It seems like we’re always getting requests for an awesome whole wheat bread recipe. We (okay, I) have put this off for a long, long time and I haven’t been entirely sure why. After some careful self-analysis, here is my list of potential reasons why I haven’t jumped straight onto the homemade whole wheat bread bandwagon:
1) I am lazy.
2) Committing to making my own bread and not buying it at the store gives me hives.
3) Even though homemade whole wheat bread tastes better than what you’d find at your average grocery store, I’ve had a hard time finding a recipe where the taste made it worth eschewing my laziness or risking commitment-induced hives.
4) When I lived in Utah, it was easy to find ingredients to make homemade whole wheat bread. Now I have to order wheat (and dough enhancer if I want to use it, but I’ve weaseled my way around that one) and vital wheat gluten can be expensive and it’s only available at one grocery store where I live.
5) Even though I truly think grinding my own wheat makes the bread taste better, grinding wheat can be messy (and, when I am involved, usually is). I don’t like cleaning up wheat dust. Therefore, the thought of dragging out my wheat grinder also has the potential to give me hives. I think I may need therapy.
However, we recently were invited to try Bosch’s Universal Plus mixer and I decided that I needed to get over my issues. It’s been a long time coming. I’m making progress (although I’m still not prepared to commit to making my own bread 100% of the time).
I really, really wanted to give you guys an awesome whole wheat bread recipe. Here were my requirements:
1) The recipe makes a lot of loaves. Given my propensity toward hive-iness, I figure the less I have to make bread the better.
2) It has to be big enough for a sandwich or toast. None of this namby pamby 3″ tall bread.
3) Whole wheat bread can be dense and heavy. I didn’t want mine to be dense and heavy.
4) Homemade whole wheat bread can be bland. I wanted mine to taste awesome.
5) I didn’t want this recipe to take all fricking day. Because, let’s face it–pretty much all of us have better things to do.
I ended up adapting a whole wheat recipe from Bosch for a few reasons. First, I had made different variations of it before and I liked it (it’s kind of the go-to recipe for people who make their own whole wheat bread exclusively). Second, it only has one rise; it goes straight from the mixer into the bread pans, where it rises, and then goes into the oven. That shaves off a good hour right there.
However. Because I’m neurotic and a meddler and can’t leave things alone, I made quite a few tweaks. And I think they’re awesome tweaks, so I’m going to share them with y’all.
One thing about whole wheat flour–you don’t need to grind your own wheat. I have a WonderMill and, like my gym membership, I feel a lot of guilt when it goes unused for long periods of time. Plus, I really do think you wind up with better-tasting (and supposedly more healthful) wheat. Like I said, there’s nowhere for me to buy wheat berries locally, so I order hard white wheat (in spite of the pretty packaging, I’ve found it to be the best price online for hard white wheat). Why hard white wheat? I think it’s milder and softer than red wheat. I don’t like red wheat. I think bread made with red wheat is heavy and it makes me feel deprived and like I need Wonder Bread to balance it all out.
Speaking of products, I’m talking about a lot of specific brands in this recipe and I just want to disclaim (can I say that?) that we did receive Bosch mixers and attachments to try out (and this is a girl who owns 2, count ’em, t-w-o KitchenAid mixers), but everything else I mention is stuff I’ve bought my very own self. Just so you know I’m coming from an honest place. We might have a little giveaway going on tomorrow, and I’ll talk a little more about my feelings on Bosch mixers, but I will say here and now that if your husband wants to buy you either one for Mother’s Day/birthday/Christmas/for being awesome, he can’t go wrong. They’re both awesome and both have different strengths and weaknesses (although you’ll find rabid fans of both).
Anyway. I bet you just wish I’d shut up and share with you my recipe. And so I will.
Place 9 cups of whole wheat flour (freshly ground, if possible) into the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Enter the KitchenAid/Bosch debate. This is a LOT of flour, and you’ll be adding more, so if you’re using a KitchenAid, double check the maximum amount of stuff your machine can handle.
Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of bread machine yeast.
In case you didn’t know, I love bread machine yeast.
If you don’t want to use bread machine yeast, just make sure you’re using instant or fast-acting yeast.
Mix the flour and yeast together. Add 5 3/4 cups warm (about 105-115 degrees F) water…
Mix together until smooth. Cover and let it rise for 15-20 minutes or until light and spongey.
Add 2 tablespoons table salt, 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted unsalted butter, 2/3 cup honey, and 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt.
You’ll also need 2 heaping tablespoons of vital wheat gluten.
Before you start sending me emails, yes, you need it. No, this recipe is not gluten-free. Yes, I did just tell you to add gluten to your bread. Can we all be friends? Vital wheat gluten is really necessary in whole wheat breads because the whole wheat tends to be so heavy that the dough needs a boost to rise and not be like those brick-like whole wheat monstrosities we were often forced to eat as children when our mothers were figuring out this whole whole wheat bread thing. So yeah, add that, too.
Mix the added ingredients into the yeast/flour mixture until smooth. Add an additional 3-6 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time (until you start thinking you might be getting close, then reduce it by 1/2 cup). It’s hard, nay, impossible to give you an exact flour measurement because it can vary day by day, even in the same location. However, watch for the dough to start pulling together, away from the sides of the bowl. When it barely sticks to your finger (turn off the mixer first, silly!), you’re good to go. Let the mixer knead the dough for 5 minutes.
Spray 4 heavy-duty 9×5″ bread pans with non-stick cooking spray. I use and love, love, love these pans:
I bought them on Amazon and yes, they are a little spendier than your average bread pans. But if you’re serious about making you’re own bread, they are fabulous at retaining heat, giving you a nice, smooth, evenly-browned loaf of bread .
Transfer the dough from the mixer to a surface lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Spray your hands, too (it’ll make your life easier, I promise). Press into an even circle and then divide the dough into equal fourths. The dough should be very easy to work with, especially with the non-stick cooking spray. Press each dough segment into a rectangle about 8 1/2-9″ long and then roll it up. Place each “log” into the prepared pans.
Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise until it is over the top of the pan (about 45-60 minutes).
Carefully place all the pans on the middle rack of an unheated oven. Turn the oven on to 350 and bake for 32-40 minutes or until golden brown on top and sound hollow-ish when you knock on them. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should read about 200 degrees F.
Remove the loaves from the oven and run a stick of cold butter over the tops of the bread.
Allow to cool and then remove from the pans.
These loaves freeze beautifully. You can use gallon-sized Ziploc bags (you may have to cut the ends off), or you can buy bread bags. Again, if you live somewhere where lots of people make their own bread, you might be able to buy them locally. Otherwise, these bags from King Arthur Flour are fabulous.
Just be sure and save one loaf of bread for sandwiches. And snacks. And bread and butter and jam.
Makes 4 9×5″ loaves.
Okay, peeps, I knew there would be lots of questions on this post, so I’ll do my best to answer the most prevalent ones I’ve seen so far. Feel free to bring any more to my attention (nicely…please… 🙂 )
Q: Do you REALLY need vital wheat gluten?
A: Some people are successful at making whole wheat bread without it. However…part of our job is making our recipes something that beginners to experts can make, and can make well on a consistent basis. Because of variations in bread-making experience, wheat quality, different types of wheat, whether you grind it yourself or buy the flour at the store, elevation, and about a million other factors, there’s lots and lots of potential for this recipe to fail. Vital wheat gluten helps with that. It’s not going to hurt you or your bread (unless, like a commenter mentioned, you’re allergic or have Celiac Disease), but it can help level out some of those problematic factors, so I guess my thing is why not add it, you know?
Q: What’s with the Greek yogurt?
A: It adds flavor, moisture, and, like adding buttermilk or sour cream to baked goods, it improves the texture of the finished product. I’m using it in place of dough enhancer here.
Q: I have a KitchenAid. Can I use it to make bread?
A: Yes, especially if you have a pro-series mixer. That said, you’ll want to keep an eye on your machine, especially near the end of the kneading cycle. If it smells “machiney” or appears to be straining or overheating, turn it off and finish kneading it by hand.
Q: I don’t have a heavy-duty mixer. Can I make it by hand?
A: Yes, absolutely! During the final kneading, just double the kneading time. Also, there’s a tendency when making bread without a mixer to add too much flour because you can really feel the moisture of the dough. Just realize that as time goes on and the longer the bread is kneaded, it will become less and less sticky, so try and be patient before adding too much flour.
Q: You’re paying way too much for your wheat! Why don’t you get it at an LDS Cannery?
A: Our closest cannery is over 4 hours away, so it would cost me over $150 in gas, plus food and the cost of a hotel (I’ve done the there-and-back-in-a-day trip twice and both of those were very, very bad days), so $45 for a bucket of wheat is WAY more affordable for me.
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 12-15 cups whole wheat flour preferably hard white wheat
- 5 3/4 cups warm 105-115 F water
- 2 1/2 tablespoons bread machine or instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons table salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 heaping tablespoons vital wheat gluten
Instructions
- Mix 9 cups wheat flour and yeast in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Add 5 3/4 cup warm water and mix well. Cover and allow to rise for 15 minutes.
- Add salt, honey, melted butter, yogurt, and vital wheat gluten. Mix well. Add remaining 3-6 cups of flour, mixing the dough at low speed, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and the dough barely sticks to your finger. Allow the mixer to knead the dough for an additional 5 minutes.
- While the dough is kneading, spray 4 9x5" bread pans with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. Spray a work surface and your hands with non-stick cooking spray.
- Turn the dough onto the prepared work surface. It should be very easy to work with. Press the dough into an even circle or square and divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Press the dough into a rectangle that is about 8 1/2-9" on the long side. Roll it into a smooth log and place into a prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough pieces. Cover and let rise for 45-60 minutes or until the dough is rounding over the tops of the pans.
- Carefully place the pans onto the middle rack of a cold oven. Turn oven onto 350 degrees and bake for 32-40 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and, if you're feeling awesome, an instant-read thermometer reads 200 degrees. Remove from oven and run a stick of cold butter over the tops of the bread. When cool, remove from pans. Use immediately or freeze loaves for future use.
Questions & Reviews
I’ll be halving the recipe because my kitchenaid is small. Wish I had known about the difference between red and white wheat before buying a massive 50 lb bag of hard red wheat at the store!
I’d like to use OLIVE OIL instead of butter. Will this work, and How do I convert the measurement?
Thanks!
Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times thank you! I’ve always been terrified of making loaf bread. I’ve done rolls, pizza dough, pull-aparts, but sandwich bread has always intimidated me. I’ve been looking in to eating a more “clean” diet with less processed foods, so I knew I needed to at least try making my own bread. I made this recipe on my first attempt at homemade wheat bread, and it was incredible. I halved the batch, used my trusty kitchen aid, and just used store-bought whole wheat flour. Do you find that grinding your own wheat makes it taste better, or is it just a good way to save money/be more self reliant? My mother-in-law grinds her own wheat and her bread is super dense. Anyway, I hope to make this bread for my family for the rest of our lives!
I have a kitchen aid mixer. How long should I let the dough knead before it approaches the right consistency? Today’s attempt baked up fine (meaning edible), but the dough was far from easy to handle. It was in a nice ball, not too sticky, then I checked a few minutes later and it was goopey (for lack of a better adjective). So did I miss a window or not go long enough?
I have been looking for the perfect 100% whole wheat recipe and I am so excited to have found this one! I even used hard red wheat (my mother-in-law gave me around 20 #10 cans of the stuff and I can’t bear to just toss it). It turned out perfect and I cannot wait to use up all the hard red wheat so that I can buy hard white wheat and find out that this perfection can get even better! Thanks for always doing the hard work of perfecting all these awesome recipes!!
I’ve been making this every week. After pulling the bread out of the oven I take a hot loaf to a friend or neighbor and get rave reviews every time. Awesome recipe!
I just wanted to say thank you for posting this recipe. I have been searching for a good Wheat bread recipe and this is it. Also this is the first bread I’ve tried that has actually raised like it is supposed to. I’ve never used gluten before and it really makes a difference. One alteration I made to the recipe was to use sour cream instead of greek yogurt and it still tastes great.
Thanks again.
I know of a way to get light, chewy, 100% whole hard red wheat bread that doesn’t taste like sawdust and is still delicious cooled–and it doesn’t need dough conditioner OR gluten OR professional know-how. Let me know if you’re interested, I posted it on mygirlfriendskitchens blog. I’d like to offer it to you as a thank you for your many MANY wonderful posts and recipes! I love visiting here! 🙂
Just made this for my first ever whole wheat bread attempt! I had to cut the recipe in half since I have a smaller Kitchen Aid, and do some hand kneading to finish it off, but it came out PERFECT!! So, delicious! My 7 year old said it was so much better than anything I buy at the store! (SCORE!) Thanks so much for the recipe! I followed it to a T and it turned out just like you said it would.
I read this website on a blog and then could not find it. SO glad I finally found it.Regarding the yeast…I have Red Star Active Dry Yeast. What are the differences between the Bread Machine and Fast Rising to what I have? I buy the big bag of it at Costco because it is a lot cheaper that even our commissary.
This recipe is wonderful! I am eating some of this bread right now and it is perfect! I have been making whole wheat bread with the Bosch recipe in my Bosch mixer for nearly a decade and I’ve never had bread turn out so well! Thanks for tinkering with the recipe and making one that works so well and is so easy to follow! You are the best. When my husband sampled his first slice of the bread I made, he compared you guys to Alton Brown. I thought that compliment was worth sharing. Keep up the great work!
How many slices (on average) would one of these loaves get you? I know it’s not an exact science, but I’m curious about a ballpark figure.
For those who don’t have a wheat grinder….Gold Medal Flour is marketing a white wheat flour. I purchased some today at Harmon’s in Utah. King Arthur flour also has a white wheat flour that they sell at Whole Foods and sometimes I have found it at Walmart. You can also buy white wheat at Bosch stores and have them grind it I think?
I enjoyed making this bread. It is very light for a whole wheat bread. I had a little trouble making it in my oven which is only two years old. It started to burn on the top but I put aluminum foil over it so it wouldn’t get any darker…if anyone had that problem.
I find the easiest way to ensure that I make bread regularly is to make my own mix in jars or containers. Then when I want to make bread, I pull out a mix just before bedtime, throw it in the mixer, put the dough in the pans and put it in the fridg. The next morning I pull the pans out of the fridg, preheat the oven, bake the bread and get everybody out of bed. Nothing like homemade bread first thing in the morning. You can bake several loaves, freeze them whole. When you want one, pull it out, put it on a rack and cover it for a few hours. Slice it up and it is fresh and yummy as the day I made it.
Stupid question – how do you slice your bread so evenly and perfect? I love making homemade bread, but I always end up with some slices that are too thick and some that are too thin and tear up about half the bread while cutting. It may just be that I have no talent with a knife (I still can’t cut up a mango although I’ve followed your tutorial a thousand times and don’t even ask about pineapple!), but your slices look so neat and pretty, so I thought I’d ask.
Not a stupid question! Honestly, not all of my slices come out perfect! lol A super sharp bread knife really helps, as does making sure the bread has cooled completely. If you have an electric bread knife, it does an even better job!
I just made this bread this afternoon. It tastes so so so amazing!!! And I did it by hand, since I don’t own a kitchen aid or bosch. It was so simple. I was amazed at how easy it was to make. This is my new bread recipe. Thank You Thank You!!! I have tried other recipes that don’t even come close to this one 🙂
I just bought 3 of those USA pans! I’m so excited to make this recipe and try out those pans!! Woohoo for saving money on bread!!
Oh my! Just made a half batch of this bread and sliced into the first loaf! Yum! My kids and I love it….so soft and light and flavorful! Thanks for the recipe.
Yes, your method sounds like a winner. I will enjoy trying your way and hope to see even better tasting breads. I love your way of doing everything I have tried so far. Thanks for all the great tips and hints too. Norma
You are awesome! I’ve made wheat bread for years but I’m excited to try your take on it. I’ll trust you on this – you always know what you’re talking about. What’s next? Green jello?
I made your recipe yesterday and just ate my first slice for breakfast with butter and honey. It was wonderful…light, not dry or crumbly. I usually use a bread machine which is so easy, but then, as with everything that easy, the quality of the bread is not so great. In the bread machine I must use half white flour or I get a little brick. I can’t believe that your recipe is all wheat and comes out so soft! I made half the recipe and used regular plain yogurt (whole milk) that I make. Also I used plain instant yeast so my rising time was about one and one half hours (our house is on the cold side which might have made the rise time even longer). But all in all this is the best whole wheat bread I have ever had. Thank you so much for a great recipe. It came together exactly like you said in your blog which was a nice surprise.
I am so excited your posted this! I have been wanting to find a good whole wheat bread recipe for a long time. It’s one of my new year’s resolutions:)
I was wondering, how much do you think each loaf of bread cost to make? If it’s ridiculously hard to figure out, don’t worry about it. Just curious.
It really depends on the cost of your ingredients, so it’s tough to say–some people can get – giant bucket of wheat for $25, for me it was more. I use butter because it tastes so much better than oil, but some people use oil to save money. I can get honey for cheap, but that can be a big expense for others, so any number I gave you could be totally of (plus, I’m also not so great at math, so it could be off no matter what, haha!)
This recipe is awesome. Just made it last night (halved due to my low-capacity, low-power KitchenAid mixer), and as I was slicing it up for toast this morning I almost shivered with delight at the soft & light texture. Very much looking forward to making sandwiches on it, too!
I have a request, though, I’ve tried making the French bread you guys have posted on here along with (our daily) multigrain bread, plus this one now, and none of them seem to really have that perfect soft interior and hard exterior combination that my husband really likes in, say, an Italian loaf (or hoagies, for that matter)–which is pretty much the only thing he’ll eat sandwiches on for any long period of time. I’ve searched other sites and recently found this recipe http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/mydailybread that looks like exactly what my husband would eat, but it has so many rise periods and other steps I’m thinking it would be a bear to make all the time. So in short, my request is, do you guys have (or would you be able to come up with) an adaptation of this type of recipe that would yield the same (or very similar) results, but with less time involved? Having 2 soon to be 3 in diapers I’m not really able to spend all day in the kitchen, so that would be a huge help. 🙂
Thanks! I really love your site, pretty much all of our standby recipes come from you guys 🙂 always delicious!
I would definitely make a bread recipe, a roll recipe with cheese in it, in the Bosch Mixer. I am only able to knead by hand so I would very much appreciate this mixer to do it for me!
I’m glad you shared your recipe. I’ve made ww bread in my Bosch for years, it’s so great! I always add 5 crushed vitamin C tablets to a four loaf batch rather than gluten or dough enhancer. A generic bottle lasts a long time and is more cost effective. I once read it helps bind the structure of the wheat together. It’s never failed me. I too like the hard winter white, my kids think they are eating white bread!
Yum wheat bread!!!!
Oh my gosh!! My mouth is watering so much. MMMMMM. I love bread and all things bread. I would make cinnamon bread, orange cranberry bread, banana bread, dinner rolls and everything else I can think of.
I have a six quart Kitchen Aid mixer and love it! Haven’t used it in a few weeks, though. Your recipe makes it look so easy!
I would absolutely love to try my hand at this Honey Wheat Bread recipe. I don’t have a Bosch (but I secretly dream of owning one). I do have a KitchenAid and it seems to do ok, but is always too full to fully mix the dough. I have been trying new whole wheat recipes for a while now, and they are always too dense. Often, I will substitute for 1/2 white; 1/2 wheat. My family seems to like this the best.
Thanks for all your wonderful ideas and yummy recipes.
Happy Easter too.
Nettie
I just want to say that I ordered your cookbook from BN and finally got it yesterday. I absolutely love all of your recipes and appreciate all the effort you both put into making this Teacher’s life just a bit simpler and a whole lot tastier. Oh and my family thanks you as well. xoxo from The Lone Star