Delicious whole wheat bread, sweetened with honey. A great everyday bread, that’s great for sandwiches and toasts well, too.
I bake some sandwich bread pretty much every week. I like to change it up, but some loaves I come back to over and over. This is one of them.
I love this loaf because it is a nice blend of whole wheat and all-purpose. It doesn’t have so much whole wheat that it is heavy or the kids won’t eat it but it does have enough to make me feel a little better about eating it. The touch of honey makes for a slightly sweet bread (but not overly so) with a subtle honey flavour. This is a great sandwich bread and makes perfect toast.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Active dry or instant yeast – You can use either active dry yeast or regular Instant yeast, such as SAF Brand.
Honey – You can adjust the amount of honey up or down, to your taste. If you don’t have honey, you can substitute maple syrup in the same amount. If you don’t have either, use 1/4 cup of white sugar, instead.
Whole Wheat Flour – It is best to stick to the specified amount of whole wheat flour and resist the temptation to “add more”. Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than all purpose flour, so adding more will throw off the proportions for this recipe unless you know how to adapt it. Adding more whole wheat flour will also rise more slowly and produce a heavier, more dense loaf.
You will also need – salt, vegetable or canola oil, all purpose flour, water.
Step-by-Step Photos
Recipe Tips
- Like all bread recipes, only add as much flour as needed to make a smooth, moist dough. You may not need all of the flour specified. Or you may need a bit more.
- Likewise, rising times are estimates only, and will vary depending on the time of year and temperature in your kitchen. Let the dough rise until doubled, however long that takes.
Storage and Freezing
Store bread in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or freeze for longer storage. This bread will freeze well for 2-3 months.
Get the Recipe: Honey Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water, about 105F
- 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat flour, spooned and levelled
- 1 1/4 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 Tablespoons honey, or adjust to taste
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil, or other neutral tasting oil
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups (180-250 g) all-purpose flour, unbleached recommended, spooned and levelled, plus more as needed
Instructions
- Add lukewarm water and honey to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle with yeast, stir and let stand 5 minutes. (Mixture should be bubbling a bit after 5 minutes)
- Add the whole wheat flour and the salt and mix lightly. Mix in vegetable oil. Work in all-purpose flour gradually, adding just a 1/2 cup at a time and mixing until dough comes together into a smooth, moist but not sticky dough. **You may not need to use all of the all purpose flour or you may need a little bit more. Trust what you see in the bowl and adjust accordingly.
- If using a stand mixer, knead on low for about 5 minutes. If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Add in only enough additional flour to stop the dough from sticking.
- When dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a well oiled bowl. Turn it several times in the bowl to coat the surface of the dough, and cover with a plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 - 60 minutes.
- Grease an 8x4-inch loaf pan and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the bowl to a lightly floured surface. (If making more than one loaf, divide the dough into equal sized pieces at this point). For each piece, press dough down while moving it into a rectangle shape, with the short side roughly as long as your loaf pan. Roll up the dough from the short side, pinching it together with each roll. Pinch together the seam when finished and place seam side down into greased loaf pans.
- Allow to rise until dough doubles and crests about an inch above the edge of the baking pan in the middle (it will rise more in the oven). If desired, just before baking, brush the top of loaf with water and sprinkle with wheat bran.
- Preheat oven to 375F (not fan assisted) when dough is almost risen.
- Bake at 375° F for 30 – 40 minutes or until thermometer inserted in the bottom of the bread reads 195-200° F. (Mine generally needs about 35 minutes). Immediately remove bread from pans and cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.
Notes
More Bread Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
This is a very nice whole wheat bread. The crumb is moist and a bit loose. It makes great toast, but we found the slices on the small side for sandwiches. As with many whole wheat breads, there’s no appreciable oven spring. I omitted the cornmeal and added 1/4 cup of wheat germ instead. I also added orange zest and a pinch of fennel. The dough was gassy, similar to pizza dough. Even after deflating before the 15 minute rest, air bubbles formed on the surface during the final proof. The recipe is straightforward and a keeper, but the next time I’ll increase the ingredients by 20% for a deeper loaf. Scaling a recipe is easily done when you use weight instead of volume measures.
This looks like a lovely bread. I was just looking at your Amish stew recipe and then found this. Both look very comforting. Can you tell me what size bread pan you are using-8×4 or 5×9? Thanks. I will try making this soon-as the weather cools down a little.
Hi Karen, sorry, I left that out. It would be an 8×4 loaf pan. I’ve added it now. Thanks :)
This is a wonderful recipe! I am looking forward to toasting some in the morning. Many thanks!
Glad you are enjoying it! It’s one of my favourite breads :) Thanks so much.
This bread has become a staple in our house! It’s great with a quarter cup each of pumpkin, sunflower, and flax seeds mixed into the dough. I have also found that doing an egg white wash and sprinkling rolled oats over the top before spritzing it with water makes for a great crust. Also doing one more water spritz halfway through baking helps that golden brown color. Yum!!
Great tips and so glad you are enjoying this bred. It’s one of my favourites, too :)
This bread is wonderful, thank you!
Thanks Aneta. Glad you enjoyed it :)
Just made these tonight and they were great! My first loaf didn’t rise as well as the second, but they are so good and I’m so excited to make sandwiches tomorrow :)
Enjoy Ruosi. Makes great sandwiches :)
Just made two loaves of this today! It was Fantastic! Thank you Jennifer for sharing this great recipe!
Thanks so much, Krystal. So glad you enjoyed it!