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Allinson's 50/50 Wholemeal Loaf in a Bread Maker

Allinson's 50/50 wholemeal loaf in a bread maker
Preparation time
5 mins
Standing time
~
Cooking time
5 hours
Total time
5 hours 5 mins
 

For ages I’ve been using my Panasonic bread maker to make dough, which I shape in a banneton and bake in an oven. Now I’ve enthusiastically returned to using the bread maker to make a whole loaf from start to finish. I can’t argue with the convenience of it; add a few ingredients to the bread pan, don’t forget the yeast (like I did the other day, ugh) and 3-5 hours later a warm, pillowy loaf appears, hopefully in time for lunch.

I mostly make variations of a wholemeal and white loaf using 50% or 70% wholemeal flour. It doesn’t really matter which ratio is used - my Panasonic recipe booklet lists the same amount of water, salt, sugar, butter and yeast for a 50%, 70% and 100% wholemeal loaf.

If I have enough time I use menu 5, the 5 hour ‘whole wheat’ setting. The 3 hour ‘rapid whole wheat’ setting (menu 6) is fine too but the bread doesn’t rise quite as much. 

I get on well with Allinson’s flour but I’m not especially loyal to any brand; it’s just what I have in my cupboard at the moment. I make a medium loaf as there’s only two of us (Panasonic’s recipe booklet calls it medium, I think it’s small) but I’ve listed the quantities for a large and extra large loaf as well.

Notes

The Panasonic recipe book advises using butter for this recipe but I use 12g of extra virgin olive oil instead. I remember reading on Nigella’s website that 150ml of olive oil can sometimes replace 200g butter when baking a cake so I use the same 0.75 ratio.

A reminder in case you didn't know (I didn't until recently): 1ml of water weighs 1g so I weigh the water on my digital scale rather than using a measuring jug as it's quicker and more accurate.

If you want to use the 'rapid whole wheat' 3 hour programme the ingredient quantities are the same but you'll need to add an extra ¼ teaspoon of dried yeast. 

Ingredients

Serves: 6+

Medium 50/50 wholemeal loaf

  • 200g strong wholemeal bread flour (I use Allinson's)
  • 200g strong white bread flour (I use Allinson's)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 15g butter (or 12g of olive oil, extra virgin if you like)
  • 300ml water
  • ¾ tsp dried yeast (I use Allinson's Easy Bake Yeast)

Large loaf

  • 500g strong bread flour (use any ratio of wholemeal and white)
  • 1½ tsp sugar
  • 1¼ tsp salt
  • 25g butter (or around 19g oil)
  • 370ml water
  • 1 tsp dried yeast

Extra large loaf

  • 600g strong bread flour (use any ratio of wholemeal and white)
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 25g butter (or around 19g oil)
  • 430ml water
  • 1½ tsp dried yeast

Method

  1. Medium loaf (see the ingredients list for other sizes): Put the blade into the bread tin. Add 200g of strong wholemeal bread flour, 200g of strong white bread flour, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 15g of butter (or 12g of olive oil) and 300ml of water into the loaf tin then put it into the bread maker.
  2. Add ¾ teaspoon of yeast to the yeast dispenser and select a wholemeal bread setting (for me, it’s menu 5, whole wheat, on my Panasonic ZB2512 bread maker, which takes 5 hours).
  3. When the timer sounds, shake the loaf out onto a rack and allow to cool a little before slicing into it.