Is there anything better than the smell of fresh bread baking in the house? It’s so comforting and soothing. It was an especially busy week this week and I needed a baking therapy session. Since it was bread week on The Great British Baking Show, I decided to make my favorite simple honey wheat bread recipe.
I will admit I’m not the biggest fan of 100% whole wheat bread, so this recipe uses about half whole wheat flour, half bread or all purpose flour. (It appeases even my most fussy family members that way.) Using bread flour gives your loaf a little more structure and chewiness, but you can absolutely use AP in a pinch.
A couple of tips for this bread recipe:
- You can make this with all wheat flour or all white flour if you choose to! However, the combination of honey, wheat flour and bread flour produce a lovely loaf with a little bit of zingy sweetness that elevates the breads yeasty flavor.
- This bread recipe uses shortening which means that you can make it with simple pantry ingredients any time! However, you can substitute softened butter for the shortening if you would like to.
- If you don’t have milk on hand, you can absolutely substitute warm water making this a great pantry staple bread – milk just helps it rise more, gives it a softer crumb and a browner crust! I have made this bread with milk and also with just water and both turned out delicious!
This recipe makes two big loaves in 9×5 inch loaf pans.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups warm milk (about 110-115 degrees)
- 1-1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 to 3-1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour (start with 3 and add more as needed)
- 3 Tbsp shortening (I like butter flavored)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp salt
- Egg wash: 1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water
Instructions:
- Put the warm milk in your mixer bowl and sprinkle the yeast and sugar over it. Mix together and let sit for 5 minutes to make sure the yeast activates and gets foamy.
- Add the water, whole wheat flour, 3 cups of the bread flour, shortening, honey, and salt.
- Let the mixer knead on low speed for 2 minutes with the dough hook attachment, scraping down as needed. Add small amounts of bread flour, up to another half a cup, until the dough is the right consistency, (you want a soft dough that is easy to work with, but you want it to feel tacky, but not stick to your fingers. You do NOT need to use the whole additional amount.) Continue to let the mixer knead for another 2 minutes when it is the right consistency.
- Scrape the dough in to a ball in your bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a clean towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. (I turn the oven on at the lowest temperature for just 1 minute, then turn it off and put the mixing bowl in there.)
- Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured pastry mat or counter, and knead for a minute, then divide the dough in two equal portions.
- Roll out each piece of dough just slightly then fold over in thirds, (pressing together with the heel of your hand), tuck in the ends, and place the bread with seams down in two lightly greased 9×5 bread pans.
- Cover the pans lightly with plastic wrap and let the loaves rise another 30 minutes.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.
- Remove plastic wrap, brush the loaves gently with egg wash, then bake the loaves at 350 for about 30 minutes. (Bread should register 190 degrees with an instant read thermometer to be fully baked, but not overbaked.
- Optional: gently brush some melted butter on the top of each loaf as soon as it comes out for a softer crust.
- Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before popping the loaves out of the pans on to a cooling rack.
- Bread should cool for a minimum of 30 minutes before slicing with a serrated knife!
Simple Honey Wheat Bread
Honey Wheat bread recipe made with half whole wheat flour, half bread flour and a few other simple pantry ingredients for fresh baked bread any time!
EQUIPMENT (Amazon Associate Links)
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm milk (about 110-115 degrees)
- 1-1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 to 3-1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour (start with 3 and add more as needed)
- 3 Tbsp shortening (I like butter flavored)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp salt
- Egg wash: 1 egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Put the warm milk in your mixer bowl and sprinkle the yeast and sugar over it. Mix together and let sit for 5 minutes to make sure the yeast activates and gets foamy.
- Add the water, whole wheat flour, 3 cups of the bread flour, shortening, honey, and salt.
- Let the mixer knead on low speed for 2 minutes with the dough hook attachment, scraping down as needed. Add small amounts of bread flour, up to another half a cup, until the dough is the right consistency, (you want a soft dough that is easy to work with, but you want it to feel tacky, but not stick to your fingers. You do NOT need to use the whole additional amount.) Continue to let the mixer knead for another 2 minutes when it is the right consistency.
- Scrape the dough in to a ball in your bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a clean towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. (I turn the oven on at the lowest temperature for just 1 minute, then turn it off and put the mixing bowl in there.)
- Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured pastry mat or counter, and knead for a minute, then divide the dough in two equal portions.
- Roll out each piece of dough just slightly then fold over in thirds, (pressing together with the heel of your hand), tuck in the ends, and place the bread with seams down in two lightly greased 9×5 bread pans.
- Cover the pans lightly with plastic wrap and let the loaves rise another 30 minutes.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.
- Remove plastic wrap, brush the loaves gently with egg wash, then bake the loaves at 350 for about 30 minutes. (Bread should register 190 degrees with an instant read thermometer to be fully baked, but not overbaked.
- Optional: gently brush some melted butter on the top of each loaf as soon as it comes out for a softer crust.
- Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before popping the loaves out of the pans on to a cooling rack.
- Bread should cool for a minimum of 30 minutes before slicing!
Notes
A couple of tips for this bread recipe:
- You can make this with all wheat flour or all white flour if you choose to! However, the combination of honey, wheat flour and bread flour produce a lovely loaf with a little bit of zingy sweetness that elevates the breads yeasty flavor.
- This bread recipe uses shortening which means that you can make it with simple pantry ingredients any time! However, you can substitute softened butter for the shortening if you would like to.
- If you don’t have milk on hand, you can absolutely substitute warm water making this a great pantry staple bread – milk just helps it rise more, gives it a softer crumb and a browner crust! I have made this bread with milk and also with just water and both turned out delicious!
I only have one loaf pan, could I wrap half of the dough and put it in the fridge after dividing?
Yes you can absolutely do that – just wrap in plastic wrap, then when you are ready to bake, remove from the refrigerator and let sit on the counter for about 20-40 minutes before shaping and doing the second rise in the pan before baking!
I am so happy with this recipe. My loaves turned out beautifully! They taste amazing, they are like the perfect sandwich bread. Your recipe is going on my recipe box! It’s a keeper!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Made this bread with wheat flour and bread flour but I omitted the egg wash
Turned out beautifully
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing your success! 💕
Do you know the nutritional value of this bread?
Hi Rachel, I do not, but there are sites online where you can enter the recipe and it will give you that information if you want it!
Hi, can I freeze the dough for later use?
You can, but I don’t really recommend it as there are a lot of steps for making sure it comes out right. If you want to try freezing it, you will need to do it after the first rise is completed and you have formed it in to loaves. You would need to freeze it in the loaf pans, so cover with both saran wrap and foil so there is a tight seal. After 12 hours you can remove from the loaf pans and store in a freezer bag until you are ready to bake. When you are are ready to bake, put the frozen dough back in the loaf pan, let it sit and defrost overnight in the refrigerator, then put it on the counter until the dough has done it’s second rise. (It may take longer – allow for up to 2 hours – it needs to be soft, puffy and about double in size from when you took it out of the freezer. You can then bake!
I don’t have a large stand mixer. 🫤. How would I adapt this to just using a hand mixer and kneading by hand? Thanks!
can we place the dough in a bread maker?
I have never tried this in a bread maker, so I’m not sure the measurements would work!
Delicious and simple!
Ahhh, I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for commenting and rating. 🙂
Currently in my oven! Can I store it in my pantry? How long is it good for?
Thank you
Yes, we store it plastic baggies (once it’s cooled.) I’m honestly not sure how long it lasts, ours is always gone within a day or two! But you should be good for at least 3 days.
Sorry if this is a duplicate comment. I wasn’t sure my first on went through.
I don’t have a stand mixer. Would this be doable with a hand mixer and kneading by hand?
Hi Becky – I would not use the hand mixer, once you get to adding the flour, you can use your hands or a bread whisk or a flat whisk to mix it in and then knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is nice and elastic. Let me know how it goes! 🙂