Grocery prices just keep rising and we’re all feeling it, so I decided to revisit some of my old bread recipes. Because if there ever was a time to learn how to make homemade bread, it’s now! It only takes a couple of dollars to make this super delish homemade honey wheat bread that is soft, fluffy, flavorful, and perfect for toast or sandwiches. And while it does take some time to make a loaf of bread, most of that is hands-off time that you can use to tend to other business. ;)
What’s in Honey Wheat Bread?
This recipe starts with the basic yeast bread ingredients: flour, salt, and yeast. Then I added a little honey to give the bread just a hint of sweetness and a little olive oil which helps keep the bread (and the crust in particular) nice and soft. I’ve used a combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flour for this bread to keep the texture light and fluffy.
Can I use All Whole Wheat Flour?
While you can make bread with 100% whole wheat flour instead of a mix of white and wheat, that tends to produce heavier, dense bread. Whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture than all-purpose flour, so you may need to adjust the ratios in this bread slightly. I find that for the best texture, a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour produces the best results.
How to Store Homemade Bread
It’s very important to let homemade bread cool completely to room temperature before storing to prevent trapping steam and creating condensation. Homemade bread doesn’t contain preservatives like store-bought bread, so you’ll need to either consume the bread quickly or freeze it for longer storage. (Or make bread pudding with the leftovers!)
If storing your bread at room temperature, wrap the bread in cloth or paper to allow just enough airflow to prevent moisture build-up. Homemade bread will last about 2-3 days stored at room temperature.
If storing in the refrigerator, keep the bread in an air-tight container. This is my preferred method because I don’t usually eat bread that quickly. Bread stored in the refrigerator will stay good for about 5-6 days.
If you need to store your bread for longer, freeze it. I suggest slicing the bread prior to freezing so you can thaw or use 1-2 slices at a time as needed without thawing the entire loaf. I often toast my slices straight from the freezer for convenience! Make sure to freeze the bread in an air-tight, heavy-duty, freezer-safe container (like a freezer bag).
New to making homemade bread? Try our super easy No-Knead Bread!
Honey Wheat Bread
Servings 12 slicesIngredients
- 1.25 cup warm water ($0)
- 2 tsp active dry yeast or instant yeast ($0.34)
- 2 Tbsp honey ($0.50)
- 3 Tbsp olive oil ($0.36)
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour* ($0.57)
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour* ($0.38)
- 1/2 Tbsp salt ($0.05)
Instructions
- Stir the yeast and 1 Tbsp of the honey into the warm water until dissolved, then set it aside for about five minutes to allow the yeast to activate. A thick layer of foam should develop on the surface of the water.
- While waiting for the yeast to bloom, stir together 1 cup of the whole wheat flour with the salt.
- Once the yeast is foamy, add the rest of the honey (1 Tbsp) and the olive oil and stir to combine. Pour the yeast water into the bowl with the flour and salt, then stir until combined. Add ½ cup more of whole wheat flour and stir until combined again.
- Now start adding all-purpose flour, ½ cup at a time, until you can no longer stir the dough with a spoon. At that point, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and begin to knead all-purpose flour into the dough, a little at a time.
- Knead the dough for about five minutes, slowly adding flour as you knead, or until the dough no longer sticks to your hands, but is still fairly pliable. I used 1.5 cups all-purpose flour total, but the total flour amount will vary with the type of flour used and relative humidity in the room.
- Place the kneaded dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise at room temperature for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size.
- Lightly coat a bread pan with oil. Punch the dough down to deflate, then take the dough out of the bowl. Shape the dough into a log about the same length of your bread pan.
- Place the shaped dough in the bread pan and let it rise for anohter hour, or until it has risen about 2-inches above the edges of the bread pan.
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Once fully preheated, add the risen bread and bake for 30 minutes, or until the bread is deeply golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped.
- Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool just a few minutes (to make it easier to handle), then carefully remove the bread from the pan to fully cool.
- Once cool, slice and serve your delicious homemade bread!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How to Make Honey Wheat Bread – Step By Step Photos
Start by dissolving 1 Tbsp honey and 2 tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast in 1.25 cups of warm water. Set the mixture aside to allow the yeast to bloom. It should develop a thick layer of foam on the surface.
While waiting for the yeast to bloom, add 1 cup whole wheat flour to a bowl with ½ Tbsp salt and stir to combine.
Once the yeast has bloomed, stir another 1 Tbsp honey and 3 Tbsp olive oil into the yeast water, then pour that mixture into the bowl with the flour and salt. Stir to combine.
Stir another ½ cup of whole wheat flour into the dough.
Now start adding in all-purpose flour, ½ cup at a time until you can no longer stir the dough with a spoon.
When a shaggy ball of dough forms that can no longer be stirred with a spoon, it’s time to turn the dough out onto a floured surface to knead.
Begin kneading in more all-purpose flour a little at a time. Knead for about five minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to your hands, but is still pliable. I used about 1.5 cups all-purpose flour in total, but the total flour amount can vary depending on the type of flour used and the relative humidity in the room.
Place the kneaded dough back into the mixing bowl and cover it with a towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Once doubled in size, punch the dough down to deflate. Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a log the same length as your bread pan.
Lightly coat a bread pan with olive oil then place the shaped dough inside. Let the bread rise for another hour, or until it has risen about two inches above the top of the bread pan.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Once the bread has risen, transfer the bread to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is deeply brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
After 30 minutes, remove the bread from the oven. Let it cool for just a few minutes to make it easier to handle, then carefully remove it from the bread pan to finish cooling.
Once cooled, slice and serve the bread, or store it for later!
Hi, this is pretty late but I was wondering if you think this recipe would work in a bread machine? I have very little counter space to work with so I prefer to use my machine for the mixing and needing portions. The machine’s directions say to not mix the yeast with anything, but I’m wondering if I just followed your instructions while keeping the machine open if it would turn out ok?
Monkeytoes – Hmm, there are many things that could be causing this but here are two of my best guesses: First, your oven may run hotter than mine so try reducing the cooking temperature by about 25 degrees and cook it just until it’s a medium brown on top. Second, you may need to knead the dough a little longer. This will develop the gluten more and you will get a lighter bread (hopefully with a thinner crust). Keep trying, though. Bread making is a *lot* of trial and error. You really have to get a “feel” for it!
My bread came out with a hard top. You can knock it … Any suggestions?
The best yeast I have ever found is Saf. For the fluffiest baked goods every time. It never fails me! http://www.amazon.com/Saf-Yeast-Instant-Yeast-16-oz/dp/B0001CXUHW My mother got me hooked on the stuff.
Mile319- Yours didn’t look *too* bad. The quality of the whole wheat flour shouldn’t matter in how much your loaf rises. I make bread with the gold medal flour all of the time :) When you’re kneading in the flour, you don’t want to add so much that it becomes a stiff ball. Add just a sprinkle at a time as you knead it. The dough should stay fairly soft and pliable. This is just something that takes practice but you’ll get a feel for it eventually. So, keep trying! I suspect the problem is that you may simply need to let it rise longer. Rising time varies so much because it depends a lot on the heat and humidity in your kitchen and the state of your yeast. So, perhaps try letting it rise 30-45 minutes longer next time.
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it!
Beth
Thank you for giving the courage to try this recipe. I, of course, totally did something wrong because my loaf was pretty dense. I wonder about the type of flour I used (grocery store-bought Gold medal whole wheat flour) or if I didn’t knead it long enough…or if I used too much of the all-purpose flour. It’s tough being a novice! So many things could be wrong. :) Here’s a pic of my loaf: http://smellslikeburning.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/neither-a-cook-nor-a-baker/
Anyhow, thank you so much for your wonderful blog. It’s one of my favorites – I’ve made a few of your recipes and have loved them!
I have had such terrible luck with sandwich bread. I can make breadsticks, biscuits, naan…but not a loaf of regular whole wheat sandwich bread – until now. I tried this today and was SO pleased with the results. I used instant yeast and mixed it up in my kitchen-aid up through 1 cup of all purpose, then worked another 3/4 cup in by hand. So I actually came up short on the 2 cups but the dough had the right consistency and turned out great! It also only took 25 minutes in the oven before it was done baking. My only snag was trying to slash the top of the dough after the second rise. I used a (small-ish) serrated knife but it kept snagging the dough instead of cutting through it nicely. Any tips? It deflated the loaf slightly, though the texture didn’t suffer at all. I linked back to this on my food blog. :) http://newlywedfoodadventures.blogspot.com/2011/07/honey-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread.html
Looks wonderful!
I love your blog! I just made this yesterday. I’ve made banana nut and zucchini breads dozens of times, but never ventured in to ‘regular’ breads. This was SUPER easy – even though I was a little nervous about having to wait for rising, kneading, wait some more, etc. But I made this while I was doing other household chores and it wasn’t that painful at all. : ) I sliced off a piece after it cooled, and it tastes amazing! Can’t wait to try it for lunch with my tuna. : )
Tiffany, yep, it’s the same yeast!
Anonymous, try letting your bread rise longer. Because of temperature and humidity differences the suggested rise time may not be exactly right for everyone. Just keep letting it sit until it gets big and fluffy!
This is probably a dumb question, but is “yeast” the same as the “dry active yeast” I bought when I made your Naan recipe? The naan was phenomenal by the way! It was my first time using yeast and now I want to make more! :)
Hi Beth,
Try using Spelt or Rye flour as a variation to wholemeal.. Equally delicious but subtly different..
HappyDace..
This was my first time attempting to make a sandwich bread. I followed the recipe exactly, but found my bread to be much too dense. Any idea what would have caused this?
it would be great if you post the recipe of sub rolls like subway and quiznos? thanks.
This has now become our go-to sandwich bread recipe. We haven’t bought a loaf of bread in over a month! Our first few loaves kept coming out a little burnt on the top by the time the center was done, so now we dial back the oven temp to 350 and bake it a little bit longer – comes out perfect! Thanks for another fantastic recipe!