Soaked 100% Whole Wheat Breadmaker/Bread Machine Bread
(makes 1 ½ pound loaf)
Mix by hand:
1 1/3 cups water
1 Tbs + 1 tsp olive oil or melted butter
3 Tbs honey
2 heaping Tbs yogurt or whey (or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or cultured buttermilk)
3 cups whole wheat flour
Carefully make a mound of ¼ cup whole wheat flour. Make a well in the middle and add 1 ¾ tsp active dry yeast and 1 ½ tsp salt. The idea is not to let the yeast touch the wet ingredients. The salt with inhibit the breakdown of the phytates and enzyme inhibitors, so you want that mixed in last too.
Soak overnight or longer and start the bread machine. If your machine has a delay timer, this is an easy soak and ready in the morning for breakfast.
I’m not going to lie here — this is still breadmaker bread…it’s yummy toasted with honey though. I had an awful time finding a soaked recipe online though, so I made my own. I just don’t have the time to make REAL bread in the oven!
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OK. I love using my bread machine, but am new to the world of using soaked flour. I need a bit of clarity. Do you mix all the ingredients and then put them in the bread machine? Top with 1/4 cup flour, yeast and salt and then leave it overnight (in the bread machine)? Is it 3 c flour + 1/4 c. And what setting do you use on your machine. I apologize for my ignorance. This is a whole new world for me, but I am loving learning.
BTW, you have some great info here. Thanks for freely sharing what you have learned.
Lynita
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Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m trying to be better about soaking our flours and oats and such, but am still learning how to meal-plan ahead! I love my bread machine and this will be even better for us.
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I made this bread and all I can say is WOW! Not only is this my first soaked bread recipe, but it’s the best loaf of 100% whole wheat I’ve ever made. I started the soaking yesterday morning, set my delay timer on my breadmaker before going to bed, awoke briefly at 3 a.m. to the sound of the breadmaker kneading my dough and then woke up at 6:15 to the smell of freshly baked bread. I was giddy with excitment as I sliced it and slathered that first slice with butter. Thank you for this great recipe.
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Katie Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Liz,
Katie
AWEsome!! I’m so glad you liked it – it was just the breadmaker book’s recipe, adapted for soaking.
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Thanks, I think I will adapt my own recipe as you have…. I have been wanting to do a soaked bread with my bread machine, I have been making bread with it for the past 15 years and am glad to up the ante with soaked grain bread.
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Hi! I’m a new reader here through Nourishing Traditions. I was so excited to find this recipe as I have been looking for a soaked, bread maker recipe for such a long time. It’s really the only way I have time to make bread.
I tried this recipe last night in my Breadman Pro breadmaker and unfortunately mine fell in the middle. I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour, home cultured buttermilk for the acidic medium, and ran it on the whole wheat cycle set with the timer. I’m sure anything from my maker to my changes could have caused it to fall in so my only tweak for my own use would be to reduce the yeast to perhaps 1 1/2 tsp.
That said, the smell this morning was heavenly and I could just barely wait for it to cool enough for cutting. It tasted as good as it smelled and was not at all heavy tasting, more melt in your mouth good. I can’t wait for my finicky, white bread loving hubby to try it!
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Katie Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 5:04 am
Mrs. Cote,
Mine only fell in the middle badly the time I forgot to push the “whole wheat” button. It really needs that extra rise time! I hope your tweak works for next time! 
Katie
Welcome! Glad to have you, and I’m glad you’re sticking around after a concave load of bread.
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I’m going to try this as my first soaked bread experiment (baby steps don’t ya know). So I’m thrilled that you have done some experimenting for all of us, Katie. My breadmaker has small (1 Lb), medium (1.5 Lb) and large (2Lb) settings. Looks like the typical Medium loaf uses 3 cups of flour but I’m wondering if the “soaking” doesn’t effectively increase the 3 1/4 cups flour to 4 cups which would make a large loaf (2 Lb). Does anyone have any advice, thoughts, educated guesses, opinions: is this recipe making a 1.5 Lb (Medium) or 2 Lb loaf of bread?
Peace,
Lisa
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Katie Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 4:49 am
Lisa,
I’m pretty sure I made the medium-sized loaf for this, like you said. Remember the ingredients aren’t going to change just because it’s soaked – the flour and water are the same amounts, just mixed together at a different time. Does that help? Does your breadmaker make you choose which size in order to run properly? I hope you get it to work out great! 
Katie
My breadmaker has 3 sizes, too, but I lent it out with the instructions! Whoops.
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Hi! I am new to bread maker baking, and every time I attempt a soaked grain loaf it falls (big time!) in the middle. Any suggestions? I do have the Oster breadmaker, and I’ve read some bad reviews about ANY bread falling in the middle… so maybe it’s the breadmaker and I should return it for a different brand?
Thanks so much
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Katie Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Rachael,
Katie
Are you using the whole wheat setting? The one time I had a caved-in loaf, I accidentally left it on regular bread setting and it didn’t have a long enough rise time. You could try allowing your breadmaker to knead the bread only, and then take over manually from there (rise until doubled, about 1-2 hours, then put in pans and rise until it crests the pan). Then you would know if it’s the way you’re mixing up the recipe or your machine. Passionate Homemaking has a winner of a soaked bread recipe, but I don’t think it’s breadmaker. Good luck!
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Virginia Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 1:13 am
I have an oster bread maker also, and the times I have done soaked whole wheat bread I had to reduce the moisture a bit in the bread to keep it from caving and I also reduced the yeast.
I have used this brand of breadmaker with great results for 14 years. Just adjust your recipe. It will work out…. only do one adjustment at a time though. To see which one really works.
Good luck.
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I am so happy to help! I’ve learned a great deal from blogs out there and am excited to share. I searched and searched for a basic soaked bread machine recipe and couldn’t find one that wasn’t for a Bosch, so I made my own. I mix up the first list of 5 ingredients with a spoon right in my breadmaker pan. Yes, then you put an extra 1/4 cup of flour (to make 3 1/4 cups total) on top with a dent to keep the yeast from touching the wet mixture. I do it this way so I have the option of setting the time for fresh bread in the morning, so the pan is right in the machine. Since it should soak at least 12 hours, I try to start it the a.m. or afternoon before I want bread. My machine has a “whole wheat” setting, which I use. I forgot once and it defaulted to “basic”, which worked but made a big sinkhole in the bread! It looked goofy but didn’t taste too dense or anything. We just ate it with the hole!
I should clarify that I’ve only ever tried this with plain yogurt for the “acidic medium”. For most soaking recipes, you can use all those other choices, but I’m not positive they won’t change the flavor of the bread.
Good luck! I hope this works with all breadmakers!
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