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. 

The mission of the WSU Bread Lab is worth learning about. 

This bread is perfect for sandwiches and simple to make. It's great for packing back-to-school lunches. 

My friend Kelly of A Messy Kitchen translated the formula to make a single loaf. I made it twice, once with almost 100% whole wheat, and once with 60% whole wheat. 

Ingredients:

Leavening: This bread is leavened with a small amount of sourdough starter and a small amount of commercial yeast. You prepare the levain/starter first, and let it ferment for 12 to 15 hours. This really helps develop flavor. 

You add a tiny amount of commercial yeast when creating a final dough, making this recipe less intimidating. 

For the whole wheat, I used white whole wheat. The flavor is a little less strong than "regular" whole wheat. For the blended formula, I added bread flour. 

Other ingredients include honey, olive oil, water, and salt. 

The Approachable Loaf Variations:

This bread can be made with all whole wheat flour or a blend of whole wheat flour and up to 40 percent bread flour (or anywhere in between). 

My almost 100 percent whole wheat loaf was a little less lofty than the mixed flour loaf, and the texture reminded me of English muffin bread. There were lots of nooks and crannies in the crumb, and the bread was delicious toasted and buttered. 

Below is a view of the crumb:

For the blended flours loaf, the bread was a little loftier, and the crumb was slightly less airy. This may also be because I paid more attention when I added the additional water at the end of mixing the dough (more on that later). 

Here is a photo of the crumb of the loaf with a blend of whole wheat and bread flour:

In both cases, the loaves are very high hydration. Definitely hold back the last ten percent of the water and incorporate it slowly once your initial dough has come together. 

You can use a higher mixer speed to facilitate this process. I used my KitchenAid 7 Quart Pro mixer for mixing this dough. 

Between the levain and the whole wheat, this bread has a strong sourdough flavor that develops even more over time. 

It's excellent sliced and buttered, for sandwiches, and toasted for breakfast. It also makes fantastic cheesy garlic bread. 

Note about measurements: I highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking. Both flour and salt can vary depending on how you measure it or the brand you use. 

My favorite kitchen scale: OXO Good Grips 11 Pound Scale with Pull Out Display. 

My favorite scale for measuring tiny amounts of yeast and salt: Weigh Gram Pocket Scale. 

Thank you Kelly for introducing the KSU Bread Lab and this recipe to the Bread Baking Babes. After the recipe, be sure to check out everyone's versions of this formula. 

The Approachable Loaf

Yield: 16 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 45 MinInactive time: 15 HourTotal time: 16 H & 45 M

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

Ingredients

Levain

• 60 grams (~1/2 cup) bread flour
• 60 grams (1/2 cup + 1 teaspoon) water
• 10 grams 100 percent hydration sourdough starter

Final Dough

• 340 grams (~2 1/2 cups) white whole wheat flour. For the blended loaf, use 204 grams white whole wheat flour plus 136 grams bread flour.
• 247 grams (~1 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 1 3/4 teaspoons) water, divided
• 7 grams (~1 teaspoon) sea salt
• 2.4 grams (3/4 teaspoon) instant yeast
• 23 grams (1 tablespoon) honey
• 17 grams (4 teaspoons) olive oil
• All of the levain

Instructions

To Make the Levain

1. Mix together the levain ingredients in a small bowl, cover, and let sit for 12 to 15 hours at room temperature.

To Make the Bread

1. Add all of the dough ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer, holding back 25 grams of the water to add later.
2. Mix the ingredients on low for about two minutes. Switch the mixer speed to medium low, and mix for about 5 to 10 minutes, until the dough had developed gluten and comes together.
3. With the mixer on medium, add the rest of the water, but tablespoon, until each addition is incorporated.
4. Form the dough into a ball and place it into a bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 90 minutes, stretching and folding at 45 minutes.
5. Spray an 8 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with spray oil. From the dough into a loaf and place it, seam side down, into the pan. The dough may seem hard to shape. Using an oiled scraper should help transfer and shape the dough.
6. Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise until it rises about 3/4 inch above the rim of the pan.
7. Heat your oven to 425 degrees F. Add the loaf to the oven and reduce the heat to 375 degrees F. Bake the loaf for 40 to 45 minutes, until it reaches an interior temperature of about 195 degrees F.
8. Cool the loaf completely on a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

109.16

Fat (grams)

1.67 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

0.2 g

Carbs (grams)

21.82 g

Fiber (grams)

3.39 g

Net carbs

18.44 g

Sugar (grams)

1.8 g

Protein (grams)

3.87 g

Cholesterol (grams)

0 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2023/08/the-approachable-loaf-whole-wheat.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

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The Bread Baking Babes' Approachable Loaves:

A Messy Kitchen (host kitchen)

Bread Experience

My Diverse Kitchen

Blog from Our Kitchen

Feeding My Enthusiasms