The Approachable Loaf - Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

The Approachable Loaf is an easy-to-make, nutritious, and accessible sliced pan bread. It's perfect for sandwiches. 

The original formula for this bread was created by the Washington State University Bread Lab. The goal was to create a nutritious bread for commercial bakeries that is affordable and nutritious with whole grains and only natural ingredients. 

Make-Ahead White Whole Wheat Poppyseed Buns

These white whole wheat poppyseed buns are the perfect dinner roll to grace your holiday table. 

I first made these white whole wheat poppyseed buns for Thanksgiving dinner. While I'm an avid bread baker, this was the first time I actually served bread fresh out of the oven for a dinner party while juggling a main course, sides, and all of the other things that go into preparing for company. 

Yogurt and Wheat Germ Bread

This yogurt and wheat germ bread is wonderful for sandwiches and morning toast. It's super easy to make, and the final bread is light and airy, which is pretty amazing for a loaf with a large percentage of whole wheat and wheat germ. It's also really flavorful.

I made this bread mostly to use some of the yogurt I bought when I made this naan. For some reason, at least in my neighborhood, you can't just buy an eight ounce container of plain container of yogurt anymore. Instead, my only option was a 32 ounce container. There are now so many iterations of yogurt that there is little room for the plain Jane version on the supermarket shelves I suppose.

Sour Cream Muffins with Mixed Berries

These sour cream muffins with mixed berries are soft and moist, and loaded with fresh fruit. They are also made with whole wheat.

The whole wheat in these sour cream muffins is actually white whole wheat, which has a much milder flavor than traditional red whole wheat. Despite its appearance, white whole wheat is 100% whole grain.

Ten Grain No Knead Bread

This Ten-Grain No Knead Bread is loaded with fiber, protein, and nutrition.

This 10-grain bread is full of all kinds of goodness. To add to the nutritiousness, I topped the loaf with a mixture of flax, sesame, sunflower, caraway, poppy, and anise seeds.

Candied Ginger and Oatmeal Muffins

These Candied Ginger and Oatmeal Muffins combine the goodness of oatmeal, whole wheat flour, and candied ginger. 

The candied ginger adds just the right amount of spiciness to these muffins. Along with the rolled oats, I used a combination of white whole wheat flour and "regular" whole wheat flour.

Cream Cheese Filled Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

These whole wheat pumpkin muffins are filled with a sweetened cream cheese filling in the center. They are also topped with an amazing streusel topping.

While pumpkin is pretty much a cliche this time of year, these muffins are so worth it. I used 1/2 of a can of pumpkin puree, and saved the rest for pumpkin martinis, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, cranberry pumpkin rolls, these pumpkin dinner rolls, and these cinnamon swirl pumpkin rolls later.

English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

This granary-style no knead bread is a take on a beloved English bread made with a special blend of flours, toasted malted wheat flakes, and barley malt. 

Granary flour is a proprietary product from an English company called Hovis, not available in US stores. The formula in the bread I've made here is an attempt to recreate the multi-grain combination in the Hovis flour.

Toasted Oats Sandwich Bread

This granary style loaf is super soft and perfect for sandwiches. The flavor is faintly whole wheat, and slightly sweet. This might be the perfect way to introduce whole wheat to white bread lovers.

Seventeenth Century French Bread

This French bread recipe is from a 1660 recipe by Robert May, from his book, The Accomplisht Cook, The Art and Mastery of Cooking. 

Ilva, of the blog, Lucullian Delights, chose this bread for this month's Bread Baking Babes (and Buddies). Visit her blog for more information about the origin of this bread, as well information about Elizabeth David, the writer who discovered this recipe.

This bread is really easy to make, so Ilva decided to challenge anyone who baked along to get creative and decorate the bread. Decorating baked goods is not my strong suit. In case you haven't noticed, there are only three cakes on this blog, and none of them are decorated.

I decided to try snipping a "crown" on the top of the bread with scissors, but this bread does not behave like typical crunchy French bread, so I ended up with little "smiles" around the top of my loaf. I topped the middle with a seed mixture. If you want to see an excellent example of masterful bread decoration, visit Ilva's blog. I am not worthy.

So how is the bread? It's really good! It's perfect for sandwiches... and it's easy! Even though the dough is sticky, it is really easy to shape, and it doesn't need a basket to help it hold its shape during the second rise.

I used half all purpose flour and half white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is a whole grain, but with a milder flavor. It's not really white, as you can see, and it has all of the benefits of whole wheat.

Robert May's French Bread Recipe

Adapted from Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery.

Ingredients

250 g unbleached all purpose flour

250 g white whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)

6 g instant yeast

10 g salt

2 egg whites, whisked until just frothy

255 g water

85 g milk
Egg yolk and a tsp. of water, whisked
Mixture of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion, dried garlic, and sea salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Whisk the flours, yeast, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer. 
2. Add the egg whites, water, and milk, and stir with a large spoon until the flour is moistened. 
3. Mix with the dough hook for about 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Form the dough into a ball, and place it in a greased bowl or dough rising bucket, cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a boule, place it on a piece of parchment paper on a peel or baking sheet, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let it rest until puffy and nearly doubled. 
6. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. I baked mine on a baking stone, but you can bake it on a baking sheet if you don't have a baking stone or quarry tiles. 
7. With a pair of scissors, snip a crown onto the top of the loaf (or not), brush lightly with the egg yolk mixture, and top with the seed mixture. 
8. Place the loaf on the baking stone (parchment and all) and shut the oven door. Alternatively, place the baking sheet with the loaf on the lower middle rack. 
9. Bake for about 30 minutes, tenting with foil about halfway through to prevent over browning and burning the seeds. The interior of the bread should be about 200 degrees. 
10. Cool on a wire rack.