Bake the Best Whole Wheat & Honey Bread
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As I’m writing this post, I have two loaves of this yummy whole wheat & honey bread rising in my oven. I’ve gotten into the habit of making a couple loaves every week or more lately, and we use it for our morning toast or sandwiches throughout the week. It’s the best 100% whole wheat bread I’ve ever made, and it stays moist and delicious long after it’s baked. This bread also compliments my diet of avoiding white flour and white sugar – it’s sweetened with honey, and it’s made all whole wheat flour. You can even add extra yummy and nutritious fillers like oats and flaxseed.
What really makes this bread work every single time for me is making it with my KitchenAid mixer
You could hand-knead this recipe too, but I find that it’s doing it with my KitchenAid that makes really consistently good loaves of bread.
This recipe slices really nicely after the loaves have cooled, and we eat it fresh as a side with dinner, and then store it in plastic bags after it’s sliced for our toast and sandwiches.
My daughters adore this bread, and they’ve told me they never want store bought bread again! I’m not sure I can guarantee them that, but I’m sure going to try.
Here’s my recipe; I hope you enjoy it as much as we’ve been lately!
The Best Whole Wheat & Honey Bread
Adapted from this recipe by Eat Cake for Dinner.
Makes 2 loaves.
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp rapid rise yeast
- 4 cups warm water
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 9-10 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup of quick oats
 or flaxseed
 (or a combination of the two)
Directions:
- Sprinkle the yeast in the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer.
- Slowly add 4 cups of warm water and 2/3 cups of honey, and mix gently until the yeast dissolves. Let the yeast mixture sit for about 5 minutes until you see that the yeast is starting to foam.
- With the regular paddle attachment on your mixer, slowly add in 4 cups of the flour, the salt, and the oats/flaxseed as you mix the dough on the lowest setting of your mixer. Mix until combined, scraping the edges of the bowl if needed.
- Switch to the dough hook attachment. Add in the rest of the flour as you knead it with the dough hook. I usually use the full 10 cups, but you may use less depending on the type of whole wheat flour you are using. The dough should release from the sides of the mixing bowl, but it should still be sticky.
- Place some plastic wrap over the mixing bowl, and let it rise in a warm place until it’s about doubled. I use the “proof” setting on my oven to rise my dough in.
- After the dough has risen, punch it down to get rid of any air pockets. Cut the dough in half, and squish and press it into two prepared 9″ x 5″ loaf pans. I spray mine with cooking spray.
- Cover the loaf pans with the plastic wrap, and let the dough rise again for about an hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and bake the bread for 35-40 minutes. It’s done when the tops are slightly brown, and it sounds hollow when you tap it.
- Let the bread cool for at least 15 minutes before you cut it. Store it in a bag for up to 5 days and it will stay moist and fresh tasting.
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This bread looks delicious! And the photos are great!
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I’ve been looking for a great bread recipe and this looks delicious, thanks for sharing! I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks, Amanda! Let me know how it turns out for you.
I just made this bread and it is now baking in the oven. I did find that the quantities of the ingredients to much for my kitchen aid bowl and it was difficult for the hook to move around. I ended up dumping it onto my counter and kneeling it by hand.
It looks wonderful though and I look forward in having a piece for lunch. Next time I make it, I’ll cut te recipe in half and only make one loaf, if I decide to do it in my Kitchen Aid that is.
Thanks for sharing it!
Just wondering about the 3 tablespoons of yeast, this seems like a lot. I am currently baking the bread now, with the 3 tbsp of yeast, and it has risen considerably.
Yes, that is the correct amount. Did the bread turn out for you in the end?
I’m so excited I found this on Pinterest!! I first made it last week and even my husband liked it! And I love how I will not be buying store bought bread. Thanks for sharing, this is now a household staple in my home.
Is there a way to make only one loaf? I’m afraid to just cut all the ingredients in half. Have you tried a one-loaf version?
I’m curious about cutting the recipe for one loaf as well.
I haven’t tried halving it yet, but I’ll definitely post here if I do! I find that I always need at least two loaves, though. 😉
Why not just make the recipe and divide it into the amount of loaves you want and make one, freeze the rest of the dough – when ready just defrost and bake.
Great idea! I do this with pizza dough all of the time and it’s such a great time saver later on.
I just found your recipe Christina, and am so happy because I am a bread maker and have been just adding too much flax and oat bran and heavy stuff and decided I needed a simpler one. I made your recipe without changing one thing and the dough in the mixer was perfect, pulled from sides, light. It only took 9 cups total dough. I decided to get my daily amount of flax by mixing 2 TBS in with almond milk and drinking it, and enjoy my bread nice and light:-) ….. However, I did notice that the bread was over 2 lbs. a loaf, way too big for my 8 x 4 pans, so cut off some of it and made a third loaf. It should work and it has risen beautifully, baking in the oven. I always have a slice or two with my afternoon tea and a dab of REAL butter. Hope it comes out as beautiful as it looks. Helen
Thanks so much for sharing, Helen! I love it with real butter too. Yum!
Just an update on halving the recipe:
I did it and it worked fine. I am no bread connaisseur, but the loaf turned out lovely to me!
One note: I used 4.5 cups of flour and found it was just a bit too much for one loaf, (I ended up making a few buns from the excess dough), but something to keep in mind.
Thanks for this recipe! I love it and will definitely
Can I use half white and half wheat flour?
I was wondering about using half whole wheat and half white flour too.
Can I cut some of the honey out and not make it so sweet.
I haven’t tried that, but it’s worth a shot!
I just bought a food processor. For it mix as well in a good processor verses a mixer?
have you tried freezing the bread or the dough to bake later?
I just made this bread and I baked it like the recipe. I then sliced it and froze it on a cookie sheet then put into freezer bags. I have used it as I need it and it taste fine. I put it in the microwave for 30 sec or so then I toast it and its just like fresh. Hope this helps
Love Love this recipe. I am making it for a second time today. My favorite part is that it is truly all whole wheat and not partially white and wheat. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Will this work with white bread flour? Thanks!
Can I use rolled oats for this or does it have to be quick oats? Wanting to make this tonight!
Hey Lain, Did you end up making it will the rolled oats? Christina has only used the quick oats. We’re curious how yours turned out?
Just made this today. I used regular yeast in the recommended amount and regular rolled oats. I did half oats, half flax seeds and whirled them around in the food processor for a few seconds. I’ve read this is a hack to make rolled oaks quick.
Anyway, bread turned out beautifully. Delicious.
I would make this again.
That is so wonderful, Heather! Thanks so much for sharing your hack with the flax seed. It sounds delicious!
This recipe is the easiest, moistest, tastiest, healthiest, whole wheat bread recipe I’ve ever made. The texture was perfect. I never thought I could master the art of bread making but this one did it for me. This was my first time using a Kitchenaid and I would highly recommend it for this recipe!
Amazing! Thanks Rosie, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Making it now but I added 10 cups of flour and it still seemed like not enough. Pulling from sides but still sticking to button. Stopped at 10 1/2 cups. Raising now. Excited.
Yummy Yummy 🙂
Hi there. Excited to try this recipe. Can u use regular original yeast? That is all I have & wasn’t sure if it would effect the recipe.
Hey Rhea, Christina always uses the rapid rise yeast however, we don’t use why you couldn’t you regular yeast.
Happy baking!!
If I just use regular yeast how much would I use?
Christina, has never tried it with regular yeast but would recommend the same amount.
Hi Christina, thank you for your recipe and for mentioning the proof setting in the over, I never knew it existed until I fallowes your instructions. So happy my oven has it! I’ll be trying your recipe, it will be my first time making bread.
Hello DIY Mommy!
Would you be kind enough to tell me what temperature I would set my gas oven to for the ‘proof’ temperature you mention? There is no such setting on my oven and googling is not helping me, lol.
Thank you and I am really looking forward to trying this true whole wheat bread.
Lindy
I do not have the type of mixer you are suggesting to use. All I have is a handheld mixer. Will that work or should I use a spatula? This is my first time making bread.
Hey Emily, we would recommend handkneading the dough if you don’t the same mixture 🙂
I have been looking for a great whole wheat bread recipe that I used to make years ago when my children were younger and I have found it! Dense, chewy, moist…absolutely delicious , thanks for sharing. This will be my go to recipe from now on….the loaves comes out beautiful, thank you!
That’s so awesome!
Can this recipe be used for wheat rolls?
We haven’t tried that before. You’ll have to let us know how it goes
I’ve been looking for a bread recipe that uses flaxseed. Do you measure and then grind the flaxseed or grind and then measure? I’ve read that eating flaxseed whole has no health benefit…thank you!
Christina, this is the best whole wheat bread recipe I have ever made. My family loved it. No way it’s going to keep for five days. It was gone in two! I do have a question. When the bread was rising in the loaf pan, as it was rising, it was kind of falling over the sides of the loaf pan. Could it be I overdid it on the liquid? Should I have used more flour? Thank you!
i tried the recipe, used molasses and flaxeed. it turned out m to be very dense. should i wait for it to.form window pane before i stop mixing it?
Can I make this recipe in the breadmaker? I’ll have to halve the quantity. But would love to know the sequence of putting the ingredients in. Can you help me here?
I am not sure. If you try I would love to know how it turns out.