100% whole wheat low sodium bread machine recipe
Hi!
My question crosses topics, and I did search the forum best I could. I want a 100% whole wheat bread machine recipe that is low sodium. I was just given a bread machine(used), so I've never made bread in it. I have baked bread once or twice manually in my life so have little experience. These are my questions
Salt/Sodium -
The 2% salt content I've read about in this forum is too high for low sodium. I read that salt is a yeast inhibitor so if you halve the salt, halve the yeast. The King Arthur folks told me no, do not reduce the yeast and use at least 1/2 tsp salt per tblsp yeast. I read that in a bread machine that will likely overproof(a technical bread term!). Many folks on this forum comment about the taste with less salt. I am used to low sodium so a less salty taste will not bother me. I don't want to use a salt substitute unless that is what it takes to improve the gluten, inhibit the yeast, make the texture better, prevent overproofing or whatever else can go wrong that I don't know about.
Flour -
I bought King Arthur White Whole Wheat(i like brown but thought my family might like a change). I couldn't find whole wheat bread flour, white or brown in Atlanta. The bread machine mavens emphasized using bread flour, so I looked up the difference and found, so far, that it is higher protein content, and maybe some barley and ascorbic acid. Called the King Arthur folks and they said their White Whole Wheat is the same as bread flour because it has high protein, but no barley and no ascorbic acid. Do I need to add some dough enhancers(another tech term, I'm learning!) to get this flour to act like bread flour in the bread machine?
Sugar -
All the whole wheat recipes I read use a fair amount of honey, mollasses and/or brown sugar. Is all this sugar needed for the yeast? I don't restrict sugar like I do sodium, but I certainly don't want to add more than needed. I don't have a particular sweet tooth so the minimum amount of sugar needed is fine, I don't want sweet tasting bread for everyday.
Wheat Gluten -
I bought Hodson Mill Vital Wheat gluten with vitamin c(there's the ascorbic acid!) to add to the flour at their suggested rate of 4 tsp per loaf. Is this needed? If it will make a better loaf I am happy to add it. Is 4 tsp for 1 lb or 1.5 lb loaf?
My Nirvana would be a recipe that covers my bases of 100% whole wheat, low sodium, less sugar and good texture, shape for everyday sandwich/toast bread.
Thanks for all your help from a newbie baker!