Sandwich Bread (100% Whole Wheat Flour)

Sandwich Bread recipe with step by step photos – a soft sandwich bread made from whole wheat flour or atta.

Sandwiches are often made at home. Though I do not add many sandwich recipes, but I do make them as a quick snack or brunch. So I often end up baking breads at home. Thus when I plan to make sandwiches, I bake the loaf a day or two before.

Most of the times I bake bread at home. But yes on rare occasions due to time constraints, I do buy whole wheat or multi-grain loaf from outside. On a side note, I will be adding some more variety of bread recipes as I do get a lot of requests for various types of bread recipes.

This whole wheat sandwich bread is similar to the Wheat bread i had posted earlier. With just using whole wheat flour and yeast, you can get a nicely soft textured sandwich bread. I do not use vital wheat gluten as I am not comfortable adding it to breads. I might as well use some all purpose flour instead.

Tips for making sandwich bread

• Depending on the quality of flour, you can add less or more water.
• Instead of sugar, you can use jaggery. If you want, you can reduce the sugar to 2 to 3 teaspoons. Avoid adding honey as a sweetener, as honey becomes toxic when heated.
• You can also use dry active yeast or fresh yeast. Measurements are given in the ingredient list above. With both dry active yeast and fresh yeast the leavening time will increase for the first and second rise.

This recipe does not use vital wheat gluten or any other agent to help make the bread soft. You just need to knead the dough well. A tiny amount of lemon juice added in the dough helps in the gluten development and this gives a soft & light crumb in the bread. The heaviness or denseness is not felt in the bread. Thus making it very good for sandwiches.

You can make plain, toast or grilled sandwiches with this whole wheat sandwich bread. Since no milk product is used in the bread, the bread can be easily freezed or stored for more than a week in the refrigerator.

The recipe yields one loaf, but you can even double the recipe and make two loafs. If you have a stand mixer, then you can use it to knead the dough.

I had made the dough in the evening. After the second rise, I kept the dough in the fridge and baked the bread in the morning. If you want you can also follow this method. Keeping the dough overnight in the fridge helps in better leavening. The method uses the sponge method and then the dough is kneaded. So there is some waiting time between leavening the sponge and then for the two rises.

I have also used instant yeast. You can even use fresh yeast or dry active yeast . Do note that will fresh yeast and dry active yeast, the rising time of the bread will increase. with this whole wheat sandwich bread you can make any sandwich or bread snacks recipes.

How to make sandwich bread

1. Add ½ teaspoon instant yeast & 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 cup warm water. Stir and mix very well. The water should be lukewarm and not even slightly hot or on the cooler side.

2. Then add 1.5 cups whole wheat flour.

3. Mix the flour in the water+yeast solution very well. cover and let this mixture sit for 45 minutes to an hour.

4. Here is the sponge mixture after 50 minutes.

5. when you stir the mixture, you will see that it has leavened very well. With small tiny air pockets in it.

6. now add 2 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon salt to this sponge mixture. Mix again with a spoon.

7. Add 1.5 cups whole wheat flour.

8. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. If you do not have lemon juice, you can use 1 tablespoon vinegar or butter milk or curd. If using vinegar, then use regular white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.

9. Begin to mix and then knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. You can also use a stand mixer for kneading the dough.

10. Knead to a smooth soft dough. now flatten and keep the dough in the same bowl or in another bowl.  cover with a lid and keep for the first rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The dough is slightly sticky. if the dough feels too sticky, then you can add some more flour and knead. I have not added any water later. In case the dough looks dry and stiff, then you can add some water.

11. A pic below of the dough after 55 minutes.

12. Lightly knead the dough again.

Shaping sandwich bread

13. Make into a log shape.

14. Place the log shaped dough in a well-greased loaf pan ( 8 x 4 x 2.5 inches). Allow for the second rise for 30 to 45 minutes.

15. A below pic of the dough after 32 minutes. I did not bake after the second rise. I kept the dough in the fridge. i sealed the pan with an aluminium foil and then covered it with a kitchen cotton towel and kept the pan in the fridge.

16. The dough next day. You can see the difference in the way the loaf has risen and has covered the whole area of the pan as compared to the above pic. So if you have time you can follow this method. But do cover the pan well, so that the dough does not dry out in the fridge.

17. Now make a diagonal slit on the dough, not more than ¼ inch deep. This will give the dough more room for expansion while baking.

18. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and gently press them so that they stick on the dough loaf.

Baking sandwich bread

19. Bake the loaf in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius with the only bottom heating element on. The preheating time is 20 minutes. Keep the loaf in the center rack.

20. Bake sandwich bread for 30 to 40 mins or till the tops and sides are golden. Also on tapping the bread, it should sound hollow. In my oven it took 38 minutes for the sandwich bread to bake.

21. After 5 to 6 minutes, gently remove the bread loaf from the pan.

22. Keep the sandwich loaf on a wired rack for it to cool down at room temperature. If not using the sandwich bread immediately, then once it is cooled, you can keep it in a bread box or in an airtight container. If living in a warm and humid climate, then I suggest to refrigerate or freeze the loaf.

23. Slice the sandwich bread and you can make sandwiches. or use it for your regular toasts with butter or jam or any spread or dip. I made guacamole sandwiches with the whole wheat sandwich loaf.

More bread recipes for you!

• Pita bread
• Brown bread
• White bread
• Pizza recipe
• Banana bread

If you made this recipe, please be sure to rate it in the recipe card below. Sign Up for my email newsletter or you can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest or Twitter for more vegetarian inspirations.