Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
My Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Bread is delicious, nutritious, and so simple to make! With all-natural ingredients and nothing artificial, you’ll feel good about making, serving, and eating this tasty bread. It has a wholesome wheat flavor with a soft interior and a scrumptious crust. It toasts up perfectly as well and tastes wonderful with some butter and jam!
There is something so satisfying and fulfilling about baking your own homemade bread. Plus, it makes your home smell amazing! It’s a traditional activity that reminds me of simpler times, and it is actually quite a peaceful and relaxing thing to do. Making bread is not as intimidating or complex as it sounds, and I tried my best to simplify the process, so it will be easier for you. Once you know how to bake your own bread, you’ll never want to buy it again!
As with all my recipes, I use the scientific method to carefully craft them to ensure you get deliciously perfect results every time.
I hope you enjoy making (and eating) this bread as much as I did!
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
1 ½ cups of warm water (106-110 degrees)
2 ¾ teaspoons of active dry yeast
40 grams (3 tablespoons, packed) of light brown sugar
509 grams (4 ½ cups) of whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur.)
Separate into two bowls: one with 170 grams (1 1/2 cups) and one with 339 grams (3 cups)
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
43 grams (3 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, softened
Canola oil for greasing
Yields 1 loaf
Instructions
Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small cubes.
Geeky Tip: Ingredients that are all the same temperature incorporate more easily and fully.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Stir together until combined. Let it sit for 6-7 minutes. If this mixture doesn’t have a foamy head after 6-7 minutes, then the yeast is dead, and you’ll need to get new yeast.
Geeky Tip: This is “proofing” the yeast, or proving that it is active. Yeast is a living organism that acts as a leavening and flavoring. The warm water activates the yeast, and the sugar is food that the yeast can consume, which causes carbon dioxide to be produced, which creates the air pockets and leavens the bread. This step ensures the yeast is good, and it gets the yeast going to help with the leavening and flavor of the bread.
Separate the flour into two bowls: one with 170 grams (1 ½ cups) and one with 339 grams (3 cups).
On low speed, mix in the 170 grams (1 ½ cups) of the flour, butter, and salt until combined.
Note the foamy yeast mixture underneath the dry ingredients, proving the yeast is alive and well.
Increase to medium speed, and add in ½ cup of the remaining flour at a time (about 10 seconds between each addition). Once all the flour is added, let the mixer knead the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Oil the sides of a large glass bowl with canola oil. Set it aside.
Flour your hands and a surface, and turn out the dough onto it. Knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes or until it is somewhat shiny, elastic, and springs back slightly when pressed with your finger.
Geeky Tip: Kneading the dough by hand helps you better know when the dough is ready since you can feel it and see it. Be careful not to rip or tear the dough while kneading it. If you don’t want to knead the dough by hand, you can let the stand mixer continue kneading it for 8-12 minutes or until it reaches the correct consistency.
This is what the whole wheat bread dough looks like after kneading it with the dough hook for about 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9” x 5” loaf pan with canola oil.
Geeky Tip: Oven temperatures vary wildly, so get an oven thermometer. When my oven “beeps” to indicate pre-heating is done, it is usually 50-75 degrees below the target temperature. An oven thermometer is the best $5 baking investment you can make!
Form the dough into a ball, and place it in the oiled bowl. Flip the dough over to make sure all of it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in a warm environment for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
The whole wheat bread dough has doubled in size after proofing for about 1 hour.
Lightly flour a surface and your hands. Push down on the dough to remove gas and air bubbles. Turn the dough out onto the surface. Form the dough into a loaf-shaped oval, and tuck and tightly pinch the edges together underneath the loaf. Place it in the pan with the pinched side on the bottom.
Geeky Tip: Pinching and sealing the loaf keeps the air and heat from escaping during baking.
Loosely cover the pan with a small kitchen towel or paper towel, and place it in a warm environment for about 20-30 minutes, or until it has risen about 1 inch over the top of the pan.
About 25 minutes after the loaf’s second proof/rise.
Bake in the center of the oven’s center rack for 38-41 minutes or until the top is golden brown. The bread’s internal temperature should be 190-195 degrees F.
After baking, remove the loaf from the pan, and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Storage
To store the bread, put it in an airtight container or freeze it in a plastic bag devoid of air. It can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups of warm water (106-110 degrees)
- 2 ¾ teaspoons of active dry yeast
- 40 grams (3 tablespoons, packed) of light brown sugar
- 509 grams (4 ½ cups) of whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur.). Separate into two bowls: one with 170 grams (1 1/2 cups) and one with 339 grams (3 cups)
- 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
- 43 grams (3 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, softened
- Canola oil for greasing
Instructions
- Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small cubes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Stir together until combined. Let it sit for 6-7 minutes. If this mixture doesn’t have a foamy head after 6-7 minutes, then the yeast is dead, and you’ll need to get new yeast.
- Separate the flour into two bowls: one with 170 grams (1 ½ cups) and one with 339 grams (3 cups).
- On low speed, mix in the 170 grams (1 ½ cups) of the flour, butter, and salt until combined.
- Increase to medium speed, and add in ½ cup of the remaining flour at a time (about 10 seconds between each addition). Once all the flour is added, let the mixer knead the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Oil the sides of a large glass bowl with canola oil. Set it aside.
- Flour your hands and a surface, and turn out the dough onto it. Knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes or until it is somewhat shiny, elastic, and springs back slightly when pressed with your finger.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9” x 5” loaf pan with canola oil.
- Form the dough into a ball, and place it in the oiled bowl. Flip the dough over to make sure all of it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in a warm environment for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Lightly flour a surface and your hands. Push down on the dough to remove gas and air bubbles. Turn the dough out onto the surface. Form the dough into a loaf-shaped oval, and tuck and tightly pinch the edges together underneath the loaf. Place it in the pan with the pinched side on the bottom.
- Loosely cover the pan with a small kitchen towel or paper towel, and place it in a warm environment for about 20-30 minutes, or until it has risen about 1 inch over the top of the pan.
- Bake in the center of the oven’s center rack for 38-41 minutes or until the top is golden brown. The bread’s internal temperature should be 190-195 degrees F.
- After baking, remove the loaf from the pan, and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
To store the bread, put it in an airtight container or freeze it in a plastic bag devoid of air. It can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.