Name: Super Soft Fresh Milled Sandwich Bread
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Ingredients: 960 grams (approx. 8 cups) fresh milled hard white wheat flour; 2 3/4 cups warm milk (2 1/2 cups lukewarm water for variation); 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/4 cup honey; 2 eggs; 3 tablespoons gluten (optional with variation); 2 tablespoons yeast; 1 tablespoon salt

This Super Soft Fresh Milled Sandwich Bread is so luxuriously fluffy, you’ll feel like you are biting into a cloud!

Jump to Recipe

Not only does this recipe make incredible fresh milled sandwich bread, but you can also use it for hamburger buns and many other things!

Ingredients For Super Soft Fresh Milled Sandwich Bread

Fresh milled hard white wheat flour– It’s important to use a hard wheat for breads, and hard white wheat creates the perfect light and fluffy product.

Warm whole milk– Milk creates a softer and more tender crumb, improves shelf life, and adds flavor. A caution though, if your milk is too warm it can kill the yeast, so make sure it is barely warm. While milk adds much to bread dough, it can weaken gluten and extend the rise time. You can substitute water instead of milk if you wish, but you’ll need to decrease the amount a little.

Olive oil– Oil in bread dough lubricates the gluten strands, making dough easier to handle. It also makes the dough softer, more flavorful, and improves shelf life.

Honey– Other than the many health benefits of honey, it retains moisture in bread dough, and adds flavor and color. Honey is also a natural preservative.

Eggs– They make your bread light and fluffy. Eggs are an emulsifier, which means that they bind fats and liquids together. This makes a smoother dough. They also improve texture, add moisture, and extend shelf life.

Vital wheat gluten– Added gluten strengthens the dough. It provides greater elasticity, which means more air bubbles trapped, which results in softer fluffier bread! If you prefer to skip this ingredient, I advise using warm water in place of milk. You’ll also need to follow the variation and use a different technique to achieve the same results!

Instant yeast– Instant yeast doesn’t need to be activated and proofed like traditional yeast.

Salt– Ahh salt. Such a tiny and mighty ingredient! I forgot salt in a batch of bread the other day, and though it looks beautiful, the appearance is definitely deceiving! It is blah, the blandest batch of bread you ever sunk your teeth into! Salt is a regulator. It slows down the growth and reproduction of yeast, which is great because you don’t want to overferment your dough, but it can dehydrate the yeast cells and inhibit their development.

What Happens When We Make Fresh Milled Bread?

A simple loaf of bread contains so much science and is a mini miracle in itself!

God knows exactly what our bodies need. He created food sources that would allow us to get the vitamins and nutrients to function properly. The main difference between sourdough and yeast is that yeast is a single strain cultured bacteria, while sourdough starter is a fermented mixture of flour and water that contains a wild yeast and bacteria. As the leaven, whether sourdough or yeast, spreads through the dough, it feeds on the starch and sugars found in the flour and added sweeteners. When the sugars and starches are consumed, it releases carbon dioxide and alcohol, which is the process of fermentation.

Gluten is formed of two proteins found in flour, called gliadin and glutenin. They are alined and developed when brought in contact with liquid, and mixed or kneaded. Gliadin makes the dough stretchy, and glutenin provides the snap back, or elasticity. This creates a whole network, so that when yeast and sugars ferment and release carbon dioxide, the gluten proteins trap the gas, creating bubbles in the dough.

If you read “Why choose fresh milled flour?”, then you learned what happens when oxygen comes in contact with the nutrients found in fresh milled wheat. It is oxidized, which basically means that nutrition deteriorates when oxygen comes in contact with the flour.

This is the part that blows my mind! Carbon dioxide, which is released through fermentation, is then trapped by the gluten proteins, which prevents oxygen from coming in contact with the valuable vitamins and nutrients in our bread dough! Not only did God create grain with such a high nutritional value, but He designed it in such a way that those same nutrients can be protected and preserved through the process of making bread!

Tools You’ll Need

Grain mill- I use the Komo Fidibus Classic Mill, but there are a lot of other great options available depend on what you are looking for.

Bread pans– This recipe makes three 1.5 pound loaves of bread. I use 9″x5″ glass Anchor Hocking loaf pans.

Digital scales– This is a very important tool when you are working with fresh milled flour, and will allow you to achieve much more consistent results. It also takes the guess work out of trying to figure out how many wheat berries to mill.

Mixer- I mean… if you want to give it a shot by hand, be my guest! It takes much longer to develop the gluten in fresh milled flour than white flour, which means that it takes much more kneading to get the right consistency! My Bosch mixer will win no prizes for the most aesthetically pleasing kitchen tool, but it is a workhorse.

How to Make Super Soft Fresh Milled Sandwich Bread

Bread may seem like an overwhelming process to tackle. Some days my bread turns out better than others, and it can vary a little because of the atmosphere (or whether or not I remember the salt, lol). Temperature, humidity, and air pressure all factor in. But with a bit of practice, it’s definitely possible to have consistent results!

STEP 1:

Mill your wheat berries. I usually grind mine on the finest setting.

STEP 2:

Combine all the ingredients EXCEPT the salt. (Remember how the salt inhibits gluten development?) Mix until just combined, and let rest for 30 minutes. This step also allows the flour to soak up moisture.

STEP 3:

After letting the dough rest, add in the salt and knead on low to medium low speed for about 10 minutes. You want to reach the window pane stage, and your dough should be stretchy and have a bit of a satin sheen to it. Your bread dough may be slightly sticky and that is good, but it should always pull away from the side of the mixing bowl when kneading.

STEP 4:

When the dough has reached window pane, place it into an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to an hour.

STEP: 5

After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it into 3 equal parts, then form them into loaves. I like to stretch them out into a rough rectangle and roll them up tight to build a nice amount of tension.

STEP 6:

Line your bread pans with parchment paper and place the loaves in them. Let the loaves rise for another hour or so, until they are an inch above the edge of the pan. I like to turn my oven light on and place them inside, as it lets out a little heat and helps them rise faster. If you want them to rise really fast, place a cookie sheet on the lower rack and pour boiling water into it, then close the oven door to trap the steam. Just a warning, this can create large air bubbles in your dough!

STEP 7:

Preheat the oven to 350º F and bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes. When you remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the pans immediately and butter the tops.

STEP 8:

Cool before slicing and bagging.

Water and No Added Gluten Variation

Not to make this confusing or difficult, but if you would like to use water and skip the gluten, you’ll need to use a different technique to achieve the same light and fluffy results. The reason for this, is because it takes much longer to develop the existing gluten in your fresh milled flour.

Start by reducing the liquid 1/4 cup, so that you only have 2 1/2 cups water.

Mix all of the ingredients, except for the flour, in your mixing bowl, and allow that to sit for 10 minutes. This step jumpstarts the yeast fermentation process. The reason the salt is added immediately in the variation, is because while salt can inhibit the yeast development, it does help to strengthen gluten. And because there is no added vital wheat gluten, we need the salt to give the dough its strength.

After the 10 minute period, add in approximately 3 cups of your weighed out flour, and mix until just combined. Let this rise for 15 minutes.

Following the 15 minute rise, turn your mixer on low to medium speed. Add in another approximately 2 cups of flour, and knead this for 5-7 minutes.

When it has mixed for 5-7 minutes, begin adding the remaining flour until it is fully incorporated. Continue to knead on high to medium high speed for another 10-15 minutes. This may seem like a long time, but we are allowing the gluten to develop to improve the rising and texture of the dough. You will know that you’ve kneaded it long enough when the dough reaches window pane stage and develops a light satiny sheen.

If the dough is very sticky and is not cleaning the edges of your mixing bowl, add a bit more flour, a couple tablespoons at a time. This can vary depending on atmospheric conditions, like increased humidity. Be careful to not add too much flour. Whole grains absorb a lot more liquid than regular white flour, and so it can take some time and kneading for the flour to fully absorb the water. It will seem to be stickier than it should be, but with kneading and allowing it to rise, you’ll be surprised how much it can affect the dough!

Allow the dough to rise until doubled, 45 minutes to an hour. Then you can continue with the instructions as given for the main recipe.

If you choose to double this recipe, you’ll need to adjust the kneading times accordingly, as more flour means that the dough will need more working to develop.