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This easy whole wheat bread recipe proves that baking bread at home doesn’t have to be intimidating. With simple ingredients and straightforward steps, you’ll have a soft, flavorful loaf ready to enjoy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
You’ll love this homemade whole wheat bread recipe because it’s easy to make, dependable, and produces a soft, flavorful loaf every time. Made with simple pantry ingredients, this whole wheat bread has a tender crumb and rich whole-grain flavor without being dense or dry. It’s perfect for everyday sandwiches, toast, and breakfast, making it an ideal recipe for both beginner and experienced bread bakers.
Ingredients Needed
- Whole Wheat Flour
- All Purpose Flour, unbleached
- Active Dry Yeast
- Oil
- Honey
- Molasses
- Warm Water
- Salt
How to Make Whole Wheat Bread
- Proof yeast in 1 cup of warm water (between 105-110 degrees F.)
- Add your ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer, adding in yeast mixture.
- Add in flour one cup at a time. You may not need all of it.
- Knead dough for about 5-10 minutes with the dough hook attachment. Add additional flour as needed. Dough will be smooth and pull away from the sides of the bowl when it is done.
- Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise until double. It will take 30-60 minutes depending on the temperature of your house.
- Cut dough in half using a bench scraper or knife.
- Form each half into a loaf and place in a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan.
- Cover and allow to rise for 10 more minutes.
- Bake bread for 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees F.
- Remove from the oven. Rub the top of the warm loaf with some butter to give it a nice shine.
- Allow bread to cool on a cooing rack.
Tips
- Measure your flour correctly. Too much whole wheat flour can make bread dense. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off for best results.
- Use hard white wheat flour. Hard white wheat has a higher gluten content and makes better bread.
- Aerate your flour. If you use flour you purchase at the grocery store, it will have settled and packed down in the packaging. To help keep the measurements more consistent, stir the store bought flour around to fluff it up before you measure it.
- Check for doneness. The bread should sound hollow when tapped and reach an internal temperature of about 190–195°F.
- Let it cool before slicing. Cooling allows the crumb to set, giving you cleaner slices and better texture.
- Favorite Flour. My favorite brand of store bought wheat flour is King Arthur’s unbleached white whole wheat flour.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my whole wheat bread dense?
Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white flour, so dense bread is often the result of too much flour or not enough kneading. Be sure to measure carefully and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Can I make this bread by hand, not using a mixer?
Absolutely. The dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand; just expect to knead a bit longer to develop the gluten properly.
How should I store homemade whole wheat bread?
Store the cooled loaf in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for longer storage.
Can I freeze bread?
Yes, allow the bread to cool completely before freezing. Wrap the loaf tightly in plastic wrap or foil, then place it in a freezer-safe bag. For easy use, you can also slice the bread before freezing so you can remove individual slices as needed. Whole wheat bread freezes well for up to 3 months.
How do I thaw or reheat frozen bread?
To thaw a whole loaf, leave it wrapped at room temperature for several hours. For slices, toast them directly from frozen or warm them briefly in the microwave. To refresh a whole loaf, wrap it in foil and heat in a 300°F oven for 10–15 minutes until warmed through.
Homemade whole wheat bread is a simple, rewarding recipe that brings wholesome flavor and fresh-from-the-oven comfort to your kitchen. Whether you enjoy it warm with butter, toasted for breakfast, or stacked into sandwiches, this easy whole wheat bread is a reliable recipe you’ll turn to again and again.
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Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cup warm water
- 4 tsp dry active yeast
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/3 cup honey
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
- 6-6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast in one cup of the warm water. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until foamy.
- Into the yeast mixture, add in the oil, honey, molasses, salt, remaining water and 5 cups of the flour. one at a time, until well combined. Dough will be sticky.
- Allow to rest 10 -15 minutes.
- Then, knead in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is just barely tacky but not sticky, and knead for about 4 minutes.
- Put in a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with a towel to let it rise until double (30-60 minutes).
- Turn on the oven to 375, punch down and form into two loaves and place into greased bread pans. Allow to rise for ONLY 9-10 minutes, then bake for 32-35 minutes.
- These loaves have even more oven spring than my original recipe, so don’t fret if they haven’t risen very high before you bake them.
Tips & Notes:
- Measure your flour correctly. Too much whole wheat flour can make bread dense. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off for best results.
- Use hard white wheat flour. Hard white wheat has a higher gluten content and makes better bread.
- Aerate your flour. If you use flour you purchase at the grocery store, it will have settled and packed down in the packaging. To help keep the measurements more consistent, stir the store bought flour around to fluff it up before you measure it.
- Check for doneness. The bread should sound hollow when tapped and reach an internal temperature of about 190–195°F.
- Let it cool before slicing. Cooling allows the crumb to set, giving you cleaner slices and better texture.
- Favorite Flour. My favorite brand of store bought wheat flour is King Arthur’s unbleached white whole wheat flour.
Nutrition Facts:
Heidi says
Well heavens, how did I miss this post?! I was just browsing sitemeter on our food blog and came across an outclick – glad I did! And I’m glad you liked it :).
Joan Callaway says
So Leigh Ann, did you make the Whole Wheat one or the lightened up one? This one looks like the one I call in my cookbook, “The Bread My Kids Grew Up On”…but I lightened mine up, too…about half and half white and whole wheat flour. They liked their school lunches a lot better with the lighter version.
Suzanne says
I think I might just try this soon!! maybe this weekend!
Kim says
I am a beginning bread maker & I really need some advice on how to know the right temperature for water when mixing it with the yeast. I would love your suggestions. Then after it is mixed do you let it sit awhile before continuing on with the rest of the recipe?
Your girls look like a lot of fun…I have two girls & I hope that they have as much fun together when they get older as they do now.
Taryn says
Oh my- your girls are silly. But that bread looks great. I went to the website- they have great stuff- thanks for sharing.