Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
After making the Honey Wheat Pizza Dough the other day and getting such great results, I was determined to make some honey wheat sandwich bread as well. As I searched for recipes, I found that most of them were basically the same as the pizza dough recipe that I had just made, so I made the dough again but changed the proportions just a tad to make enough to fill up a bread pan.
The result was FANTASTIC. This bread is this bread fluffy, slightly sweet and utterly delicious. The addition of olive oil keeps the crust nice and soft which is perfect for sandwiches. The aroma that this bread creates as it bakes is absolutely heavenly. So good, in fact, that my landlord (who lives behind me) HAD to come over and find out what I was baking. Now there is a new rule: every time I bake a loaf, I have to bake one for her too :D
Hopefully that’s evidence enough to convince you to bake one yourself.
Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups warm water $0.00 ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp honey ($0.21)
- 2 tsp yeast ($0.19)
- 3 Tbsp olive oil ($0.30)
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ($0.38)
- 2-3 cups all purpose flour ($0.21)
- 1/2 Tbsp salt ($0.05)
Instructions
- hCombine the warm water, yeast and honey. Stir to dissolve and allow to sit until the yeast becomes foamy on top. This may take longer than usual (up to 10 minutes) because the concentration of the honey.
- Once the yeast mixture is foamy, stir in the olive oil and salt. Next, stir in the 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour. Begin to add the all purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you can no longer stir it with a spoon.
- Turn the ball of dough out onto a floured surface and knead in the rest of the AP flour. You will use between 2 and 3 cups of all purpose flour total depending on the moisture content of your environment and flour. Keep adding flour and kneading until you have a soft, elastic but not sticky ball. Knead for about 3 minutes.
- Loosely cover the ball of dough and allow it to rise until double in size (about 45 minutes). Shape the dough into a log the length of your bread pan. Coat the bread pan with non-stick spray or oil and place the dough inside. Allow the dough to rise again until double in size (another 45 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut a long slit in the top of the dough to allow for expansion during cooking (a serrated bread knife works great). Once the oven is fully heated, bake the bread for 30 minutes until deep golden on top. Remove the bread from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
Nutritional values are estimates only. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Step By Step Photos
Combine the warm water, yeast and honey in a bowl. Stir to dissolve and then wait for it to become frothy.
Stir in the olive oil and salt.
Stir in all of the whole wheat flour. I used stone ground, it has a wonderful texture and flavor.
Begin to stir in the all purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time until you can not stir it anymore.
At that point, dump it out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Knead the dough and keep adding all purpose flour until you have a soft, elastic but not sticky ball of dough (about 3 minutes of kneading and between 2 and 3 cups all purpose flour total).
Shape the dough into a ball, loosely cover and let rise until double. You can either let it rise in an oiled bowl or even right on the counter top.
After it has doubled in size, punch it down then shape it into a log that will fit in your bread pan. Coat the pan in non-stick spray or oil. Place the dough inside and let it rise until double again.
Here it is all risen and beautiful. You want it to have risen up higher than the edges of the bread pan. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Make a long slit in the bread to allow for expansion while it cooks. You can do any design but I like the length-wise slit because it gives uniformly shaped bread slices.
Bake it for 30 minutes or until it is a deep golden brown on top.
Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack before slicing. Slicing hot bread can cause it to smoosh down into a dense mess.
YUMMMM.
This is the second time I’ve made this bread, and while it tastes delicious, scoring the dough with a knife has made it deflate both times. Am I cutting too deep, or is there some other trick? What would happen if I didn’t score the dough?
This one will probably be okay if you don’t score it. Deflating can be the result of a few things. One might be the type of knife you’re using, or putting too much downward pressure as you score, or perhaps the gluten hasn’t been developed enough in the dough so it’s not very strong (kneading longer can help, just don’t add too much flour so the dough gets stiff).
Great recipe!
Followed recipe except instead of all purpose flour I used bread flour. Perfect texture and sooooo delicious. My husband couldnt wait until the loaf was cooked to cut a slice. Cut no problem and didnt deflate the bread as the crust is pretty sturdy. Loved this recipe. Keeping in my tried and true stash! Will start trying some of your other recipe and passing this recipe to my friends and family!
has anyone tried this recipe with only all purpose flour?
I love this website so much because the recipes never fail. So if I can alter one of her recipes then that would be awesome
You should be able to make this will all AP flour, but you might need slightly more water as AP flour doesn’t absorb quite as much as WW flour. :)
Has anyone tried using sprouted wheat flour? We’re interested in using this type of flour but not sure how well it will perform. I think in terms of processing it performs more like white flour. I would just use the King Arthur recipe (where we bought it) but it looks way more complicated than this! :)
I made this today and unfortunately, it didn’t come out as I expected….I don’t think my yeast had enough to eat because after a while, it just stopped rising although I had it in a warm room. I really only had enough for one loaf. Also, it maybe my american pallet but I think it needed a little more to sweeten it up for me…I would say this is more of wheat bread than honey wheat. I never try a recipe just once so I may try it again with a few adjustments.
This was a flop for me. Had to work to hard to get more then 1 cup of amp flour in it. Might have made one loaf better. Tried 2 loafs n they aren’t 2 inches high.
It’s only meant to make one loaf
My family loves this bread! It’s simple and delicious, and it really does make great sandwiches! Even my pick husband prefers this! The only modification I made was cooking it at 375 for about 25 min in a countertop oven (they tend to cook a bit quicker). Yum!
I added one cup of bread flour and one cup of AP flour to the whole wheat, and it came out great! I also baked it at 425 for about 20 minutes until it got really brown on top, then covered with foil and turned it down to 350 for another 15. Probably didn’t need that long — I’ll do it for 15 at 425 and 15 at 350 next time. Great bread though!
I will make this bread again. It tasted very good. I used canola oil, instead of olive oil. I used 1 cup of all-purpose flour, and 1 tsp. of salt. Next time I would add a little more AP flour, because the loaf was a bit sticky to remove from the bread pan, even though I oiled it. 400F
made my loaf quite dark. Next time, I would turn it down to 375F and bake a bit longer. I didn’t slice the top, but may try it next time. I had one air bubble right on top. This is a winner recipe. I have tried multiple whole wheat bread recipes, and this is the best one.
LOVE this bread Beth! I’ve made it the last four weekends in a row and we’ve basically stopped buying sandwich bread from the store, which is great. I’m curious — could this same dough be used for a cinnamon roll recipe, or would it not work? I just think the taste/texture would be great for it.
I bet it would work! I don’t see any reason why not. :)
Thank you so much for this recipe! I make this bread almost everyday for my family. Its absolutely delicious!