Introduction
In today’s world, bread has become more than a daily staple—it’s often a sweet indulgence. With many bread recipes packed with sugar and fat, it’s no wonder that blood sugar levels can spike, even with homemade baked goods. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), and to my surprise, even freshly milled flour bread with added sugars (as in my apple cider donuts) sent my glucose levels soaring. This got me thinking about the bread our ancestors used to eat, and how we eat today.
History of Lean and Enriched Bread Dough
In the 1800s, before the advent of commercial yeast and highly refined flours, people only ate enriched bread—those with fats, eggs, and sugar—on special occasions. Their daily bread was lean, simple, and naturally nourishing. This inspired me to experiment with making a healthier version of enriched bread, one that’s soft and delicious, but without all the added sugars. After all, today folks want super soft, fluffy sandwich bread notorious for having a bunch of sugar (natural or not). Plus, I tested the recipe using my new Kitchen In a Box stand mixer, which, despite its small size, was perfect for the job. This post is a fun exploration of how you can create flavorful, soft bread using freshly milled flour, while cutting out unnecessary sugars from your daily loaf.
How to Make a Soft, Daily Bread that’s Slightly Sweet?
The highlight here is going to be my quick, no wait yudane. It sweetens in flavor as the starches gelatinize, which doubles in making your bread a little sweeter AND moist. Knead it properly, and it won’t be crumbly – it’ll be delicious and nutritious so you can save the sweets for other things. While sugar in this bread recipe is totally not necessary, you can add up to 10 grams of a natural sweetener like date syrup to the dough if you prefer. It’s just enough to give the yeast a boost, and not have it all left over for you and your loved ones.
Looking to cut the Fat?
You can totally leave out the olive oil and substitute the whole milk for water, and the bread will still be great. Just replace the oil with water. If you want to replace your egg with lecithin, add 1 tbsp of sunflower lecithin, and up the water by 2-3 tbsp. The lecithin is thirsty, and will suck it up. The key really is the yudane, and the vitamin C. If you don’t want to use vitamin c powder (ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate), you can use whole food vitamin c such as Camu Camu powder or Pure Radiance C powder. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice will also work well. Vitamin C, in addition to helping extend the shelf life of your bread, will help soften it making the bread more pliable. It works VERY well with the yudane.
Although it’s not needed, you can always add 1 tbsp of organic vital wheat gluten to your bread to make it rise even higher. But I promise you it’s not necessary.
Super Soft Daily Bread Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen In a Box Mixer or any stand mixer. You can even use your bread machine's dough cycle
- 1 gram scale I love this one! It's rechargeable, waterproof, and measures to the gram
- 1 pastry brush if you choose to do an egg wash
Ingredients
- 420 g wheat berries, hard white
- 225 g whole milk coconut milk or water can be used
- 1 whole egg I used one duck egg. You can also use 1 tbsp sunflower lecithin, and add a little extra water to compensate.
- 35 g extra virgin olive oil butter or oil of your choice would work well here
- 10 g date syrup leave it out, or use your choice of sweetener. This is just enough to give the yeast a boost.
- ⅛ tsp vitamin c powder You can use whole food based vitamin c powder such as camu camu, Pure Radiance C, or even 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 60 g boiling water for yudane this is mixed with 30 grams of the flour from above as the first step after milling. It will turn into a paste, and that paste goes into the mixing bowl with the liquid from the recipe above
Ingredients Added After First Mix and Rest
- 8 g sea salt, celtic grey
- 11 g yeast (instant) If using active dry yeast, prove it first and add the proved mixture on the step for adding yeast.
Instructions
- Mill the flour.
- Mix 30 grams of the milled flour with 60 grams of boiling water, and carefully but quickly mix into a paste. Add to your mixing bowl.
- Add all other ingredients to the mixing bowl EXCEPT the salt and the yeast.
- Mix with the whisk (wire whips) for 1-3 minutes on high speed, or well combined.
- Let the mixture rest for at least 15 minutes up to an hour, covered.
- Add salt and yeast to the mixing bowl, and mix with the dough hook for another few minutes. Check for windowpane, or signs of it, by looking for a smooth, silky dough.
- Let the dough rise, covered, until doubled. This length of time will vary greatly depending up on your environment. If you have a proofing box, I'd estimate 30 minutes. When you press a finger into the dough to the first knuckle, it should remain depressed or slowly start filling back in.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Shape your dough into a loaf by forming a rectangle, folding it up, and then rolling it so the outside skin is nice and taut.
- Place into a greased or lined bread pan 8.5" x 4.5" , and let rise while your oven preheats.
- When the dough has risen, and the dough stays depressed or slowly fills back in when pressed with your finger, it's ready for baking.
- Optional: wash the top of the bread with egg wash (1 egg and 1 tbsp water, mixed) for a golden, shiny crust. For a more rustic looking crust, skip this step.
- Bake the bread until it's 190 F in the middle of the loaf. Top the pan with another pan that's upside down to get a crunchy crust, similar to using a dutch oven. For a softer crust, do not cover the bread with another pan.
- Use an instant read thermometer to tell when the bread is ready. I estimate about 30-45 minutes, depending upon your oven AND your environment. Remove from the oven once it's done.
- Let the bread cool, removed from it's pan, on a bread rack before slicing.
