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BEST WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE
My Mom put on her apple apron, pulled out the flour containers, and kneaded homemade bread like nobody’s business. There was nothing like the smell of homemade bread straight out of the oven. I would run home from school much faster on those days when my Mom was baking homemade bread. I slathered the homemade bread with sweet cream butter and honey or berry jam. To this day it is still one of the most comforting foods that always reminds me of home.
I haven’t carried on my Mom’s tradition of weekly homemade bread because I have always said that it is way too time consuming. I still love to make it and feel a lot of satisfaction when it comes out of the oven but needed to find an easier way. Let me introduce to you the power of one hour bread!
Our good friend, Shannon Lundin, has finally shared her top secret bread recipe! After being sensitive to gluten for years, she found that she could eat homemade whole wheat bread made from scratch with zero issues. It is such an amazing discovery and she is sharing her whole wheat bread recipe with all of us. I called her and asked if I could share this with my readers and she was happy to share.
After trying this bread in Texas, I couldn’t wait to follow her recipe and try it at home. I halved her best homemade one hour whole wheat bread recipe. I was in shock that it only took ONE HOUR to make two loaves of homemade bread. Amazing! It is incredible that you can make homemade bread start to finish in one hour.
This Best Homemade One Hour Whole Wheat Bread is made with such simple ingredients — whole wheat flour, warm water, yeast, honey, oil, and salt. This bread is filled with all-natural ingredients and no sugar! It is healthy, hearty, and delicious.
TIPS on MAKING the BEST HOMEMADE ONE HOUR WHOLE WHEAT BREAD:
- Let your YEAST PROOF. The key is to use very warm water (about 110 degrees). Adding honey to the yeast helps it proof even faster. Let the yeast proof for at least 5 minutes. Remember to always use fresh yeast. You will know the yeast is working when it starts to form a creamy foam on the surface.
- Use WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR or half white bread flour and half whole wheat flour. If you have a wheat grinder, you can grind your own wheat. If not, look for organic whole wheat flour. You can always use half white flour and half whole wheat flour if you like a lighter bread.
- Use a STAND MIXER. This bread recipe is easiest with a stand mixer such as a Bosch. I love my Bosch mixer because it makes this bread so much easier! This is a huge time saver as you knead the bread for 10-12 minutes in the mixer. It saves you from doing it yourself! If you don’t own a stand mixer, you can knead the bread dough by hand. Click here to get a good deal on a Bosch mixer.
- Let RISE in WARM OVEN. This expedites the rising process and cuts the time in half. Set the oven to about 200 degrees and let the bread rise for approximately 20 minutes or until double in size. Here are my favorite loaf pans.
- BAKE until GOLDEN BROWN. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake until golden on the outside. Remove from oven and spread butter over top of loaves to give moisture and shine.
Once you remove the hot homemade whole wheat bread from the oven, remove from pans and spread with butter and jam.
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Best Homemade One Hour Whole Wheat Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Warm Water approximately 110 degrees
- 1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
- 2/3 cup Honey
- 1/3 cup Oil plus a little extra for hands
- 7 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour may use half whole wheat/half white flour
- 1 Tablespoon Salt
- Butter to spread on top of bread
Instructions
- Heat oven to warm about 200 degrees.
- Place warm water in large mixing bowl. Add yeast and stir. Stir in honey and let proof (start to form a creamy foam) for 5 minutes.
- Add oil, flour, and salt. Begin by adding 7 cups of flour. Start to mix using the dough hook. Add remaining 1/2 cup of flour until dough pulls away from sides of mixing bowl. Using Bosch or Kitchenaid, knead for 10 minutes at medium-high speed. If you don't own a stand mixer, you can knead by hand.
- Place a little oil on hands and shape into two bread loaves. Spray loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray. Put pans in a warm oven to let rise until double -- about 20 minutes.
- Once bread has raised, turn oven to 350 degrees. Leave bread in oven and set timer for 25 minutes.
- Check bread to see if it is golden brown. Once bread is done, remove from oven and spread butter all over warm loaves. Let cool for several minutes before removing from pan.
- Spread butter and jam or honey on warm bread.
- May freeze bread or eat within 2 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I can’t wait to see your pictures of your Best Homemade One Hour Whole Wheat Bread. Tag me using #modernhoney or @modern_honey on instagram. I would love to see your creations!
Love this easy recipe! I made this for my 11-month old’s French toast in the mornings, so didn’t want to use honey. I substituted turbinado sugar (replaced using 5/6 c sugar and 1/6 c water). No mixer, so I kneaded by hand, 150 turns as someone above posted. I only have one bread pan, so after oiling the loaves, I stuck one in a ziploc bag and froze it. Both loaves turned out fine. For the frozen loaf, I thawed it in the fridge the night before, then just resumed recipe, putting it in the loaf pan, rising at 200 degrees, etc. For both loaves, the final bake at 350 degrees took more like 35 mins instead of 25.
Thanks this is the simplest good bread recipe. I can take the dough from the mixer straight into the oven. set the start and stop timers and presto. No fuss. I don’t think it is possible to make good bread any easier.: )
I found the baking time to be way off, especially using an electric oven that takes a long time to come up to temperature. Next time I will allow bread to rise outside the oven so that I can preheat it.
I loved the end result, but the water to flour ratio was off the scale. I ended up using almost double the amount of flour – which is fine, as now I have a ton of bread 🙂 In the end, instead of butter, I used coconut oil to smother the tops of the loaves with, very aromatic.
This is quite an interesting recipe.. Thank you for sharing!. i have a couple of questions, please: First, when you say preheat oven to 200F means I will preheat the oven and leave it set to 200f and put the dough to proof inside the 200F heated oven without turning it off? And after the proofing time increase the temperature to 350F?. I have read that yeast dies at 130F,.. unless what I read is referring to internal temperature? I am confused now…
Second question would be: Should I cover the bread while it proofs in the 200f heated oven? Usually recipes call for covering dough with a damp towel, does it apply to your recipe as well? if no, can you please explain to me why or what is the effect the uncovered bread will have? A drier/harder crust, maybe? Please share a little bit of your wisdom here with me. :).
I have had pretty dismal luck making bread. Most often they end up looking like something that just landed from a space ship, but this recipe turned out so great! My loaves did look a little caved in on the sides (in keeping with my tradition!) but they tasted great and since I knead by hand I think it is most likely they way I did the final shaping or perhaps I need to work on my kneading technique. I am going to try this recipe today and will be adding flax meal and butter instead of oil. I wonder also, if anyone has tried adding an egg to this recipe? Also has anyone had any luck altering this recipe to just make one loaf?
Hi Suzanne,
Love the idea of adding seeds and nuts. Do you remember what quantities you used? Did you decrease other ingredients to make room for the add ins?
Thank you,
Gail
My son (10 yrs) and I made our very FIRST bread ever using this recipe and it turned out perfectly and it was MOUTHWATERING!!!! Thank you so much for simplifying the process for non-bakers like us.
P.S. we love to try new things and will follow your recipes more often.
Best bread I have ever eaten ! Extremely easy to make as well ! Thank you so much for the recipe !!
Thank you for sharing this excellent foolproof recipe. I do not have a bread machine, but I closely followed your recipe. I discreetly modified it by adding minced cranberries and raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and flax seed. I also made it more nutritious by adding crumbled almonds, walnuts, and sunflower seeds. It was my first attempt and it was amazingly successful and delicious. I could not imagine bread without milk, butter, shortening, and sugar. Thank you for sharing. I do not eat much bread but I will be using your recipe again from time to time.
I just made this because unbeknownst to moi, the whole wheat bread we’ve been buying from ShopRite has high fructose corn syrup. These are lovely and quick. Two caveats: the dough was almost there by 6 minutes in the mixer – then it overheated the motor. Secondly, I had to bake mine quite a lot longer. The loaves are still warm!
Thank you very much!
I’m still baking my two loaves after about fifty minutes! Knives stuck in are less gooey but not yet done. Only my fourth attempts making bread & first with this recipe so it most likely is my fault! Anyway, they did rise, look good and hopefully after a full hour in the oven at 350°F will taste great!