Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread Made With Whey

Reader Contribution by Heather Alf
article image

I love to bake and eat homemade bread; however I always was disappointed in the texture of sandwich bread. Most recipes are a little too heavy or crummy to accompany sandwich fillings. A few years ago I discovered the secret to wonderfully textured sandwich bread quite by accident.

I was milking goats and making cheese nearly every day. I was also making something that I called yogurt cheese which is basically the equivalent of Greek yogurt. In making cheeses and yogurt a byproduct is produced called whey. I had a lot of whey and I hated to see it go to waste every day.

I was baking bread one morning and had a giant pot of warm whey it was the perfect temperature so I decided to experiment and use whey to replace the milk and water in my recipe.  I was happy to discover that using whey resulted in flavorful evenly textured bread neither too heavy or to light.

After a little research I learned that the reason that whey works to improve breads texture is that it is an acid. Commercial bakeries usually use acid in some form (vinegar, vitamin c, or even whey) to improve crumb and shelf life of bread.  Now I almost never bake yeast bread without whey or sourdough starter.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368