could take 45 minutes to an hour.

STEP FOUR: Shape Your Loaf

Preheat oven to 350. Turn dough out of bowl and spread into an 8x8 inch square then fold it in thirds like you're folding a piece of paper to stuff an envelope. Put the folded dough in a 8 inch bread pan and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm draft free place for 30 minutes.

STEP FIVE: Bake Your Bread

Add bread to preheated oven and cook for about 45 minutes until bread is golden brown and reaches 200 degrees. Allow bread to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then gently remove it from the pan to finish cooling before slicing.