This post might include affiliate links. Why don’t we ever have good ol’ sandwich bread? I heard my wife recently whisper to herself in the kitchen. This wasn’t the first time I’ve listened to such a statement, and scattered comments like these got me thinking back about that sliced bread1 Whole wheat banana bread had as a kid.
The perfect sandwich bread to me is related to that sacked bread from the supermarket, but only in the most remote way possible—perhaps only in the fact that it’s square-ish and sliced. I want a thin and shiny crust with a moist and light interior, a slightly sweet taste not from honey or sugar but from the whole grain itself. And that’s important: I want to taste the grain in this bread, not some strange flavor masked by something sweet. But first, let’s talk about flour. I chose white whole wheat for this recipe because I love the sweet flavor of it, especially compared to red whole wheat which can have a slight bitterness that sometimes pushes through. In the end, I like the flavor and characteristics imparted by these flour choices, but it is flexible. This amount of water imparts a significantly moist and soft texture to the interior that is typical of sandwich bread, and the results are definitely worth the added hardship of dealing with such a wet dough.
Keep in mind that your flour will act differently with all this water added so hydrate accordingly. Start with a lower percentage and work your way up until you find the perfect point for your flour mix. You can see below what my dough looked like right after mixing. The USA Pan used for this bake has a silicone coating, and while I lightly oil the pan with olive oil I don’t think it’s necessary—I have yet to have anything stick to this thing. Dough Formula After a few trials, I arrived on a final dough weight of 1200 grams for my bread pan. The resulting bread was nicely sized and perfect for what I’m looking for, but I think it could be pushed even further, perhaps somewhere around 1300-1400 grams if you want an even taller loaf, one that rises and slightly spills over the edges.
Note that the baker’s percentages listed below are with respect to the final dough ingredients and do not take into account the levain. Due to the high hydration of this dough, it’s helpful to build some strength at the start of mixing before adding in the reserved 100g of water. Add the mature levain and about 25g of the reserved water, mix thoroughly by hand to incorporate, and then slap and fold for about 6 minutes, just until the dough starts to show signs of a smooth surface and holds its shape on the counter. If you aren’t comfortable with this method or don’t like it, you can perform stretch and folds in the bowl until your dough tightens up and is slightly hard to stretch out and fold over—close to medium development. Pinch through a few times and fold the dough over itself to help incorporate. Transfer dough to a tub or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation. With this much whole grain, it’s possible your dough could ferment faster than mine.
After the fifth set of stretch and folds, performed gently, let rest for the remainder of bulk. The dough will not rise an incredible amount, but it should be slightly jiggly and some bubbles on top and sides. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour on your bench and dump out the dough. Shape into a single round mass and let rest 20 minutes uncovered. Because this dough is highly hydrated, rely mostly on your bench knife and try to touch the dough as little as possible. I use my knife to pick up and pull the mass around in a circle, forming a relatively tight skin on the dough. Using a little olive oil lightly oil the baking pan.