Soft and Fluffy Wheat Sandwich Bread

I think I finally found it! The perfect homemade wheat bread! Every wheat bread I have ever made in the past has been dense and heavy. What I have been looking for is a soft and fluffy wheat bread, similar to store bought but without all the preservatives. One of my favorite bread recipes is challah. It always comes out so perfect. So today I decided I would try modifying my challah bread recipe to make a great loaf of wheat bread. So here it is!

Ingredients:

2 cups of whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur)

2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups of bread flour

3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (this really helps!)

2 1/4 teaspoons fast acting yeast

1 1/4 cups water

3 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of butter

1. In a large mixing bowl mix together the whole wheat flour, yeast and vital wheat gluten. Warm up the water, honey, salt and butter till it reaches 120 - 130 degrees. Add water mixture and eggs to the wheat flour mixture and beat with a mixer for 5 minutes. With a wooden spoon stir in as much of the bread flour as you can. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead in as much of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. (about 6-8 minutes) Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl (turning once to coat.) Cover and let rise till doubled in size. The time it takes to double varies. It is generally between 45-60 mintues.

2. Once the dough has doubled in size punch it down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough in half. Shape into loaves and place in two greased and floured 8x4 loaf pans. Cover and let rise till doubled in size (30-45 mins.)

3. While bread is rising preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once the dough has doubled brush the tops with butter and bake for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees. To prevent overbrowning you can cover the loaves will foil halfway through baking.

4. Immediately remove the loaves from pans. Cool on wire racks.