This recipe for Honey Whole Wheat Bread is the best sandwich bread recipe. I’ve been using it for so many years, and I get emails from readers quite often who tell me that this is the best Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe. I first published this recipe back in 2012, but I’m bringing it to the forefront today so you don’t miss this perfect bread recipe!
Watch the video showing you how to make this Honey Whole Wheat Bread, then scroll to the bottom of this post and print out the recipe so you can bake it at home.
The story behind this Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe:
Before food blogs were popular, I visited food blog forums- places on the internet where you can discuss recipes and food. It’s where I became “RecipeGirl,” really… since that just happened to be the name I chose for my identity on those forums. I learned so much from people in those forums- home cooks, emerging bloggers and cookbook authors too. If you posed a question on those forums, members would openly share feedback, give recommendations and share their great grandmother’s secret recipes. It was a fun place to be.
Sadly, the forums no longer exist. The bread I’m sharing today is a recipe that a gentleman named “Pete” on Cooking.com’s forum gave me many years ago. Pete gave me permission to share the recipe he had been using for 40+ years! We lost Pete a few years ago, but I’m happy to let his famous bread recipe live on! I’ve been using this recipe since he gave it to me, and it’s now my go-to, homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread.
Let me just state for the record that I’m not a very experienced bread baker. I haven’t made a zillion different kinds of loaves, and I usually look to the experts for recipes and advice. But this guy Pete… he gave me a good recipe that is easy to follow.
Tips for Making the Best Honey Whole Wheat Bread:
- When I make bread, I always make sure I have freshly purchased flour (I used the bread flour in combination with whole wheat flour). It makes a difference. You can make the dough by hand if you want to (mix and knead yourself), but if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook… it will do all of the work for you!
- Use freshly purchased yeast too. There is no “proofing the yeast” in this recipe. Just mix, let it knead and then shape it into a round to let rise.
The round of dough is placed into a bowl, which is set in a warm place with a clean dishtowel on top. Just let it rise until it’s about doubled.
The dough is divided in half and rolled into rectangles.
Then, here’s the funny part: you roll it up just like you roll up cinnamon roll dough. No kiddin’.
Then you wiggle it into a 9×5-inch bread pan. Cover it again- warm place and let it rise…
…until it has risen about an inch above the pan. Then bake it!
This Honey Whole Wheat Bread is the best sandwich bread recipe. And since there tend to be so many preservatives in those commercial brands, you can feel good about eating this bread homemade and feeding it to your family too.
P.S. Don’t be afraid of trying to bake your own bread. As I mentioned before… I’m not a bread baker! Just follow the instructions and try it out. You’ll be surprised how easy it is!
Here are a few more bread recipes you might enjoy:
- White Sandwich Bread
- Delicious Gluten-Free Bread
- Homemade Bread Bowls
- Crockpot Bread Baking
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 4 cups bread flour (more, as needed)
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- Two .25-ounce packets active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 2/3 cups water
- 2/3 cup 1% milk
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- additional flour, as needed
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the the whole wheat flour, 4 cups bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
- In a medium bowl, combine honey, milk, water and butter, and heat to between 105 and 110 degrees in the microwave.
- Stir the liquids to melt the butter and add, all at once, to the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl.
- With the dough hook installed on your stand mixer, mix the dough. Add more bread flour by the tablespoon, as needed, until the dough comes together and clears the bowl. Mix for 5 minutes with the dough hook and remove to a lightly floured counter surface.
- Knead by hand until no longer sticky, adding flour as necessary. Form the dough into a large round and place in a large, greased bowl.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel, let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes (or until about doubled in size). Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it in half. Roll each half into a 10 x 12 rectangle and roll each up like a cigar. Pinch the seams. Roll on the counter-top to make a uniform log and place each roll in an oiled 9x5-inch bread pan seam-side up. Shake the roll to oil the bottom, turn the pan over, catch the dough and reinsert it into the pan, seam-side-down.
- Return the pan to a warm place, cover lightly with a clean dishtowel and let rise an additional 30 minutes or until at least 1 inch above the pan top. Bake in a preheated 400°F. oven for 25 minutes, or until the center of the bread tests 190 to 200 degrees. Remove the bread from the pans and let them cool on a rack.
Notes
- If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix and then knead the bread by hand. It'll be a bit of a workout, but it's worth it.
- To create a nice, warm place for your loaves to rise, turn on oven for 60 seconds and then turn it off. Turn the oven light on too. The temperature should be just about right for your loaves to rise nicely. (don't forget to turn off the oven!)
- Want a buttery component to it? Brush butter onto the top of the loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let it soak into the loaf, then remove the loaf from the pan to cool.
- If you do not plan to consume both loaves right away, they freeze beautifully. Wrap loaf with foil as soon as it comes out of the oven- just foil, nothing else- the wrapping-while-hot trick retains the moisture so when thawed it's very fresh tasting.
- Over-kneading and adding too much flour may result in a drier, denser loaf. Be careful.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Well, I only have a Classic Kitchen Aid mixer and my bowl isn’t big enough to hold that much dough! I ended up scraping it out and kneading it by hand, which was okay. My house is cold here in Oregon. I’m talking see-your-breath cold! So I turned my oven to the warm setting and boiled a pot of water. Turned my oven off and put both the boiling pot of water and covered dough in the oven. Its the only way I can create a warm humid atmosphere for the dough. I knew it was going to take awhile for it to double in size. Way longer than 30 minutes! I forgot I had a dinner date with my dad and my dough was still in the oven rising and I’m thinking my dough will be perfect when I get home. Well I came home and the dough tripled in size! It was over flowing onto the bottom of my nasty oven! I just rolled it and put it in the bread pans. I hope it has enough oomph for the 2nd rise!
Sounds like you had some very active yeast! Hope it all turned out great in the end!
Made this again and few days ago…it was perfect! And beautiful! So easy and so tasty! I will be using this recipe from now on! I LOVE IT! I cannot say enough good things about it!
So I made this today, by hand (I don’t have a stand mixer)…I kneaded it for 5-6 minutes and followed all the directions as best I could (without the mixer)…EXCEPT I accidentally switched the amounts of water and milk…I put the measurement of milk for water and vice versa. it came to together beautifully, except at the end…I rolled it out and put it in the bread pan, but it didn’t rise much…I let it sit (in a warm area) for over an hour…and nothing. What could I have done wrong? But other than that, the flavor was great…I just wish it was a regular loaf and not a mini loaf (because it didn’t rise over the pan). Thanks!
your yeast may not have been active (sometimes you get a dud packet), or the liquid changes might have made a difference too.
Lori, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Homemade breads have always been a staple in our house, but a great sandwich loaf always eluded me. This recipe has been so fantastic, I’ve quit buying bread at the grocery store!
Just a question for clarification….do you put the foil wrapped hot bread directly in the freezer?
Yes, wrap tightly in foil as it comes out of the oven and place directly in the freezer!
Let me start off by saying, I’m not a baker. By any means. I love to cook but I’ve always avoided baking’s precision (I’m a “throw a little of this, throw a little of that in there” kind of girl!) BUT I’ve made this a few times now, and I must say, I love it! And it’s very forgiving too. The first time, I proofed the yeast with the honey and sugar so all the wet ingredients weren’t together. Oops. Today, I ran out of whole wheat flour so just subbed regular. Came out just fine! I also made a cheddar bread with this recipe, I added about 2 cups shredded cheddar right after everything came together (before starting to knead). Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing, this is my go-to bread recipe now!
That’s awesome to hear! I love the idea of mixing in cheddar too!
Wow, that looks like a good recipe. I’ll have to try freezing the loaf right out of the oven. I usually freeze them after they have cooled, but sometimes don’t want to wait around.
What a perfect loaf of sandwich bread! Looks wicked good Lori! Pinning this and can’t wait to give it a try!
Did you use white whole wheat or traditional red whole wheat flour?
I used Gold Medal “Whole Wheat Flour.”
Let me just say one word: YUM! Having said that, I will also say that if using glass bread pans, you may consider using some sort of non-stick cooking spray/oil. My metal pan did wondefully not being greased, but the glass stuck and tore my loaf in half. While still very much edible, it doesn’t do well for sliced bread if half the loaf is still in the pan. But, YUM!
yep- always grease your loaf pans!