Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread is the perfect sandwich loaf. This easy whole wheat bread recipe makes a soft and slightly sweet bread that you’ll love.
Why you’ll love this recipe
With it’s soft texture, hint of honey and hearty whole wheat flavor, Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread tastes fantastic and will keep fresh for several days.
You can start the dough the night before and finish the bread in the morning to have fresh bread for lunch.
If you’ve got a sourdough starter, you can make Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Yeast – I prefer dry active yeast to rapid rise yeast for a slower rise time and better flavor.
- Bread Flour has a high protein content. Higher protein means better gluten development.
- Whole Wheat Flour does not have quite as much of the gluten forming properties of bread flour. Using a combination of whole wheat and bread flour makes a loaf that has great whole grain flavor, yet rises tall in the oven. You can adjust the proportion of wheat vs. bread flour to make a loaf to your liking.
- Milk – Scalding denatures (breaks down) proteins in the milk which can interfere with gluten development.
- Honey – Adds wonderful flavor, enhances browning and makes the crumb soft and slightly sweet.
- Salt – For flavor.
- Sesame Seeds – For crunch and flavor on the crust.
How to make Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Combine the water, yeast and some of the flour to form a “sponge”.
- Set it aside for 30-60 minutes.
- While the sponge is rising, scald the milk.
- Set the milk aside to cool to 100F.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the sponge.
- The dough will start out quite rough and sticky.
- Continue kneading until the dough begins to gather on the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover and set aside in a warm spot.
- Allow the dough to double in volume before shaping.
- Pat the dough into a rectangle.
- Roll the dough to a log.
- Set it into a lightly greased loaf pan
- Cover the pan and set aside in a warm spot.
- The bread is ready to bake when it’s about doubled in volume and fills up the pan. If you poke the dough the dent should slowly fill-in. If the dough springs right back it’s not quite ready.
- Make a deep slash down the middle of the loaf before baking.
- Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with (optional) seeds.
How to work ahead
- You can start your bread a day ahead. Start mixing the dough late in the afternoon or early evening.
- Make the dough up until the point that it goes into the pan.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow it to rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next morning, take the loaf out of the refrigerator. It should have risen to fill the pan over night.
- Leave the loaf at room temperature while the oven preheats. If it hasn’t risen enough, give it a little extra time at room temperature to finish rising.
Storage
Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread stays fresh at room temperature for 2-3 days. The bread (sliced or whole) can be frozen for up to a month.
More great sandwich breads
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread
With it's soft texture, hint of honey and hearty whole wheat flavor, Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread tastes fantastic and will keep fresh for several days. This recipe makes one 9"x5" loaf.
slices
Ingredients
- 6 ounces warm water (¾ cup)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast (1 packet)
- 10 ounces bread flour (2 cups, see note)
- 8 ounces whole milk (1 cup)
- 1 ½ ounces honey (2 tablespoons)
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 7 ½ ounces whole wheat flour (1 ½ cups)
- 1 egg for egg wash
- Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, combine 6 ounces warm water, 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast and ½ cup (2 ½ oz) of the bread flour to form a smooth batter. Cover the bowl and allow the mixture to rise for ½ hour. Warm 8 ounces whole milk until scalding hot then set it aside to cool until it is slightly warmer than body temperature.
- Add the scalded milk, 1 ½ ounces honey and 1 ½ teaspoons table salt to the sponge. Stir to combine.
- Add 7 ½ ounces whole wheat flour and another ½ cup of the bread flour. Stir until the batter looks like thick pancake batter. If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook.
- With the mixer running, add the rest of the bread flour, Knead until the dough gathers on the hook and clears the sides of the bowl, 4-5 minutes. If mixing by hand, add as much of the flour as you can in the bowl then finish kneading in the rest of the flour by hand.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead to form a smooth ball. If the dough is very sticky sprinkle a little more flour as you knead.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover and set aside in a warm spot to rise for about 1-1 ½ hours until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9"x5" loaf pan with a very light film of vegetable oil or with baking spray.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Without kneading out the air, gently push the dough to a 9"x12" rectangle. Tightly roll the dough from top to bottom to form a log shape. As you roll pinch the ends of the dough to form a tight roll.
- Set the dough into the pan and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Set in a warm place and rise until the dough almost doubles in size, about 1 hour.
- Use a sharp knife or razor to cut a ½" deep slash down the center of the loaf. Brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds.
- Bake about 30-35 minutes until golden brown and the interior temp is about 200 °F.
- Cool in the pan about 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cool to room temperature before slicing.
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!
I also had to add an additional one half cup of bread flour and still had a pretty sticky dough. After the first proof if was very loose for bread dough. I really couldn’t roll it into a log, so I basically plopped it into the bread pan. It fell over the sides a little during baking but I have to say the bread was delicious! I will definitely make it again and see if I get the same result.
Did you weigh your ingredients or use cup measures? If you use cup measures make sure to use the “dip and sweep” method. That is, you dip the cup into the bin and then sweep away the excess. If you fill the cup by the spoonful the flour will likely weigh less than my recipe specifies.
Hi Eileen
What happens if I use 1% or 2% milk instead of whole milk?
Joanne
No problem. Low fat milk would work just fine.
Like one of the other comments above, I too had to add a lot more of the bread flour than was called for in the recipe. Probably double before the dough started pulling away from the sides of the bowl. I triple checked all of my other ingredients so don’t know what happened. Hope it turns out! Looks yummy!
Just wondering if anyone ever made this in a bread machine?? I’d love to know the results!
Hi Donna! Sorry, I’ve never used a bread machine so I’m not sure if the recipe would have to be adapted for the machine.
I have made your bread every week for the last three weeks. Now it is the only bread my husband wants. Forget the bread in the grocery store!!! I just made another loaf today. It is rising as I write this! Thank you for the recipe. It is delicious!!
Hi Elyse…you just made my day! Thanks so much and I’m so glad you like the recipe. I like it too.