Homemade Honey Wheat Bread is soft, slightly sweet and so much better than store-bought bread! Best served warm out of the oven with jam, butter or honey!
Homemade Honey Wheat Bread
Is there anything better than the intoxicating smell of homemade bread baking in the oven? Maybe a soft, fluffy, warm piece of bread, fresh out of the oven, smothered in sweet butter and a drizzle of honey. This recipe for Homemade Honey Wheat Bread checks all of the boxes and will make you never want to buy another loaf of bread from the store again. This bread is light and airy, yet dense enough to be used for sandwiches.
Easy Honey Wheat Bread Recipe
This recipe is pretty simple and doesn’t require too many steps. Making bread can be a little time consuming, but in the end, it is totally worth it. Here are the ingredients that you will need:
How to Make Honey Wheat Bread
Ok, now that we have everything, let’s get to baking! As far as how to mix and knead this bread, I like to use both a stand mixer as well as do some work by hand. I have said this before, but I feel like if you do everything in the mixer, it’s harder to know if the dough is ready. If you mix it up initially in the mixer and then finish off the kneading by hand, it allows you to get a really good idea of the texture of the dough and thus know when it’s ready for its first rise. You can also do this entirely by hand if you like too, it’s a good way to develop that upper arm strength! Here’s how to make this delicious bread:
- Mix the yeast, warm water, and honey and let it sit till it gets foamy.
- Add in the salt, wheat flour, and most of the white flour and mix slowly.
- Add in more flour if the dough is sticky, it’s ready to knead when it pulls away from the bowl and forms a ball.
- Knead in the mixer or by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Let rise, covered, in a warm spot for about an hour.
- Now, this is my favorite part…punch it down! This redistributes everything to get it ready for the second rise.
- Roll out the dough into a rectangle and then roll it up into a loaf shape.
- Second rise time! Yes, covered again, in your prepared loaf pan this time, for another hour.
- Now it’s baking time! 40 minutes should do the trick, then rub the top of the baked bread with butter and let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
Baking Homemade Bread
Still nervous about making bread? It’s ok, I was too. I was always so scared of baking, it’s my achilleas heel! It may take a couple of times to get more comfortable, but you can do it! Just remember, baking is a science and there are a lot of factors that can affect it. Where you live, the weather that day, all sorts of crazy stuff. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t turn out the first time. Just keep trying, you will get there.
How Long will Homemade Bread Last?
I like making this bread two loaves at a time. Fresh bread will last in a ziptop bag at room temperature for 2-3 days. If you need to store it in the freezer, I recommend wrapping it in plastic wrap first and then putting it in a ziptop bag. It should keep this way for up to 4 months in the freezer. Make sure you cool all the loaves completely before wrapping them up or storing them in a bag.
Homemade Honey Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups warm water, approximately 110°
- 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 5-6 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Grease the inside of 2 – 9" loaf pans or line each with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, yeast, and honey. Let it stand for about 5 minutes until the mixture starts to become foamy.
- Add salt, wheat flour and 5 cups of the white flour and mix slowly to combine everything together. Continue to add more white flour while mixing until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.
- Continue to knead in the stand mixer, or turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Grease the inside of a large bowl and add the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot on the counter till doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
- Remove plastic wrap and punch down the dough to knock out the air and redistribute ingredients.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into two pieces. Shape each piece into a rectangle that is approximately 9" x 12". Starting on the shorter side, roll up each rectangle to create a 9" loaf.
- Place loaves in prepared loaf pans and cover with a towel. Place in a warm spot on the counter and let rise till doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
- While bread is rising, preheat oven to 350°. When bread is done rising and oven is preheated, bake loaves for 40 minutes. Bread is done when it makes a hollow thump when tapped on and is golden brown.
- After removing bread from the oven, you can rub the top of the loaves with butter to make a softer crust. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to continue to cool.
Notes
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Make sure you comment below and let me know how you liked this recipe and be sure you leave me any questions you have as well, I’m happy to help!
XO, Amanda
