This Soft 100% Fresh Milled Bread Recipe makes the perfect sandwich bread! It’s soft and chewy, has amazing flavor, and is simple to make!
Are you intimidated by baking with 100% fresh milled flour? Are you wondering if it’s worth trying out a bunch of fresh milled bread recipes and ending up with dense small loaves? There’s no need to be! It is time to conquer your fears and dive right into making homemade bread with fresh ground flour. It can easily be done, and I promise you, you’ll never look back!
Baking bread is one of the most rewarding things you can do, especially if you have some hungry little mouths to feed. My kids can easily devour a whole loaf of bread fresh from the oven. Butter, peanut butter, jelly, or even drizzled with olive oil, they’ll eat it all! It’s that good. The best part is, that this recipe takes under 3 hours to make, from start to finish. Store-bought bread with white flour doesn’t even compare to whole wheat bread with fresh milled flour.
Why try this Soft Fresh Milled Bread Recipe?
1. You can’t beat the flavor, even bought whole wheat flour tastes so different than freshly milled.
2. Freshly milled flour has so many nutritional benefits. You aren’t removing the most nutritious parts of the wheat kernel by sifting out the bran and the germ. The bran is high in fiber, a decent amount of protein, and enzymes to help with digestion. The germ has vitamins, protein, minerals, and oils. By using the whole grain, you get flour packed with nutrients that are easier to digest.
3. God designed it as a whole food, complete in itself and perfectly natural.
4. It smells so fresh! The aroma of fresh ground flour kind of makes you feel like a pioneer, living for the simple moments.
5. Breads and baked goods made with freshly milled flour will stay fresh longer thanks to the natural oils present in the flour. And fresh soft bread makes the best sandwiches!
The best ingredients to use in a Soft Fresh Milled Bread Recipe and why.
Flour: For this recipe, I love using a combination of Hard Red Wheat and Hard White Wheat. I go half Red and half White. Hard Red Wheat gives the bread a rich color and a hearty taste. Hard White Wheat has a lighter, sweeter taste, creating a perfect balance for homemade whole wheat bread.
I use my Komo Grain Mill to mill my own wheat. It’s an investment but worth every penny.
Water: I like to use lukewarm water to activate the yeast right in my mixer bowl. Don’t make the water too warm. If you stick your finger into the water and close your eyes and you can’t tell if your finger is inside or outside of the water, you’ve got the right temperature.
Yeast: I prefer to use active dry yeast, but you can also use instant yeast. Active dry yeast needs to be activated with water and sugar/honey.
Vitamin C: Adding a tiny amount of vitamin C powder gives the bread a better texture. It also gives the added benefit of staying fresher for a few extra days.
Honey: You can use honey or sugar for this recipe. Both help activate the yeast and give the bread a delicious sweet taste. I like the taste of honey so that’s what I use.
Egg Yolk: Egg yolk has a natural lecithin that helps the dough rise which is why I don’t add sunflower lecithin. The fat in the yolk inhibits gluten formation so the dough can expand and puff up more. It also creates a better texture, softens the crumb, and increases the elasticity of the crumb. (Breads that contain eggs or sugar shouldn’t be baked at high temperatures as the crust will go dark too soon.)
Vinegar: Vinegar contains acid and acid lowers the pH value of the dough, which creates a better environment for the yeast. That results in a faster, higher rise. It also produces a moister crumb with an airy texture. You can use lemon juice as well.
Salt: I use Himalayan Pink Salt to get bread with great flavor!
Vital Wheat Gluten: This is probably the best way to get a great rise with a fresh milled bread recipe.
What is vital wheat gluten? Vital wheat gluten is made from wheat flour that has been hydrated to activate the gluten and then dried and ground into powder. It is almost pure gluten, which improves the elasticity and rise of the bread. You can find it in specialty stores that sell whole grains or on Amazon.
Oil: I like to use chicken fat or lard in my bread. I have also used butter, avocado oil, or even a mix of whatever I have on hand. Just remember that butter is not entirely fat, it does contain some water.
How to make Soft 100% Fresh Milled Bread
Preheat the oven to 350
Take out your stand mixer along with the dough hook attachment.
1. Start by proofing the yeast
To ‘proof’ the yeast, simply add the water required in the recipe to the mixing bowl along with a tablespoon of the honey. (there is half a cup of honey in the recipe, take a spoonful of honey from the 1/2 cup)
Add yeast and stir together. Let it sit until it starts to foam or form bubbles. While you wait for the yeast to activate, you can prepare other ingredients.
2. Mill the flour
I like to do a combination of hard red wheat berries and hard white wheat berries. Use a scale to measure 450 grams of red and 500 grams of white wheat berries and mill to get fresh flour.
3. Add Vitamin C, vital wheat gluten, and salt to the freshly milled flour.
4. Next add the egg yolk and vinegar to the mixing bowl.
5. Add the dry ingredients. On low speed slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl.
6. Let the dough knead until combined to get the gluten developed.
7. Add the oil. Now that the gluten has had a chance to develop you can add the oil. Add it slowly to the bowl. Now give it some time to mix until all the oil is incorporated into the dough. It will take a few minutes. The purpose of adding the oil last is because fat inhibits the development of gluten. By adding it last you are giving the dough a chance to develop gluten before adding fat.
8. Knead for 8-10 minutes. Do a window pane test to make sure you have good gluten development. To do this, take a small piece of dough and gently stretch and pull it. If you can stretch the dough enough to form a thin translucent ‘windowpane’ then the dough has enough gluten developed. If it rips right away, you need to continue kneading and then test again.
Note: The bran in whole wheat flour, especially 100% fresh milled flour, makes it harder to get the dough stretchy enough to pass the windowpane test. But it can be achieved. You can soak the bran overnight to help soften it. Adding the vital wheat gluten also helps with getting enough elasticity in your dough.
First Rise
9. First Rise Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and place it into a large bowl. Set in a warm place. Let the dough proof for 30 minutes or until it has doubled.
10. Use a rolling pin to roll out a 9×12-inch piece. Be gentle with the dough.
Fold in 1/3rd of the dough and then fold again. Pinch the ends and sides closed.
Flip over and place into a prepared bread pan. Make sure to grease the bread pan or add parchment paper.
Second Rise
11. Second Rise Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth and let them rise for another 30 minutes to 1 hour in a warm place. The rising time will depend on the warmth of your kitchen.
12. Once the bread has risen for 30 minutes or more, do the poke test. Poke the bread with your finger and if the dough springs back quickly, it hasn’t proofed long enough. If it springs back very slowly, it’s ready to bake. If the indent remains and it doesn’t spring back, it could be overproofed and you need to bake immediately.
13. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread is 195 degrees f.
How do you make whole wheat bread less dense?
Make sure your dough has been kneaded for the correct amount of time. Do the window-pane test as I described above. You need to have properly developed gluten for the bread to have a beautiful high rise. Also, using too much flour will result in a dense, heavier loaf.
If your bread is heavy, it might be underproofed. Let it rise longer next time and see if that results in a lighter loaf.
Whenever you try a fresh milled bread recipe, you need to consider that your altitude, humidity, and temperature can play a role in how fast or slow your bread rises and how much flour you need.
What are the best wheat berries for making bread?
When making whole grain bread, you want to use hard wheat for best results. Hard white wheat or hard red wheat is what I use most often. They have a great gluten structure and are perfect for baking bread. But sometimes I add in spelt or einkorn which are ancient grains. You can add different kinds of wheat berries but keep in mind that soft wheat berries and ancient grains have lower protein and less gluten. That makes them better for muffins, pancakes, and cakes.
Check out more fresh milled recipes!
If you like to change it up a bit and add in some sourdough check out my Fresh Milled Wheat Bread Recipe with Sourdough. It does take a bit longer to make than this whole wheat bread recipe, but the toasted sourdough crunch is worth the effort! That recipe also shows you how to feed your sourdough starter before baking which is very helpful for beginner bakers.
Find more delicious Fresh Milled Recipes straight from my kitchen
Fluffy Fresh Milled Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Is it worth the effort?
Baking with 100% fresh milled whole wheat is a learning curve. But just like everything else, practice makes perfect. The more often you bake, the more you get the feel of what the dough should feel like, how long to knead, and when to bake. Making fresh homemade bread is a great skill to have, and one that you can pass down through generations!
Soft 100% Fresh Milled Wheat Bread
Ingredients
Add to mixing bowl
- 2 3/4 cups lukewarm water
- 1 3/4 tbsp yeast
- 1 tbsp honey
Dry Ingredients
- 500 grams Hard White Wheat freshly milled
- 450 grams Hard Red Wheat freshly milled
- 1/4 tsp Vitamin C powder
- 2 tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
- 1 tbsp Salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp vinigar
- 1/2 cup oil chicken fat/lard/butter/avacado oil
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F
- Take out your stand mixer and the dough hook attachment.
Start by proofing the yeast.
- Add water, yeast and 1 tbsp of honey to mixing bowl and stir. (there is half a cup of honey in the recipe, just take a spoonful of honey from the 1/2 cup)
- Let it sit until it starts to foam or form bubbles.
- Mill the flour. Use a scale to measure 450 grams of red and 500 grams of white wheat berries and mill to get fresh flour.
- Add Vitamin C, vital wheat gluten, and salt to the fresly milled flour.
- Add honey, egg yolks and vinegar to the mixing bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients. On low speed slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Let the dough knead until combined to get the gluten developed.
- Add the oil slowly to the bowl. Now give it some time to mix until all the oil is incorporated into the dough. It will take a minute. The purpose of adding the oil last is because fat inhibits the development of gluten. By adding it last you are giving the dough a chance to develop gluten before adding fat.
- Knead for 8-10 minutes. Do a window pane test to make sure you have good gluten development. To do this, take a small piece of dough and gently stretch and pull it. If you can stretch the dough enough to form a thin translucent ‘windowpane’ then the dough has enough gluten developed. If it rips right away, you need to continue kneading and then test again.
First Rise
- Let the dough proof for 30 minutes or until it has doubled.
- Form loaves and place them into bread pans. Make sure to grease the bread pan or add parchment paper.
Second Rise
- Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth and let them rise for another 30 minutes to 1 hour in a warm place. The rising time will depend on the warmth of your kitchen.
- Once the bread has risen for 30 minutes or more, do the poke test. Poke the bread with your finger and if the dough springs back quickly, it hasn't proofed long enough. If it springs back very slowly, it's ready to bake. If the indent remains and it doesn't spring back, it could be overproofed and you need to bake immediately.
- Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread is 195 degrees ℉.
Check us out on Pinterest for more Fresh Milled ideas!
I want to mill my own flour so badly! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I highly encourage you to invest in a mill! It’s a learning curve but worth the effort!
When i make a similar recipe i only do one rise in the pans after the 10min knead. Does doing a second rise make a difference?
Hi Natalie. I find that a second rise with this recipe gives the bread a better texture and structure. It also makes a lighter bread.
We absolutely love all your recipes so far! Thanks for the easy to follow instructions! This is easily the best tasting bread we have ever had.
That’s so great to hear! Thank you!
Excited to give this recipe a try! Where do you get vitamin C powder?
You can open a Vitamin C capsule and add the powder. I always have Vitamin C powder on hand from a local health store.