Finally, a wonderful loaf of whole wheat bread!

I have a bread maker. An old big clunky bread maker, but a bread maker just the same. So over the years I've tried and tried and tried to make a good loaf of whole wheat bread. While none of the loaves I've made were inedible by any means, they also weren't living up to their full potential. My biggest problem was getting to raise nicely. I always ended up with a short, squaty loaf that was dense and heavy.

On Sunday I said enough was enough and I started to search the internet for a decent recipe for whole wheat bread in a bread maker. A task that was not as easy as it sounds. Google is pretty good to me, but this time I had to click through several pages of hits before finding what I was looking for.

But believe me when I say it was worth all the effort. Because the bread was fantastic!!!! And oh so quick!

Here is my bread still in the pan. See how it raised all the way to the top of the pan.



See how pretty it looks. Not short or squaty at all.



See how tempting it looks, sliced up, steam rising off of it because it's still warm. I'll bet you can almost smell it.



And now you're wondering how I did it, eh? Well you are in luck. I happen to be in the sharing mood. So, get your fingers ready for a little ctrl+c and ctrl+v because I KNOW you are going to want to copy this recipe.


4 c. whole wheat flour
2 TBS wheat gluten
1 TBS dough conditioner
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 TBS canola oil
2 TBS honey
1 3/4 c. water
1 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS yeast (scant)

Put all these, in order and without the yeast, into the bread pan of your bread machine. Put the bread pan into the machine and select “Quick Bake” “XL” “Light” and press start. Then measure the yeast into the handy yeast dispenser at the top.

Well, I don't have a fancy bread maker with a yeast dispenser at top, so I just dumped my yeast on top of the rest of the ingredients and, as you can see, it still turned out just fine.

I like fresh ground wheat. (super easy to grind in my vita-mix!)

And, believe it or not, I randomly had gluten and dough conditioner on hand in my fridge. My mom had given it to me some time ago and I'd tried using it several times but it never seemed to make a difference in my short, squaty loaves of bread. So I did call her today and asked her where she bought it. She got it at Kitchen Kneads. I've never looked at my local grocery store for such items. I suppose they may sell the gluten, but the dough conditioner may be harder to come by.

Which is why I also found for you, my faithful readers, a recipe to make your own, should you so desire.

Dough conditioner:

4 C powdered milk
¾ C lecithin
3 T ascorbic acid (can use “Fruit Fresh” in the canning aisle)
2 T ginger
3 T cornstarch

So, there you go. Enjoy oh happy bread eaters.

DISCLAIMER: Writer of blog will not be held responsible for anybody cheating on their low-carb diets. Be warned....if you make this bread you WILL want to eat it. A lot of it.