100% Whole Wheat Bread for Bread Machines

 1.5 cups + 2 Tbsp Water (390 grams)
3.75 cups Whole Wheat Flour (498 grams)
2 Tbsp Dry Milk Powder
1.5 tsp Salt (if your salt is FINE, use just 1 teaspoon)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Agave Syrup (Honey or White Sugar or Brown Sugar will work just fine too). 
1.5 Tbsp Gluten (this is KEY to the 100% whole wheat flour in this recipe)
1 Tbsp Molasses (Maple Syrup will work)
1 Tbsp tsp Active Dry Yeast

Add all ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine manual (the order of the ingredients listed above is the order my Oster bread machine asks for) and process on the basic bread cycle (dough cycle 9 on my Oster machine).

Let the bread rise once in the machine. See notes in the black section below for how I do this in my Oster machine -- I suspect this will work for any machine (but read your machine's direction to be safe). 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, making sure your oven racks are arranged so there's room for your loaf. 

Remove the dough from your machine. Knock it down by gently kneading it (I let my machine do that work for me). Roll your dough into a rectangle as wide as your loaf pan and roll it up into a loaf. Put into your pan, let it rise until doubled in size (in either a proofing box or in a reasonably warm place covered with a dampened (not wet) kitchen towel).

Once doubled, put it in a 350 degree oven and bake until 190 degrees inside the loaf (about 35 to 40 minutes). 

Let the loaf cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. 

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I own, use and love this bread machine.

But I don't bake in it.

I use it every week to make and rise my bread dough.

I've owned it for at LEAST ten years. Mine has been simple and reliable. Easy to clean up, and simplifies the bread making process. 

I admit it. I can't get excited about homemade bread when it's baked in a bread machine. I don't know why. It just seems, well, weird. 

But a fresh LOAF of bread? Just try to hold me back. 

That said, I use my bread machine at least once a week. I use it to make and rise my bread dough, but NOT to bake it. 

Wait, what? It's so easy with this machine. Cycle 9 (the dough ONLY cycle) is the bomb. It mixes, kneads, and proofs the bread dough. When I see my dough nearing the glass in the lid, I hit cycle 9 a second time, let the machine knock the dough down for a minute or two and then I unplug my machine. 

I pull the dough out of the machine, place it on a lightly floured countertop, roll it into a big rectangle, roll that up into a (rolled) loaf, and put it into a loaf pan. Let it rise in the loaf pan until doubled, put it into the oven and voila. Amazing freshly baked bread that took little cleanup and even less time!