Wednesday Baking | Whole Wheat Bread
This is a very altered version of a Cook's recipe for whole wheat bread. Theirs has wheat germ and rye in it because they were going for a very nutty, wheaty flavor. I prefer a milder bread, so I leave those ingredients out.
Whole wheat bread can sometimes be heavy because whole wheat flour doesn't have as much gluten as white flour does(gluten helps yeast doughs to rise well). Because of this, I like to use a combination of white and whole wheat flours which helps the end product to be softer and lighter. You can use more whole wheat flour or less according to your preference.
I usually make three loaves of this at a time because three loaf pans can fit comfortably in my oven with plenty of room for air circulation. However, I'm going to post the ingredient amounts for two loaves and you can multiply the recipe according to the number of loaves you wish to make.
I use a stand mixer to make the dough, but you can mix it up by hand if you wish...you just may need to knead the dough a bit longer.
Printable Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
2 ⅓ cups warm water
¼ cup honey
4 tablespoons butter , melted
1 ½ tablespoons yeast
2 ½ teaspoons table salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
1. Combine 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, the yeast, and the salt in the bowl of a mixer.
2. Add warm water, honey, and melted butter. Mix on low speed until ingredients are combined, then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
3. Mix in the remaining whole wheat flour, and add enough of the white flour to make a kneadable dough(it should still be fairly soft, though).
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic(if you mixed the dough by hand, you may need to knead it a bit longer).
5. Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes(an hour if your house is cold).
6. Punch the dough down, divide it in half, and roll each half out into a rectangular shape. Starting from the short end, roll each loaf up, and place into a greased 9x5 inch bread pan. The rolling may seem like a fussy step, but it produces a loaf with a better crumb and structure, and it also will make your loaves look better.
7. Cover the loaf with a wet tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until doubled. Here's mine before rising(sans the tea towel, obviously):
And here it is after rising.
8. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Alternatively, you can insert an instant read thermometer into the long side of the loaf...when it reads 205 degrees, the bread is done. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool before slicing. I highly recommend slathering a warm slice with butter. 😉
Hello! Love your blog! My husband and I spent a day backreading all your posts! Is there a way to do this recipe with just unbleached all purpose white flour? Thanks!
Yep, you certainly can. Just substitute white flour for the whole wheat flour and you'll be good to go.
And thanks...I'm glad you're enjoying my whole blog so much! lol
Kristen,
Do you have any good recipes or uses for old bread, heels and such? I keep leftovers in my freezer, but I don't know what to do with them. Any ideas?
you can also use them to make bread pudding
I make French Toast with mine. I also make breadcrumbs out of them to use on Mac and Cheese Gratin or I season the breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and grated Parmesan cheese to coat chicken drumsticks that I then bake in the oven.
That looks really yummy.
Amy-croutons are a good thing to make. I posted a recipe a while ago...just put "crouton" into the search box on the upper right hand side of my blog, and it should come up.
Thanks!
Have you ever tried adding oatmeal to your white/wheat bread?
This looks fantastic. I haven't quite made the leap to making our own bread yet...I'm worried that with only two people, we won't eat it quickly enough, even storing it in the fridge. Maybe I'll just have to try this recipe sometime and see how it turns out!
That looks great. They say wheat bread is more healthy than white bread. More fiber.
Cate - It's just me and my husband. I make two loaves of bread each week. We put one in the freezer, then take it out to thaw overnight when we get close to the end of the first loaf. Even with both of us only using it for toast in the morning and sometimes to go with dinner (one slice each for both), we go through two loaves in 7-10 days.
A fresh loaf will keep on the counter in a plastic bag for up to 7 days. Putting bread in the freezer in a ziploc bag, then taking it out to thaw (will keep 5-7 days once thawed) is better than keeping it in the fridge - it doesn't get as dried out.
A few years ago I developed carpal tunnel syndrome and couldn't knead bread dough anymore. I was pretty sad at first, until I bought a bread machine. Bread machines are AWESOME. I don't bake the bread in mine, I just use it to mix and knead the dough, but it still not only saves me time, but the bread turns out better, because I don't have to add as much flour to the dough. I make all kinds of breads I avoided before due to sticky dough, like pita bread and bagels and sweet breads. My bread machine cost me $70 at Target and has lasted for 5 years so far.
Hi Kristen
Been reading your blog for ages now (think I found it through myzerowaste.com) but just had to de-lurk to say THANKS for this recipe - it's the best bread I've ever baked!!
Cathy 🙂
I love your blog...I buy 3 loaves of whole wheat bread a week...this looks so yummy but I am not a baker. I can cook like noone's business but baking seems to be beyond me. I am inspired by your blog to give it a try though. Wish me luck. By the way I love the food spoilage photos. I hate hate to throw out food. Good luck and thanks for all the great advice.
For the first time ever, I've successfully baked a loaf of bread incapable of being used as a blunt weapon or plausible building material. Thanks. 🙂
I did swap out the honey, butter, and whole wheat flour for sugar, olive oil, and all purpose but it came out just as good.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunarbipolarity/tags/frugalgirlbread/
Thank you for this post. I really needed a laugh at this time in my life.
Hi-Just wondering why you are kneading by hand at all if you own a kitchenaid mixer? My 6 quart series loves to do all the work of kneading for me!! In fact "it" just made your homemade hamburg buns and they are now rising and getting ready to go in the oven. Can't wait to try them tonight for dinner!
Do you proof the yeast before adding it in step 1? Or just add the dry yeast?
Hey, I like to bake whole wheat bread but I never know what to store it in for freezing and how long to keep it out of the refridgerator. What do you do about that?
I have one loaf rising and the other half of the dough is in the freezer. I had less wheat flour on hand than I thought--about 3/4 cup, so I used that and substituted white flour for the rest of the wheat flour. After mixing in my stand mixer, my dough was much more wet than the dough in your picture looks. I added at least 1 1/2 cups more white flour, plus more when I kneaded it by hand--it was very sticky when I first started kneading by hand. Does the wheat flour absorb a lot more liquid than white?
Hmmm...I usually feel like the opposite is true! However, I RARELY measure the flour that I use...I just add it until the dough looks and feels right.
The amount of flour dough needs will vary based on humidity and atmosphere and all of that, so if you feel like the dough needs a little more, then go ahead and add some. Bread dough should be slightly soft and sticky, though. As you knead it, the idea is just to keep the outside of the dough floured so it doesn't stick to the counter.
Boy, that was a disjointed answer. Did it make any sense? Feel free to ask for clarification!
I actually skipped the knead-by-hand-on-the-counter part, and transfered the dough to a greased bowl to rise. I added the additional 1 1/2+ cups of flour while it was still in the mixer. After rising, when I went to punch the dough down, I had a gooey, sticky mess on my hands, so I kneaded in apx. 1 more cup of flour.
Now the loaf is done and out of the oven and looks great (haven't tasted it yet). I put an egg wash on it just before putting it in the oven, as some of your other bread recipes have that (I brought two beautiful braided loaves to my in-laws' house for Christmas dinner).
I add extra wheat gluten and some dough enhancer to my recipe. This allows me to use only wheat flour. I grind red wheat so it is a bit thicker. If I want a lighter bread then I will add some white flour. I am still experimenting but the vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer helps.
I notice in your bread recipes that they seem to call for butter. .does it make a difference if you use margarine instead?
Thanks for posting many photos - so helpful in assessing what the dough is supposed to look like!
This is exactly my wheat bread recipe! I feel like I've finally (kinda) perfected it and I'm very happy with the result! I'm also relieved that your loaves are slightly lopsided, like mine, haha!
I am currently on my first rise for your bread recipe. I have had ZERO luck baking bread. They always turn into bread bricks. I hope your recipe and techniques will be what i need to succeed. On the other hand, the bread bricks are great for french toast! I will let you know how it turns out.
update.... Yay! The bread turned out well. OK, one loaf turned out well and the other didn't turn out as well, but that's because I got too gung ho on the rolling for that loaf. It didn't rise as high. Lesson learned. Thanks for the easy to follow recipe!
Thank you for this bread recipe. I finally made my first loaf of whole wheat bread that my husband and children absolutely loved. Thank you, thank thank you, I have saved my bread budget, now onto the next thing.
Thanks so much for this great recipe, i just did it this morning and i love the fluffyness 🙂
this will be my favorite go-to when in need of whole-wheat sandwich bread, it´s so soft and tasty.
thanks again!
claudia
I made this today, except I only had 1.5 cups of wheat flour. I added 1/2 cup oat flour and the rest was white flour...This has such a nice texture and it isn't as crumby as other breads I have made.
I have a question...why don't you use GM Better for Bread flour? I notice you buy unbleached AP Flour and I think I read you ONLY buy it...I was just wondering why you don't buy the bread flour for bread making?
I buy both the AP unbleached and Better for Bread (and I just scored 100lbs the week before Easter at $1.29 a bag!).
BTW I love your blog! I have made yogurt once a week since I found your site using your method...The only thing different I do is add a vanilla bean or two when my milk is heating to 180 and remove when I add before I add the sugar and yogurt.
Can you use this recipe in a bread machine?
Yup- I just made a loaf using the dough cycle on my bread machine. Super easy! The machine took it through the kneading/rising process, then I punched it down, put it in a greased pan, let it rise the second time, and baked it in my oven (my bread machine makes tall loaves with a hole in the middle for the paddle, so I prefer to bake the dough in a regular pan in my oven).
Oh, just a note- I cut the recipe in half since I could only fit one loaf in my machine at a time!
Beautiful loaf of bread! You mentioned that you used a combination of white and wheat flour so the bread would rise. What kind of wheat did you use?
In the pictures I noticed that you used the regular beater. Do you not have the attachment for kneading the dough? And couldn't you just use it instead of taking it out of the bowl and hand kneading it for five minutes? I'm just wondering about this. I've made bread for years but only used my mixer a little. I usually use my bread machine to mix and let it rise.
Just tried your recipe this morning and my goodness, my bread is so much better then store bought! Will go perfectly with carrot soup tonight (had to use up the rest of the baby carrots in the fridge) and this afternoon made a tasty snack with a little almond butter and honey. I'm sold!
Thank you for sharing this recipe - I'm a fan! The only issue I've had so far is that the first time I made the white sandwich bread I followed the recipe exactly and it was far too sweet for me. So when I've made it, and this bread, since, I've left out all the sweetner except for a teaspoon of sugar to activate the yeast. I think sweet bread must be an American thing! Otherwise, this recipe isthe one I use most often - it's definitely a winner!
Kristen, I would love to make three loaves at a time. Would you share the recipe for making three loaves? I am a fan and this is the best bread I have ever made and I have tried lots of recipes. Perfect for everything bread!! I am a fan and enjoy your blog. Thanks!
I would also really like the recipe for 3 loaves!
Hi Kristen, Thanks for sharing the recipe. I absolutely love your blog. Your blog is a big inspiration to me. And I especially love your Wednesday baking/cooking posts.
I am very new to baking and I have a question for you. Can I substitute bread flour for all purpose flour? I really need to use the bread flour that I accidentally picked up.
Yup! You can definitely use bread flour. 🙂
Love this recipe. I just pulled two beautiful loaves out of the oven. I used slightly smaller loaf pans and my loaves are super high and light. BTW, I did not have any butter in the house, so I subbed vegetable oil. Worked great and cheaper, too!
Hey! i chanced upon ur blog randomly and i love it!! and so i tried to bake my own bread following this receipe (since i completely dislike the bread we get in the supermarket here in singapore...all the preservatives etc).
thank u for making it such an easy process with all the pictures u have.it really helps clueless people like me. my bread wasnt as fully but since it's the first time i'm glad it's very edible:))
i just have one qns. i use a convention oven..and the max temp on it is 250 deg. so for how many minutes should the bread bake?
thank u once again!
I'd actually say 250 degrees is not hot enough to bake bread. At 250 degrees, I think it's going to be hard to produce a proper loaf with a nicely browned crust. The minimum temperature I bake my breads at is 325.
I believe we are talking the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit degrees here. My Canadian oven shows both, and I see it goes to 260°C and 500°F, respectively.
Just one of those things we've got to keep in mind when living in different cultures and looking at recipes all over the world... (such fun, though!)
I'll definitely try my hand at this recipe. Although, I only have...awkward pause...one bread pan.
Can I use the rest of the dough to make rolls? Has this been done?
Thanks!
You know, I halved the recipe since I only had one bread pan as well and it worked great!
This looks delicious. I have a quick question, can you substitute oil for the butter? My son can't have dairy and I know he would love this bread. I mean, I'm sure you can but do you have any idea how it would change the bread (other than flavor of course)?
You definitely can, this is what I do! I use about 1/4 cup of rice bran oil (you can use any neutral oil, this is just what I keep in my cupboard).
hello! so i baked the bread at the same temperature as your have recommended. however the center of the bread is still lumpy and slightly moist.
what could be wrong? will it help if i can send you a pic of the bread?
thank u!
Bali, this would be about 175 C, if I'm calculating correctly. The 350 degrees is Fahrenheit.
I have the Cook's Illustrated baking book and was looking to make the whole wheat bread but was so bummed because naturally, I don't have wheat germ or rye flour on hand and REALLY did not want to go out and buy them just for this. And then I recalled that you had a posted a whole wheat bread recipe a while back. Tried it today and it was fantastic! The loaf is already almost gone and I couldn't be happier. My best whole wheat bread attempt by far. Thanks very much!
Is there any change for altitude?
I have to try this recipe! I recently made my first loaf of whole wheat bread but it didn't rise as much as I would have liked--this looks fantastic though!
This is the best wheat bread I have ever made! Thank you so much for the recipe!
This was my first attempt at yeast bread. Thanks so much for your tutorial! I blogged about my experience and linked back to your whole wheat bread recipe and kneading instructions. Thanks so much for such great instructions. My bread turned out perfectly!
BEAUTIFUL ,memorable loaf- very clever method- have never thought to add more liquid first then flour-and rolling the bread-mmmmmmmmmmmm-TA
I made this bread today and it is the best whole wheat bread I have ever made. I only changed one ingredient as I added an extra 1/4 cup of honey. It was delicious and the texture was great. Thanks for making me have such a good day!
Looking very pretty! Can't wait to taste it!
Love the bread. I rolled the second loaf with cinnamon, brown sugar and bananas. Turned out great!!
I made your bread about a month ago and can tell you that I have tried many bread recipes but have never found one as good as this one in terms of texture, beauty and taste. It is marvelous. Thanks for sharing.
Can this be done using a hand mixer? I don't own a stand mixer. If so, which speed setting should I use? Any help would be great! Thank you!!
I'm sorry to tell you that a hand mixer is typically not strong enough to handle bread dough. If you wanted to use it, you'd have to not add very much flour while you were using the mixer, and then you'd need to stir in the rest of it by hand.
This is actually not true - I use a hand-held mixer with dough hooks, and it works just fine. I'm about to inherit my mother-in-law's Kitchenaid stand mixer though - hurrah!
Making now. About how much additional white flour would you say you use? I've made your French bread and hamburger buns, but this is the first time I've made bread. I refuse to buy from store anymore. Thank you.
Followed this recipe and the bread turned out to be the softest whole wheat bread I have ever eaten !
Thank You so much for sharing this great recipe !!!
I kneaded the dough by HAND after combining the ingredients using a hand-held mixer.
Yay! So glad yours turned out well.
Hi, I made this bread the last week. It is deli, soft. Is my favorite recipe!
Am I reading the recipe correctly, it calls for 1.5 TBS of yeast?
Yes. That's 4.5 teaspoons, which is equivalent to two packages of yeast.
I have been making this bread for weeks since my daughter shared your recipe with me. I love that I no longer have to buy bread at the store. I notice that you use the paddle attachment on your mixer to blend the dough. Is there a reason why you don't choose the dough hook? Just wondering.
thanks for sharing, I made this recipe an it came out perfect, I will sure be making this again.
I was wondering how long this bread stays fresh?And how you wrap it. Also, does it freeze well?.Thanks love your site..
It stays good at room temp for about 2-3 days, in a sealed plastic bag. Any longer than that and it begins to dry out.
I freeze whole loaves in sealed plastic bags, and it weathers that just fine! If you have a smaller family, you can slice and then freeze it so you can thaw only what you need.
I am baking this bread today, however I use 100% whole wheat pastry flour instead of half-wheat half-white. Delicious and works great for sandwiches.
Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, I'm surprised that works well, as pastry flour is a low-gluten flour made for cakes, biscuits, muffins, and such (anything without yeast!). Usually lower-gluten flours don't work as well in yeast doughs, which depend heavily on gluten.
But hey, if it works for you, then carry on!
I used your recipe but I didn't have any/enough white flour. So I substituted multi-grain flour. It took a bit longer to raise and required significantly more flour. But the result was really great! Tasty. Dense/heavy loaf! Just the way we like it. I meal in a slice! We're counting calories these days to shed a few pounds and one or two slices of this in the morning really gets us going! Thanks for a great recipe!
this is a great bread recipe but can it be made with 100% whole wheat flour or even 90/10?
You can certainly do that. It'll be less fluffy and light, but it'll be good bread.
Kristen, thanks for the response. I actually baked this bread over the weekend with about 80% whole wheat flour and 20% all purpose flour. The result was amazingly. This is truly a great bread. Thanks you very much
Hi Kristen,
I just bought that huge bag of enriched white flour from Costco and have made beautiful loaves of your French bread, and also the no-knead bread. Does it really make a difference if you use unbleached white flour?
BTW, your French bread recipe is my husband's favorite!! 🙂 I love your blog 🙂
I do find that the unbleached Gold medal works better than other flours I've tried. BUT. I've never tried the Costco flour, and I say if it's working for you, then just keep on using it!
Hi, I would like to try this in my bread machine (for the dough). I have to add wet ingredients and then dry according to my machine's instructions. Do you think this will turn out okay?
Yes, I think it will work fine...you'd just want to make sure that you scale the ingredients to fit the size of your bread machine. How many cups of flour can you usually use for dough in your bread machine?
Hey Kristen! Curious to know if you're able to make any part of this recipe ahead of time the night before? Like maybe the dough together, knead, and then put in the fridge? I have some events that I'd love to bring this to, but I'd have to wake up pretty early to get er done, yowza!
Yep, you can do that and it'll rise overnight in the fridge. Then in the morning you can let it warm up, shape it into loaves, let it rise, and bake.
You could also knead it, give it a 20 minute rest at room temp, then shape it into loaves and refrigerate those overnight. Then in the morning let the loaves come to room temp and bake.
I've made this bread several times. It always turns out delicious, but I do have to let it rise much longer than 30 minutes on the second prove (even in a warm house).
Hi Frugal Girl,
your recipe was everything I was hoping for. Hubby was happy too. Thank you!
Oh, I am so glad. Yay!
I also love to make bread. I discovered a method in "Peter Reinhard's Artisan Breads Every Day" cookbook that makes it so much easier. Basically, he uses the same ingredients as you do, Kirsten, but, first, he brings 2 cups milk to lukewarm and adds 1 Tbsp. yeast to soften. Leave for 1 - 5 min. Then he puts the flour, salt, sugar (or honey) in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter/oil (whatever you are using) and mix. He also adds 1 egg at this point. Lastly, add the milk/yeast mix. Mix with the paddle attachment for 2 min; switch to the dough hook and mix on med-low speed for 4 - 5 min. or knead by hand on a floured board. Either method, knead by hand on a floured board for 1 min.
Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled board, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days.
On baking day, remove the dough from the fridge about 2 1/2 hours before you plan to bake and divide by half. Shape loaves, place in loaf pans; cover with plastic wrap and cover with plastic wrap until it domes about 1" above pans.
About 15 min before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake for 20 min.; then rotate pans and bake for another 20 - 30 min. Tops should be golden brown, sides firm and brown.
Remove from oven, remove loaves from pans, cool on a rack for at least an hour.
My note: I think the bread tastes better when it has had at least an over night refrigeration. One could stagger baking times--make a loaf one day and save the other portion till the next day or so. Using this method, the guess work of how much flour to use is taken off the plate and the dough always comes out right. You can use all white flour, equal amounts of white and whole wheat, or substitute a portion of the whole wheat with rye flour.
Also, he uses this same dough to make rolls, so that is another option for a portion or all of the dough.