Don't you love to make your own bread? Nothing smells better than a loaf of bread baking in the oven! This easy recipe for fluffy whole wheat bread is absolutely delicious! You won't be able to resist a warm slice spread with butter!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This soft whole wheat bread is so much better than store-bought bread!
- This is a great recipe if it's your first time baking bread on your own!
- Whole wheat flour makes this recipe a little healthier for your family!
Ingredient Notes
- Honey - I've used both regular honey and cream honey for this recipe. Pure maple syrup could be substituted for the honey.
- Sugar - Even though this recipe calls for honey I use a little bit of white sugar to activate the yeast.
- White Flour - Use all purpose flour, not bread flour. Even though this is a wheat bread recipe you cannot use entirely wheat flour. It's too heavy and your loaf will not rise as well as turning out as a hard dense brick.
- Whole Wheat Flour - I've used white whole wheat flour for this recipe as well as regular wheat flour.
- Butter - Both unsalted butter and salted butter work fine.
- Yeast - I use active dry yeast for this recipe.
How To Make
- Even though I am making this bread recipe in a stand mixer it may be made by hand as well.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water.
- Also the yeast mixture to stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the honey, salt, butter, and 1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour. Mix at a low speed.
- Add 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour while the mixer is running. Mix until well combined.
- You may or may not need to add more flour at this point. You want the dough to come together in a sticky ball that mostly cleans the sides of the mixing bowl, but still sticks to the bottom. Add more flour a little at a time if you need to. Lean more towards a stickier dough than a stiff dough. Too much flour results in a heavy dense loaf.
- Knead in your bread dough in the mixer for 3 minutes.
- Cover and let dough rise until doubled in a warm place. This should take about an hour.
- Dump risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
- Shape dough into a loaf sealing the seams well.
- Place the loaf in a bread pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cover and let bread rise until doubled in the loaf pan (about a half hour to 45 minutes).
- Preheat your oven temperature to 350 degrees Bake risen bread for 45-50 minutes. When lightly thumped it should be hollow sounding.
- The baked bread should be golden brown not dark brown so about half way through baking you will need to tent the wheat bread with aluminum foil to avoid over browning.
- Run a cube of butter over the top of the hot bread.
- Cool 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
- Store completely cooled bread wrapped in plastic wrap or in a large ziploc bag.
FAQs and Expert Tips
You can I suppose, but I wouldn't. The bread won't rise high and will be so dense and heavy you won't want to eat it.
Honestly I have no idea. I'm not a fan of bread machine bread so I've not ever purchased one and haven't used one in over 20 years.
Keep your cooled loaf wrapped in plastic wrap or in a gallon size ziploc bag.
More Homemade Bread Recipes
Have you tried this recipe? If so, leave me a rating and a comment below! And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get my latest recipes sent right to your email! You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram!
Homemade Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups Warm Water
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 Tbs. Active Dry Yeast
- ¼ Cup Honey
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 4 Tbs. Butter room temp.
- 1 ½ Cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 ½ –2 Cups All Purpose Flour
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Also to stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the honey, salt, butter, and 1 ½ cups of wheat flour. Mix at a low speed.
- Add 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour while the mixer is running. Mix until well combined.
- You may or may not need to add more flour at this point. You want the dough to come together in a sticky ball that mostly cleans the sides of the bowl, but still sticks to the bottom. Add more flour a little at a time if you need to. Lean more towards a stickier dough than a stiff dough.
- Knead in your mixer for 3 minutes. Then cover and let rise until doubled. This should take about an hour.
- Dump risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Shape it into a loaf sealing the seams well.
- Place the loaf in a bread pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cover and let rise until doubled (about a half hour to 45 minutes).
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Bake risen bread for 45-50 minutes. About half way through baking you will need to tent the wheat bread with foil to avoid over browning.
- Run a cube of butter over the top of the hot bread.
- Cool 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Notes
- Do not substitute additional whole wheat flour for the white flour. Your dough will not rise if you do this leaving you with a dense, heavy loaf like a brick.
- Nutritional Disclaimer
Mindee's Cooking Obsession is a positive place and I love to hear your success stories! Remember to keep comments or questions respectful and kind. I reserve the right to delete or reject any comments that are deemed not helpful to other readers or are offensive in nature.
Comments suggesting substitutions of multiple ingredients or rewrites of the above recipe to promote different dietary preferences will not be published as they are not tested for accuracy and may inhibit the success of other readers. Thanks!
Corrina Dick
I make this bread once a week. My family doesn't like whole wheat bread but they love this. The addition of honey is a game changer. Make this easy bread recipe, you won't be disappointed
David Howard
Do you need to use vital gluten to make the bread rise more?
Mindee
No, the yeast called for should be all you need for a good rise.
Corrina
This bread is fantastic ! I made it today and didn't mention the words "whole wheat" because my husband wouldn't want to try it. He LOVED it.
I'll be making this again and again for sure
Mindee
That's awesome!!!
K
I made this recipe yesterday and it turned out very good! This was my first time to bake bread. What is your recommended storage for this delicious loaf of wheat bread? How long can it last on the counter or packaged in the refrigerator or freezer?
mindeescookingobsession
It's good on the counter for 2-3 days if you live in a location that's low in humidity. In the fridge, it should be good for about a week. In the freezer, about 6 months.
Kristy Ford
Made this recipe yesterday. The loaf was perfect. It was the size of store bought bread, was light and fluffy and came out perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Jeanene
Using the recommended amount of flours made for an extremely wet dough. I had to add almost an extra cup of white flour to get a dough that I was able to knead (15-20 min.) I followed the proving/shaping/proving/baking directions and was rewarded with probably the best loaf of wheat bread I've ever attempted! Delicious taste and great texture...I'm making a another loaf today! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Leslie
This is the best homemade bread . Very easy, great taste. I make a loaf twice a week. My husband loves this for sandwiches. He has asked to have this for Thanksgiving instead of rolls. Yummy
mindeescookingobsession
Thank You! I'm so glad you love it!
Vickie
I have never been one for wheat bread but this looks delicious and worth a try because my family loves wheat bread. We were not disappointed. Very good.
Greg
Love this as toast in the morning!!!
Jeff
Very Good