[Stephanie Brim]

...and I plan to eventually go to baking all our bread. At the moment I'm using unbleached natural white flour (either Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur, whichever I can find at the moment), white whole wheat flour, and whole wheat graham flour (Bob again). I'm wanting to transition to completely using wheat, but it seems to me that sandwich bread recipes do better with a lower concentration of whole wheat wheat (50% or less). I do like my everyday sandwich breads to be a little softer, as does my BF.

So...

I'm experimenting, but does anyone have any tips for getting a higher concentration of wheat flour to all purpose bread flour while retaining a nice, soft crumb?

[zenor77]

I make all our bread at home. For "fluffier" 100% whole wheat bread I add 2T of vital wheat gluten flour per loaf (in addition to the flour the recipe calls for.) So If I make a recipe for two loaves I'll add 1/4c (4T.) Vital wheat gluten adds extra protein and gives the bread more structure to hold onto the gas that that the yeast makes while rising. I buy my vital wheat gluten flour at my local co-op and you should be able to find it at your local health food store. It may seem pricey per lb, but you don't use much per recipe, so it's a good buy in my book.

It's worked so well for me that I no longer have white flour in the house. For cakes, biscuits, and cookies I use whole wheat pastry flour.

[trying2Bbuff]

This may not help, but I make my bread using whole white wheat grain that I grind myself. I grind it on the finest setting possible, and use it immediately. I also use vital gluten, and dough enhancer. My bread comes out nice and soft and usually doesn't last long enough to get dry. The gluten and dough enhancer really help. Good lucK!