Recipe: Daily bread for toast

67% whole grain • 70% hydration

After two years of tweaking my home made toast loaf, I’m super happy with this delicious and crunchy result. Excellent flavour and nutrition from whole grain wheat combine with a straightforward recipe to produce a real gem!

I especially love this toasted on the dark side of medium, slathered with butter and topped with Havarti, an over medium egg, or honey. For grilled cheese sandwiches in our house, “Dad’s bread” is the most requested option!

Why it works

  • Vital wheat gluten improves the crumb texture in whole grain bread, restoring the lovely chewiness of a classic white loaf.
  • Olive oil extends shelf life, improves browning, and is good for you too!
  • “Whole grain whole wheat flour” includes the bran, endosperm, and germ, whereas products labelled “whole wheat flour” contain only the bran and endosperm. Wheat germ adds a pleasant nuttiness and deeper flavour as well as protein and minerals.
    Look specifically for “whole grain” whole wheat on your flour package and store it in the fridge to keep the germ fresh. To maximize freshness and convenience, I buy red wheat berries from Ottawa Valley Grain Products and grind flour as needed. That said, regular whole wheat flour should work just fine with this recipe!

Daily toast bread recipe

Poolish (12-16 hours)

  • 200 g Bread flour
  • ⅛ tsp Instant dry yeast (0.3 g)
  • 275 g Water
  1. WHISK together in a large bowl and cover 12-16 hours at room temperature.

Dough and 1st rise (2 hours)

  • 200 g Water
  • 400 g Whole grain wheat flour
  • ½ tsp Instant dry yeast (2 g)
  • 1 tsp Sea salt (7 g)
  • 2 tbsp Vital wheat gluten (16 g)
  • 15 g Olive oil
  1. STIR water into poolish and pour into bowl of mixer with dough hook.
  2. COMBINE dry ingredients and add to mixer bowl.
  3. KNEAD on low speed, while continuing with steps 4-6.
  4. WASH and dry the poolish bowl, then add olive oil, tilting to coat the sides.
  5. After 5-10 minutes of kneading, POUR excess oil from poolish bowl into mixer bowl.
  6. Continue to KNEAD until the dough pulls completely away from the bottom of the bowl.
  7. Transfer dough to oiled bowl, and TURN the dough to coat all over with oil.
  8. COVER and proof just until doubled, 1-2 hours.

2nd rise and bake (2 hours)

  1. GREASE a non-stick 9″x5″ loaf pan, ensuring corners are coated.
  2. FOLD dough onto itself a few times in the bowl by lifting, pulling, folding, and pushing.
  3. Pick the dough up and SMACK it down hard a few times to remove any large bubbles.
  4. Holding it in the air with both hands, ROLL dough into a fat log and transfer to loaf pan, seam side down.
  5. PAT top of loaf down to get it into the corners and make it more flat.
  6. Cover with a little plastic wrap so it isn’t exposed then PROOF at room temperature until center of loaf is above pan rim, 30-60 minutes.
    • I proof it uncovered in a Cuisinart countertop steam/toaster oven on Steam mode at 100ºF for 30 minutes.
  7. PREHEAT oven to 400ºF, depending on preferred crustiness.
  8. BAKE in center of oven for 40 minutes to an internal temperature of 93ºC.
  9. Remove from pan and COOL on rack before cutting.
  10. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight bag for up to 5 days.
  11. Slice on demand, or chop up the entire loaf and freeze while staggering the slices so they’re easy to pry apart.