Breakfast Bread Recipe
This delicious breakfast bread makes a wonderfully hearty start to your morning meal!
Bread is the staff of life, or so I’ve been told. It’s really pretty hard to eat anywhere without a basket of bread being brought to the table or to pack a lunch that doesn’t include it in some way. But the truth is, it’s nearly impossible to find clean bread!
I’ve been eating clean for nearly 3 years now, and this whole time, I’ve been eating the same bread (2 different brands). Then, in the interest of following my own advice, I double-checked the labels again a week ago.
I darn near had a meltdown right there in the bread aisle. WHY, OH WHY, do companies have to change their ingredients to include stuff I don’t want to eat? I mean, if you have a good thing, to begin with, stick with it!!
But sticking with it is not what these two bread companies had done. So with much regret and sadness, I put the loaves back on the grocery store shelf. I felt completely perplexed. What was I going to do now??
I should mention that Ezekiel bread is about the only bread I know of now that is clean. And even some of those breads have added sugar. So my lesson of the day is, RE-read the labels on the products you buy because they do change, sometimes without notice!
So once that ordeal was over, I decided it was high time to create my own sandwich bread recipe. But it took me some time to get around to it. And now that I’m doing the No Sugar Challenge, I had the added need for bread made without any sweeteners at all.
Good grief. Could I make this any more difficult?
But it turns out it wasn’t as hard as I thought. In fact, it’s pretty darn delicious! The problem? It just isn’t sandwich bread. It’s clean eating breakfast bread. ~Sigh~
I just couldn’t get it to rise enough during baking to turn it into sandwich bread. So I called it breakfast bread instead because it would be wonderful with some clean jam or even a small pat of organic butter. Is that bad? Probably. But either way, it’s good bread! Though, I suppose a really determined person could slice it lengthwise. That would definitely be sandwich bread!
More Healthy Bread Recipes
Breakfast Bread Recipe Card
Breakfast Bread
Ingredients
- 2½ cups warm water (between 105-115 F.)
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 4 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 2 tbsp. olive oil + extra for coating
Instructions
- Combine the water and yeast and set aside to foam.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend the flour and salt.
- Pour the oil into the flour and then the yeast mixture.
- Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough forms, then continue by kneading with your hands for about 5 minutes.
- Form the dough into a ball and coat the ball with a small amount of oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and allow to sit in a warm (not hot) environment to rise for 1 hour.
- Punch down the dough, and place it in an oiled or non-stick bread pan, forming it into the pan.
- Cover with a towel and allow to rise for 1 more hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Score the top of the dough if desired. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of the loaf pulls out clean.
- Allow to cool, slice, and serve.
Try the no-knead artisan bread (google/youtube 5 minutes a day artisan bread). From what I remember they’re pretty clean and I’ve successfully used 100%whole wheat in place of white flr. (Ingredients should only be: yeast, flour, water, salt, oil)
dbelle – Yes, I’ve done that. I have it posted here on my blog. It’s good stuff!
I don’t know if you already tried these things, but in my bread-making experience, they result in a better loaf:
– very long kneading time for 100% whole wheat
– 3:1 ratio of flour to water
– longer rising time (let it rise until it’s done, not by the clock)
Rosemary – Interesting! I’ll give that a try, thanks!
To assist with the rise of whole grain yeast breads, it is very helpful to add Vital Wheat Gluten (one brand made by Bob’s Red Mills & easily found online – one source King Arthur Flour) – it gives an extra “boost” & will help give the sandwich bread results that you are looking for.
Bakerchick – Ya, I actually considered that. But then remember that a lot of my readers don’t have access to it, so I thought I would try it without. I might try again with it though. Thanks.
Sounds delicious! Do you think I could do this in the bread machine, though?
Catherine – I have no idea. I don’t own a bread machine.
I have a silly question. Do you have to add the salt?
Tracylea – No, but the flavor will be severely lacking without it.
I add extra yeast to mine 😉
Trader Joe’s has a bread that is literally Whole wheat flour, salt, water called “Pain Pascal” Its amazing!
Guest – You know what, I’ve actually purchased that before and I completely forgot about it!!! I’ll pick some up next week. Thanks for the reminder!!
Katie – White whole wheat flour is a different type of wheat. You can use the regular stuff, but the result will be much more dense.
Zimmy – As far as I know, the organic malted barley is a sweetener/sugar of sorts.
Jen – White whole wheat flour is a type of wheat. As far as I know, there is only one.
Chellie – Yes, if the dried fruit has nothing else added, then it’s clean. But it’s more concentrated in sugar than regular fruit. So your portions will be smaller.
Linda – What’s happening?
Lynn – I’m sorry, I have no idea. I don’t own a bread machine.
Lowra – Thanks!
Becca – I’ve never seen ultragrain flour. So I can’t comments on that. Plain puffed wheat cereal should be okay, but you’ll have to read the ingredients to be sure. Wheat germ is clean. Enjoy!
Rosemary – That’s what I’ve been reading. Thanks!
Mamastrat – Thanks! I’ll try the longer rising time. I think that may have been part of the problem.
Aretamarie – Interesting! Thanks!
Aretamarie – My cook time was fine. Any longer and the bread would have started to burn. It was perfectly cooked, just flat. I’ll try smaller loaf pans, thanks!
I make all my own bread because its really impossible where I live to find clean bread (except at the Afghan bakery, and then only the flatbread is clean). This recipe looks great though and I’ll be trying it soon!
nomore – I hope you enjoy it!