Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Vegan Whole Wheat Bread

Here I come with yet another bread recipe but this one is a basic whole wheat bread. No fancy things in here and I believe ingredients used in here are available in almost every part of the world. I used the recipe from King Arthur Flour website. But since it is hot and humid here and since I was using the Durum atta flour from the Indian store, I ended up using a lot more flour than what the original recipe called for. To avoid extra chubby loaf, I split into two leaner loaves. When I say leaner, if I had smaller length pan, it wouldn't have been this short in height. But since the main bread consumers in our house are my kids, I thought it is alright if it is smaller. If and when you try this, use less water in the beginning so that you don't have to use lot of flour. Another option is if you use brown sugar or sugar in the place of maple syrup, you don't have to worry about adding extra flour at all.

Ingredients:
  • Warm water - 1 1/2 cup
  • Maple Syrup - 1/3 cup (You can use Honey then it won't be vegan or use plain sugar)
  • Oil - 3 TBSP
  • Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
  • Active dry yeast - 1 1/2 tsp
  • Whole Wheat Flour - 4 1/2 cups (Original recipe has 3 1/2 cups)

Method:

In a large bowl, combine warm water, maple syrup and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or till frothy. Now add the salt, oil. Mix well. Slowly start adding flour to make a smooth dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until you get a smooth dough. If it is sticky, instead of adding more flour, try coating your hands with oil and then knead.

Coat with oil and let it rest for about an hour or till double in volume. After the initial rise, deflate the dough gently and on a lightly floured surface, shape into the loaf. Grease a 9 X 5 pan with vegetable oil spray and place the shaped dough in it.(If you want to get a chubby loaf) Else divide into two loaf pans. Cover loosely with an oiled aluminum foil and place in a warm place till double about 45 minutes to an hour. Towards the end of final rise, preheat the oven to 350 F. When ready to bake, place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Loosely tent with aluminum foil and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or till the crust is nicely brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack. You could brush with some milk or milk oil mixture before baking to get a nice color. I didn't do any of those. You could brush with melted butter once it comes out of the oven to get a softer crust. I didn't do that either.

Note:
If you decide to bake this as one loaf, you will have to increase the bake time by another 5 - 10 minutes.
I am sending these loaves to weekly 'Yeastspotting' hosted by Susan.



Happy Baking!!

21 comments:

  1. wow, amazing, it is vegan and whole wheat, beautiful looking bread Champa.

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  2. A very healthy and delicious vegan bread.

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  3. delicious bread with whole wheat.....can regular flour b used instead of king arthur whole wheat flour...thanks for sharing this..

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  4. Sanyukta, Yes. I used the atta flour from indian store. If you want to use all purpose flour, refer to my 'Basic White Bread' recipe. Thanks for leaving a comment to everyone.

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  5. Thats a healthy one and has turned out perfect.

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  6. perfect bread,very soft...too gud.

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  7. thanks champa for tht quick answer...wil try for sure and let u knw the verdict...as u mentioned can repalce syrup/honey with regular white sugar...and as i knw 1/3 cup sugar is 113 grams(4oz) approx and 1/3 cup syrup is 67grams(2.37oz)...so pls let mw knw still the qty will b the same..thanks

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  8. Sanyukta,
    The measurement I gave you is by volume, not by weight. You can use 1/3 cup of sugar in its place but it will take only 3 1/2 cups of flour and not 4 1/2 cups as in my case. Hope this helps.

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  9. Thank you Champa for a healthy alternative. If I use brown sugar and 3 1/2 cups of flour, will it fit in 9x5 loaf pan?

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  10. Swapna,
    Thanks for leaving a comment. And yes. It will fit in 9 X 5 Pan and start with just 3 cups of flour and add the remaining 1/2 cup if needed.

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  11. wow whole wehat bread baked at home...its amazing

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  12. another healthy bread....got to bake a bread now....

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  13. delicious loaves. would love to have it warm with my peanut butter

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  14. Wow Champa! I have tried this so many times but never could get this good looking loaf. I should try it once again.

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  15. Ur bread looks so perfect...bookmarked it

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  16. Looks perfect !! U always inspire me to try out breads

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  17. Looks perfect, my ultimate dream is to perfect a whole wheat bread. Will try this for sure.

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  18. Hi,
    I baked this.Its delicious.Thanks a ton.I added garlic and green chillies to the dough.The bread has turned out exactly like yours.
    Thanks once again.


    Vini

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  19. HI CHAMPAJI,

    Meeta again. I made pav buns as per your recipes and that turn out really good. i also made this whole wheat bread (excluding maple syrup). and it is also a good one.

    i just want to know one thing. i checked my fresh yeast and it was good. so i used it. my first proofing of loaf was excellent. then i punched and roll the single loaf for sandwitch bread. for second time, i didnt get the same rise of load as i got for the first proofing. can you pl. tell me why? is there any problem with shaping and punching of the loaf? or with yeast? i couldnt understand.

    thanks..
    meeta soni

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    Replies
    1. Meeta,
      Two things could've caused the problem. First you might have punched down the dough too much and deflated it a lot. Or the second one could be it needed some more time. Whole wheat flour raises slowly compared to white flour since gluten is less in whole wheat compared to white flour. I hope you did cover the dough so it didn't dry out. Try again and you will get the hang of it.

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  20. thanks champaji...i think i deflated my loaf..next time i will take care of it... :D

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