Honey Wheat Bread Recipe is a super simple way to use everyday ingredients to create delicious, hearty whole wheat bread. This Wheat Bread Recipe is perfect for beginner bread makers.
Homemade Honey Wheat Bread
Nothing beats the smell of fresh bread straight from the oven, right? This Honey Wheat Bread is a staple at my house! It reminds me of my favorite little shop my mom and I used to go to while growing up- Great Harvest Bread Co. We’d go in to get a few loaves of bread and they would always have warm bread slices to snack on. Their wheat bread was the only wheat bread I liked!
I love how hearty this bread is, it can handle honey, jam or even soaking up the last bits of gravy. This bread is versatile and delicious!
Wheat Bread FAQ’s
What Ingredients are in Whole Wheat Bread?
No special ingredients needed in this recipe! You’ll need: dry active yeast, warm water, honey, melted butter, salt and whole wheat flour.
How do you proof yeast for homemade bread?
One of the trickiest parts of baking bread to someone who hasn’t ever done so before is working with the yeast. It can be hard to know whether it is alive and kicking or not in some recipes. For this reason I always proof my yeast before mixing it in with my flour and other ingredients.
To do this, you will add your yeast (in this case, 1 pkg or 2 1/4 tsp) in a small amount of warm water (approx 90° if you have an instant read thermometer) with some sugar (or honey!). They yeast will feed on the sugar and will activate. The yeast will become foamy, at this point, you will know your yeast is alive and well!
Tips for the perfect loaf of Honey Wheat Bread
When kneading the dough, the dough will be slightly sticky. The dough will stick to the bottom of your mixing bowl, but you should be able to pull a small part of the dough off and roll it into a ball without it sticking to your fingers much.
After rising the dough until double (approx 1 hour) punch the dough down and shape into a loaf by rolling into a log and then folding the ends under. Now, slap the loaf while rotating the dough to remove any air bubbles in the dough.
Lightly coat the bread pan in vegetable shortening, this guarantees an easy release every time!
Allow the bread to rise for an additional 30 minutes, while the oven is preheating.
To make the crust absolutely finger-licking good, brush butter onto the crust during the last 5 minutes of baking. Try to let the bread cool for 15 or so minutes before slicing, but I don’t blame you if you can’t wait. 😉
How to keep Homemade Bread Fresh
Once the bread has cooled completely, I like to store mine in a bread bag. They’re great for keeping bread fresh and for freezing.
You can also slice the bread and then freeze in individual zip top bags. Then you can remove the bread as needed, you can even toast it straight from the freezer for breakfast!
More Homemade Bread Recipes you will LOVE!
- Homemade Buttermilk Bread
- Easy Homemade Bread Recipe
- Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- Honey Oat Bread recipe
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- Parmesan Garlic Dinner Rolls
- Fabulous French Bread
- Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- Potato Bread Recipe
- Soft Cornmeal Dinner Rolls
AVOID SUNKEN BREAD
The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!
Honey Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 1 pkg dry active yeast
- 1 1/4 cup very warm water divided
- 1/4 cup + 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tsp salt
- 3-3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Combine the yeast, 1/4 C of warm water, and 1/2 tsp of the honey to a small bowl. Let the yeast proof. This means to wait until it is bubbly, to show you that the yeast is alive and kicking!
- While the yeast is proofing, add the remaining bread ingredients (remaining water, remaining honey, butter, salt and flour) to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Once the yeast has proofed, pour it into the stand mixer and begin mixing slowly with the dough attachment. Once all of the flour is combined, knead for 5 minutes. The dough will be sticky, but you should be able to pull off some dough and roll it into a little ball. If it is too sticky for that, add a little extra flour.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until double in size.
- Shape dough into a loaf by rolling the dough and tucking in the ends and place in a shortening coated bread pan. Cover with plastic wrap and rise for an additonal 30 minutes.
- Turn on the oven to 375°.
- Bake at 375° for 25 - 30 mintues. Brush the top with butter during the last 5 minutes of baking if deesired.
- Cool for 15 mintues before slicing.
Video
Nutrition
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Instant or Active Dry Yeast for Making Bread
If you use instant yeast, you can add it directly to your other dry ingredients when making bread. If you use active dry yeast, you’ll need to first dissolve it in warm water before using it in a recipe. I buy my yeast in bulk from Costco and it’s active dry yeast.
Honey Whole Wheat Bread Recipe is an easy description on how to make bread. This delicious, hearty whole Wheat Bread recipe is perfect for any time of the day and any type of meal.
Kristen says
My doughbis on the second rise but it looks dry, is that normal fo this ecope? It’s not crumbly and it is light sticky so I think if anything my house is too cool so I have the oven on the ac off and put the loaves on top of the stove.
Baking in my small cast iron pans wish me luck!
Nicole says
A good way to keep your bread dough from being too dry when rising is to loosely cover it with a damp towel. This means to grab a flour sack towel or a kitchen linen (a clean one, obviously) and run it under steamy hot water in the sink. Then wring out as much excess moisture as you possibly can before loosely laying it over the top of the dough.
Andrea says
Can you make this in a Dutch oven? If so, would it be the same cook time? Thank you
Nicole says
this bread recipe has not been tested in a dutch oven so we cannot say for certain how it would turn out or the amount of time it would take to bake it. If you do try it though, let us know how it goes!
Greg says
Could you clarify the amount of flour this recipe calls for?
Thank you
Greg
Nicole says
You will need 3 to 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. Start with 3 cups of flour and if the dough still feels wet, slowly add in a little more at a time until it’s no longer too sticky to work with.
Nikky says
Just made this today. My first loaf was a fail (my fault), but my second was GREAT! I do need to work on making it a tad less dense, do you have any suggestions? Thanks!
Nicole says
My best suggestions would be to make sure that you spoon and level the flour, meaning that you use a spoon to scoop flour from the container and then place it into the measuring cup. level off the top when it’s full and repeat until all of the flour has been measured. To use a measuring cup as a scoop could result in packed flour which means too much which will then give you a dense loaf.
Em.cee says
A tip I have tried is adding vital gluten to the flour, and it seems to give a less dense loaf. I have been using 1 tbs per cup of flour and I get a rise that is a mile high, whole wheat bread (no white flour at all) that doesn’t fall.
Jessica says
I love using vital gluten… it’s just not a product many people know about!
Chris B says
I made this with my three-year-old daughter. She took a look at it and wind and then I had her to take a bite and she looked at me with the brightest eyes like mom this is delicious. It was not hard to make and it was the perfect recipe without sugar. Thank you so much I’ve been looking for a great loaf to make
Nellie says
So glad that you and your daughter both enjoyed the bread!
B P says
This was such an easy recipe and the bread is delicious! I would highly recommend trying this recipe. You won’t be sorry.
Nellie says
So glad that you enjoyed the bread!
Hannah Underwood says
This bread is so delicious, I kneaded by hand for ten minutes instead of using a mixer. I are nearly half the loaf already, haha. Better than any store bought bread I’ve tried, it’s super chewy with a nice crust and slight sweetness. Thank you for the recipe!
Nicole says
thank you for letting us know you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Fran says
I love this bread. First loaf I made came out great. All the other times I make it now it seems to take longer than 30 minutes to rise once in the pan. What am I doing wrong?
Nicole says
bread rising can vary greatly on the quality of the yeast, temperature of the ingredients, the weather, the temperature in the room and even where/how you let the bread rise. During winter months especially when it is colder, bread can take much longer than in the heat of summer. While waiting can be exhausting it’s important to remember that bread rising varies every time and that you shouldn’t be looking at the clock, but should instead be looking at your loaf. You will know that it has risen enough when the dough has doubled in size. Whether that takes 30 minutes or 2 hours, you just want the bread to double before continuing the steps.
Marilyn says
The serving size says 1 loaf. Calories 151 for the entire loaf ? I count my calories, protein, and fiber.
Nicole says
Yes, that is the calculated info for the entire loaf
Suzanne says
I think this should be looked at again. With over 1/4 cup of honey, a tablespoon of butter and 3 1/2 cups flour there is more than 151 calories in the loaf.
Nicole says
Im so sorry for the confusion but the 151 calories on the recipe card is per serving. The card states that there are 12 servings per loaf (so imagine slicing it into 12 slices). This means each slice if about 151 calories. 151×12=1812calories per loaf. hope that clears up some of the misunderstandings! 🙂
Mary Jo says
I made this also, but the carbs are way off also. When I ran a nutrition calculator I came up with the following:
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: each
Servings: 18
Amount per serving
Calories 110
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.9g 1%
Saturated Fat 0.5g 2%
Cholesterol 2mg 1%
Sodium 134mg 6%
Total Carbohydrate 22.6g 8%
Dietary Fiber 0.8g 3%
Total Sugars 3.9g
Protein 2.7g
Vitamin D 0mcg 2%
Calcium 5mg 0%
Iron 1mg 7%
Potassium 40mg 1%
Jeromy says
My son and I made this last night. It was soooo good. We are going to make it again this evening for a school project. I am thinking, instead of a breadpan, to make 2 smaller loaves, french roll kind of style on a baking sheet. Do you think this would work?
Thank you!
Jeormy
Monique says
Excited to try this. Is there a way to make the dough ahead and cook the next day?
Nicole says
Yes, right before the second rise, after placing the bread in the loaf pan, cover in greased plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight. Then let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes to an hour as the oven preheats (until the read has doubled) and then bake as directed.
Tracey says
What can I use in place of the shortening?
Nicole says
Shortening can be replaced by butter (not margarine)
Monica says
Turned out amazing. I didn’t have wheat flour and I was iced in the house. Subbed bred flour and it still came out delicious.
Jessica says
Bread flour is a great addition!
varinia shelton says
Hi can I substitute the butter for veg. Or canola oil ? If so how much should I use? Thank you
Jessica says
Yes, you can swap it out 1:1!
Emily says
How much water? 1/4 cup, or 1 and 1/4 cup?
Jessica says
It’s 1 1/4 cup water.
Austin says
This recipe is okay. I think it could rise higher and still have the whole wheat flour if it used a mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flour. The whole wheat flour seemed to be too heavy for the yeast to fluff up all the way.
Jessica says
Yes, bread will rise higher and be fluffier when you use white flour. That is always the case.
Jen says
Excited to try this recipe! Do you have a version with grams to measure some or all of the ingredients? Thanks!
michael l higgins says
can you make this in a bread macnine
Jessica says
I think that’d work well!
Tammie Pitts says
What size loaf pan?
Jessica says
I generally use a 9×5 loaf pan.
Tom says
This is an excellent tasting loaf! However I made a few modifications based on research I did on making wheat bread. I used only 3 cups of flour: 2 AP and to 1 Wheat four. If you are using new packaged yeast, there is no need to proof it. I never have and have not had a problem. I had to add about 1/4 cup of water as the dough was too dry. Also, next time I will split this into 2 loaves. It rose so fast in the pan, and was still quite dense after baking. Again, the taste is perfect. I might add some grains next time as well!
Jessica says
Glad to hear you made it your own Tom! Happy Baking!