Honey Whole Wheat Bread
This honey whole wheat bread is light and fluffy. Easy to make using simple ingredients, this wholesome bread is perfect for sandwiches and toast.
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There is really nothing better than the smell of homemade bread rising and baking in the oven. There aren’t too many things that taste better than homemade bread either.
We really love bread in this house and one of my favourite things in the world to do is bake it. There is something so satisfying about pulling a perfect loaf of home baked bread out of the oven, allowing it to cool just enough to handle, and then slathering it with butter.
This honey whole wheat bread is a perfect all purpose bread for toast and sandwiches. It is light and soft and has a nice crumb that holds up well to toasting, or loading with delicious sandwich fixings such as ham or turkey.
The light texture and mildly sweet flavor also makes it ideal for a delicous Southern Chicken Salad sandwich.
The whole wheat flour adds a nice texture and nuttiness, while the honey adds just a bit of sweetness.
HOT TIP: Make sure you knead the dough long enough so that it becomes smooth and elastic, generally around 8 minutes. Kneading the dough helps to form the gluten and give the bread it’s chewy texture.
How to make honey whole wheat bread
- Begin by adding the honey, yeast and 1/4 cup of the water to the bowl of a stand mixer. (If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a large mixing bowl)
- Allow yeast mixture to sit for about 5 minutes until it starts to become foamy.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix on low until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn out to a floured counter and knead for 5-8 minutes until smooth and elastic
- Return to an oiled bowl and let rest until doubled
- After dough has risen, divide into two equal portions (I like to use a kitchen scale, but you don’t have to.)
- Roll out to about 9×12, then roll up from the short end. Tuck ends under and place seam side down into a lightly greased loaf pan.
- Let rest until doubled, then bake at 350 degrees for 35-30 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow to cool about 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Slice and serve.
This bread is fantastic toasted! Try it with this homemade persimmon butter or this blueberry chia seed jam!
FAQS
If you find your dough isn’t rising there could be a few things going on. If it didn’t rise at all then your yeast is likely dead. It could be expired, or it’s possible the water you used was too hot and killed the yeast. To test if the yeast is good add a tsp of yeast to 1/4 cup of warm (not hot) water and a tsp of sugar. If after 5 minutes it is not starting to foam, then your yeast is no longer alive and will not rise.
This bread will well for about a week if stored in an airtight bag or container. Of course, ours never usually makes it that long before we eat it all.
Definitely! Simply allow it to cool completely, then wrap tightly with plastic wrap or store in a freezer bag or airtight container.
More Recipes to Try
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Warm water
- 2 1/4 tsp Active dry yeast
- 1/3 Cup Honey
- 1 1/4 Cup Warm water
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil
- 3 Cups Whole wheat bread flour
- 1 1/2 Cups All purpose flour
Instructions
- Add the honey, yeast and 1/4 cup of warm water to the bowl of a stand mixer. Allow to sit for approximatly 5 minutes until yeast becomes foamy.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the mixer and set to low. Mix until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured counter top and knead for 5-8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. If the dough is really sticky you can add 1-2 tablespoons of flour at at time until it smooth.
- Lightly coat a bowl with oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled. This will usually take about an hour. If it is cold out, you can place the bowl in the oven with the oven light on, or use the proof setting on your oven if it has it.
- Once the dough has doubled, turn out onto a counter and divide into two equal portions. I like to use a kitchen scale for this, but you can just estimate if you like.
- Roll the dough out to approximately 9×12 inches with a rolling pin, then roll it up from the short side. Gently tuck the ends under, then place the rolled dough seam side down into 2 greased 9×5 loaf pans.
- Cover with a clean tea towl and allow to rise until almost doubled, approximatly an hour. You can also cover with plastic wrap, but be sure not to wrap it tightly as you need room for the dough to expand.
- Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Bake the loaves for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden and sound hollow when tapped
- Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
- Slice and serve. Store in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for about a week, or you can freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Tried this recipe? Leave me a comment or rating to let me know!
Can you use just whole wheat flour?
You can! The texture will be a little different but you absolutely can use just whole wheat if you prefer.
I just made this recipe. 4 loaves. I used whole wheat flour. The texture and taste were great. I want a great whole wheat bread for sandwiches and daily use. It was perfect. I freeze the loaves and use them throughout the week. Thanks for this great recipe.
Can I replace some of the flour with rolled oats?
I’m sorry, it’s not something I’ve ever tried with this recipe. If you decide to try, let me know how it turns out!
Hi Deanna, I’ve been doing for quite a while your recipe and it’s so delicious, your bread is my favourite hand up 😊. I would like to know, what can I do so that my bread gets bigger because like you mention « This recipe will make two smaller loaves of bread using 9×5 inch loaf pans. If you want larger slices of bread, you can use one 12×4 inch loaf pan » I’m currently using the 9×5 loaf pans because I cannot find the 12×4 loaf pan, what you recommend so my bread raised a little bit more… thanks in advance
Thank you so much, Nathalie. I’m so happy you enjoy this recipe. I think the best way to make a taller (larger) larger loaf without using a bigger pan would be to divide the dough into thirds instead of half. Then use 2/3 of the dough for one loaf and roll the rest into dinner rolls or a mini-loaf. There is no way to make a recipe simply rise more without altering the ratio of ingredients. Making a larger loaf you will probably need to increase the bake time to make sure it is baked all the way through. Let me know how it goes if you try it!
@Deanna, thanks for the quick reply and will definitely try it 😕
@Deanna, I wanted to type a happy smile 😊
I cannot find wheat bread flour near me. I have regular bread flour (in place of AP) and regular whole wheat flour. Am I able to use those two in combination to make this recipe or do I need to add gluten?
It should work fine with those flours. I swap often depending on what I have in the pantry, I’ve never added extra gluten to anything I bake. Good luck!
This was delicious. Cooking at Colorado high altitude you just never know. But it baked up perfectly. I did omit the 1/3 c. honey instead used same 1/3 c. of coconut palm sugar just to try and not be sweet. Turned out really good. Thank you.
Great to hear, I’m glad it worked well for you at high altitude as well and that you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review!
I really like this recipe. First time ever making homemade bread. It was a hit. First time I used a smaller, squattier non stick pan I use for banana breads. Loaves came out kinda small when divided into two. Even after rising perfectly. But texture was perfect after baking for 35 minutes. Light n fluffy with a nice swirl from rolling out the dough. Second time I divided dough in two and used my new pans I bought from Ikea. Slightly narrower and longer. Baked for 35 minutes again and they were perfectly golden. I used parchment paper to line pans. Loaves came out tiny. Hence the narrower longer pan. I thought it would be an ok ratio but no. Then I realized something. I am using all purpose flour. Not sure if this makes a difference. But I like the texture. So next time I will use this recipe for 1 loaf in my longer pans. See if I get a larger loaf. I realize in other recipes 4.5 cups of flour is for one loaf.
I used my Ikea pans and did not divide recipe. Loaf came out perfect! Size, colour and texture. I added half an hour to rising times and baked it for 45 min.
This whole wheat bread recipe is very easy to follow and yet so good. Less ingredients and always easily available.
Can I just use my dough hook to knead it too ? Thanks
Yes you sure can. Even when I use my dough hook I generally turn it out and hand knead a couple times to make sure it’s nice and smooth, but you don’t have to.
Can you substitute the honey and just use the same amount of white sugar?
You definitely could if you like. It won’t give quite the same flavour, but it will work.
Can this bread be made in a bread maker
I haven’t used a bread maker in about 20 years, so unfortunately I’m not sure how you would adapt this. If you decide to try, let me know how it goes.
I’m curious- where did you find whole wheat bread flour? I have regular whole wheat flour, and white bread flour, but not whole wheat bread flour. I’ve looked and never been able to find some. Thanks!
Interesting. I’m in Canada and I can find it at any of my local grocers. I would think any larger grocery chain should carry it. Though I wonder if certain types of flour is still harder to come by right now due to shortages.
The bread is soft, fluffy and delicious. I added a cup of soaked oatmeal and a couple of tablespoons of gluten, then tweaked the flour and water quantities to get the right elasticity. But here’s an interesting question: a slice of the finished bread unrolled like a cinnamon roll. Is that because of the extra bulk from the oatmeal, or should I have rolled it tighter? What do you think it would it be like if I didn’t roll it as you recommended but just formed it into a loaf and let it do the second rise that way? Thanks.
So glad you enjoyed your bread! That’s a good question about the rolling. I’m not sure because I’ve never had that happen before, so my guess is it must be something to do with the oatmeal. In any case, simply forming it should work fine. If you try it, let me know!