Homemade Soft Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

This recipe for whole wheat bread has been well-used in my kitchen for the last 12 years. This was the recipe that hooked me into making my own bread.

This recipe makes seven loaves of soft, fresh bread. It stays fresh for days on the counter, and it freezes exceptionally well, too.

If you want a quick and easy bread recipe, try my Irish Soda Bread Recipe Without Buttermilk and Quick Homemade Biscuits With No Milk.

❤️ Why You Will Love This Recipe

• This recipe has easy step-by-step instructions so that even a beginner baker can have success with this recipe.
• It keeps fresh for days and tastes great when served warm or cold.
• Making your bread is much less expensive than store-bought bread.
• Perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
• It makes seven loaves of bread - which means you only have to make bread every seven weeks (if you go through a loaf a week). 🙂

🍞 Ingredients You'll Need:

This recipe only requires simple ingredients that you likely have in your pantry already! If not, you can easily find everything at your local grocery store.

Ingredient Notes

• Yeast. I used active dry yeast. You could also use instant yeast to cut the dissolving step.
• Whole wheat flour. I used 100% whole wheat flour. Whole wheat bread flour works fantastic if you have it - it makes the bread even lighter. Another great substitute is white whole wheat flour.
• White flour. I used unbleached all-purpose flour. Again, bread flour is amazing if you want to use it.
• Melted butter. I used unsalted butter, but I have also used olive oil and canola oil.
• Sugar. I used cane sugar, but you can use white sugar instead.

See the printable recipe card for exact measurements and a full list of ingredients.

📖 Variations

• Add ½ cup of hemp hearts
• Use ¾ cup honey instead of sugar for honey wheat bread
• Try 1 cup of oatmeal (reduce the all-purpose flour by 1 cup)
• Add ½ cup of chia seeds or flax seeds
• Use almond flour (reduce the amount of all-purpose flour)
• Try seeds and nuts (poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, crushed nuts).

🥣 How to Make Soft Whole Wheat Bread

Step-By-Step Instructions

To make this homemade bread recipe, you must first proof the yeast. To proof yeast, mix together warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bowl or Pyrex measuring cup. Stir the mixture with a spoon. Let it stand for 10 minutes. It will start to get foamy on top. This is how you know your yeast is still good. 🙂

While the yeast is sitting, it's time to mix together the dry ingredients. Mix together 7 cups of whole wheat flour, 3 cups of all-purpose flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.

Next, add the yeast mixture to the flour, add in the eggs, melted butter, and warm water. Mix it at medium speed until well combined.

After mixing, let the gooey mixture sit for 10-15 minutes. It will be very gooey. If using a KitchenAid mixer, remove the mixing paddle now and put on your dough hook attachment.

Next, while mixing at low speed, add in 7 cups of flour and 1 cup of whole-wheat flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Be very careful not to add too much flour.

Knead it until it is a smooth, round ball. Continue punching down for 8 to 10 minutes, or 5 minutes with a KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook.

Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size. This is the first rise,

Expert Tip: I use the "Proof" setting on my oven. If you don't have the proof setting on your oven, you can turn your oven on to 350 degrees for 1 minute, and then shut it off. It will stay warm and provide a nice temperature for the bread to rise. Plus, if you let it rise in the oven, you do not need to cover it with a tea towel.

When the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough into 7 equal portions. Don't worry about "punching" it down. Forming it into loaves will do the same job. If you punch it down too much, it may get too dense. You want it to be light and fluffy.

Make the dough into 7 loaf shapes and place them in greased bread pans. Let rise for another hour or so, until doubled in size again.

Place the loaves into your oven to rise again so you do not have to cover them. Being in the oven prevents them from drying out. If you cover them with something they don't rise as well as the top gets disturbed when you remove the tea towel or plastic wrap and the dough may fall. Let the bread rise for 1 hour, or until they double in size. This is the second rise.

Once they are doubled in size and are ready to bake, remove them from the oven. Turn the oven to 370 degrees if using a convection oven. If you do not have a convection oven, set your oven at 390 degrees.

When the oven comes up to the correct temperature, place the bread in the oven. Bake for about 18 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

I like to also make dinner rolls out of this recipe too. They are super soft and full of flavor. I have also made homemade hot dog buns out of this dough as well. To do this, shape the dough into an oblong shape, and reduce the baking time by a few minutes.

Enjoy!