Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

What is your family's preferred type of sandwich bread?  White, wheat, sourdough (the list could go on and on)?  Have you ever looked at the ingredients list for your bread?  When I started getting into reading labels, I was amazed at what all is put into sandwich bread, when really only minimal ingredients are required to make a delicious, healthy, loaf of bread.  For example, the recipe I make has seven ingredients (water, kosher salt, olive oil, honey, 100% whole wheat flour, flax seed, and yeast).  Publix's whole wheat bread has 21 ingredients and a lot of the ingredients listed are long words that I can't pronounce and don't have a clue what they are!

Not too long ago, I bought a bread maker, and it's my new best friend!  I use it several times a week, as I make our sandwich bread and pizza dough weekly.  Making your own bread does take more effort than grabbing a loaf off the store shelf, but it's so worth it.  Not only do we save money by making our own bread, but it's so much healthier and delicious!   I make a large loaf (2 pound) of whole wheat sandwich bread in my bread maker (Cuisinart Convection Bread Maker CBK-200) every week or two.   I slice the loaf with a regular bread knife and as you can see in the picture below I slice it real thin.  I usually get  about 25-30 slices out of a loaf.  We eat a lot of bread, so we go through it fairly fast.  We keep in stored in the  refrigerator and even at two weeks it's still fine (a loaf has never lasted longer than two weeks in our house).  I've never put my bread in the freezer, but I am sure it would  freeze well, just like any other bread.  

I know that transforming your diet to REAL food eating can get overwhelming, but I encourage you to start small.  Start with your loaf of bread.  Even if you don't want to get into making your own bread, you can start paying attention to the ingredient labels on the breads at the store and find the bread that has the least amount of preservative, additives and is least processed.  Any improvement is beneficial to you and your family now and forever!  Then in a week or so, choose a different food that you are going to "research" at the grocery store and make a change to a more "clean" choice.

In order to switch to eating REAL food, you have to totally change your mindset.  You adjust the entire way you look at foods.  The key is to educate yourself and READ LABELS!  I continue to be amazed what they try to "sneak" into our foods.  The front of a package give the costumer one impression (often times a very skewed view) and then when you read the label and get the full story, the picture often times looks quite different.

In closing, I understand that people's budget and life circumstances allow for varying degrees of change.  However, I believe that everyone can make some changes in their "diet" whether big or small.  Are you up for the challenge?  A change that will benefit you and your family for a lifetime?  Think of it as a gift that keeps giving!

~Davis




click here for HONEY WHOLE WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD recipe - for a bread machine
(adjusted from: 100 Days of Real Food)

-1 1/2 cup water (80-90 degrees)
-1/2 tsp. kosher salt
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1/4 cup honey
-4 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (I prefer King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour)
-2 1/4 tsp. yeast (active dry)
-1 rounded Tbsp. Flax seed meal (this is not in the original recipe)

I have to put these ingredients in the bread maker in this order, starting with the water and ending with the flax seed.  If you have another bread maker, it may require a different order.  I then start up the bread machine.  The dough stays in the bread machine for  about 2 hours 49 minutes.  During that time it goes through a preheating cycle,  four kneading cycles, and two rise cycles.  After the final knead cycle, I take the dough out.  I put the dough into a regular loaf pan that I have greased with butter.  The dough sits in the pan on the counter top for 46  minutes (for the third and final rise cycle).  Then I put it in the oven.  The oven is set at 350 degrees (convection setting) and the bread bakes for 30 minutes.  Then I take it out of the oven and take the bread out of the pan.  I let the bread cool on a wire rack.  Once cooled, I slice the bread and put it in a large ziplock bag, then store in the refrigerator.  
It's so good!! :)

All ready to go in the bread maker!

The dough is prepared in my bread machine, but I bake my bread in the oven, not in my
bread maker, simply because I don't care for the shape of the loaf that the bread maker makes.  

All sliced up and ready for sandwiches!