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These are my ingredients for a one-loaf white bread recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 packet active dry yeast

I'd like to add an ingredient that will increase the loaf's fiber content without having to adjust or alter the other ingredients, but I don't know a) what to add, and b) how much of it to add.

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Also note that substituting some wholemeal flour for white flour is "healthier" than just adding some fibre. –  MGOwen Aug 16 '10 at 5:21

6 Answers 6

up vote 2 down vote accepted

You can add a handful of pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. You don't need to adjust any of the other ingredients.

Sunflower seeds contain a ton of good stuff, including fibre, according to Wikipedia:

"In addition to linoleic acid (an essential fatty acid), sunflower seeds are also an excellent source of dietary fiber, some amino acids (especially tryptophan), Vitamin E, B Vitamins (especially vitamin B1 or thiamine, vitamin B5 or pantothenic acid and folate), and minerals such as copper, manganese, potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, selenium, calcium and zinc.[5] Additionally, they are rich in cholesterol-lowering phytosterols."

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You can buy wheat bran at health stores. Before adding to bread, soak for a while to rehydrate. It will change the character of the bread somewhat, but the recipe should still work with something like 1/3 cup. The bag I bought was fairly coarse, so I put it in the blender and pulsed to powder it.

You can also buy soluble fiber (i.e. benefiber in the USA), although some of what is sold might be a scam. I imagine something around 1/4 cup added wouldn't mess up the recipe.

King Arthur (and perhaps others) make a white wheat flour, made from an albino wheat with husk that is ground very finely, and can generally be subbed in for white flour yielding higher fiber product. You might want to start half and half white wheat and white.

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With a $200 grain grinder, you can grind white whole wheat flour into a dead ringer for what King Arthur makes. Add a bit of vital wheat gluten and you have an amazing whole wheat bread flour. –  justkt Aug 11 '10 at 15:51

And of course you can simply substitute a percentage of good old whole wheat flour. Start with one of the three cups and see how you like it. The bread will be slightly brown, but Im assuming that isn't a drastic problem for you. You might also like to give it a slightly longer final rise to ensure it isn't dense.

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Other tips for adding whole wheat flour: add vital wheat gluten (to up the gluten content for a better rise) and use more water or milk since whole wheat flour is thirstier than AP. –  justkt Aug 11 '10 at 15:52

Oatmeal is a high fiber ingredient. It is considered one of the best carbohydrate heavy foods out there because of this. Unfortunately, making oatmeal bread does require changing your recipe a bit. Sub out one cup of AP flour for old-fashioned oats, the highest fiber oats. While preparing your dry ingredients, soak the oatmeal in your milk. At least, this is how the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook converts their basic white bread into oatmeal white bread.

For really upping your fiber content, also consider using 1/3 whole wheat flour to make a light wheat bread. This may require slightly more liquid, which you can always add while kneading until you get a good sense of the proportion for next time.

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7-grain flakes are a good alternative to oatmeal if you don't like the flavor oatmeal adds. They're sold in bulk food sections of many stores, next to the oatmeal (they look a lot like oatmeal). I've never seen them not in a bulk food section, but that doesn't mean they're not out there. –  Rebekah Aug 11 '10 at 18:24
  1. substitute X grams / ounces of white flower with one or a combination of the following:

    • Wheat germ
    • Puinoa
    • multi-grain flower
    • Almond / nut powder
  2. Or Sprinkle the top with some form of a grain mix

As a suggestion do not substitute more than 1/2 a cup.

Note that your first modified batch will be crap at best

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This is a super easy recipe I have used successfully in my breadmaker.

3 cups plain flour or bakers flour

2 tsp bread improver

2 tsp yeast

1.5 cups steel cut oats (or fast cooking oats)

pinch of salt

3-4 tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup linseed, or oat bran, or chia bran (optional)

1/4 cup olive oil

Warm water to combine (about 1.5 to 2 cups)

Dissolve the sugar in 1 cup of the water. Add to all the other ingredients in the bread maker. Turn on. Watch the kneading process for a few minutes, adding enough water slowly (literally in small drips) to allow the dough to form a ball. The ball should be slightly sticky and wet as the oat and bran will soak up some water over time. Let the cycle finish. Enjoy!

The oat actually ends up "dissolving" into the bread from the kneading process, which I like. If you prefer a more grainy texture, you can add the oat just before the proofing cycle after the kneading is complete.

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