One of my favorite guilty pleasures is enjoying bread when it’s fresh out of the oven. Butter melting into the warm bread and the steam releasing as you slice it – it’s heavenly. This Homemade Honey Wheat Bread is hearty with a slightly sweet touch. It makes your kitchen smell divine and it’s entirely worth the effort of working with yeast. My family loves this Honey Wheat Bread recipe (and get upset when I always get the first bite out of the oven).

Bread making gets a bad reputation because people think they don’t have the skills to make homemade bread. I don’t think that’s true at all! People don’t have the patience to make homemade bread. There’s a big difference.

Like any yeast bread recipe, there are multiple steps and it’s a long process from start to finish (with rising times). The steps themselves aren’t too complicated though. The payoff is worth the effort and you’ll get two huge loaves of honey wheat bread to enjoy.

We use it for sandwiches or make toast. I’ve also served one loaf and froze the other. You never know when you’re going to need bread and keeping a loaf in the freezer is a great idea in case of an emergency. Just fair warning, once you try this Honey Wheat Bread you may have a difficult time eating sandwiches on normal grocery store sliced bread.

Want to try even more bread recipes? Here are a few that our family loves to make all year round:

• Homemade No Knead Yeast Rolls
• Molasses Oat Bread
• Cranberry Orange Bread

How To Make Homemade Honey Wheat Bread

For this recipe, you’ll need two 9.5×5-inch bread loaf pans. I also recommend a liquid food thermometer that you can clip onto the side of a deep pot. You’ll be heating liquid to an exact temperature to activate the yeast. Lastly, you’ll want a warm spot to let your bread rise – if it’s the summertime that might be outside or find a warm spot if you’re making bread in the wintertime.

When To Make Honey Wheat Bread

I know homemade bread is a treat and a luxury for most people because it’s so time-consuming to make. So I like to make my Honey Wheat Bread when our family is home to enjoy it the most. Use it for toast, sandwiches or add slices to your bread basket at dinnertime. Lastly, you can make croutons with it for salads!

How To Keep Your Bread Fresh After Baking

Once your bread has baked and cooled, cover it in plastic wrap. That’s all you really need, but I like to go a step further and do aluminum foil over the top of that. Wrap it enough that there aren’t any opening where air can escape through.

Can You Freeze Your Honey Wheat Bread?

Yes! I love to freeze a loaf of Honey Wheat Bread because this recipe makes two loaves. Once you’ve wrapped your bread (following the directions above), just place one in the freezer. The bread can be frozen for up to three months. Let it thaw to room temperature, on the countertop, before enjoying. I freeze loaves in case of emergency. It’s great to use when the grocery stores are out of bread for snowstorms or hurricane season.

Recipe Substitutions

Use any type of honey that you’d like, but I use a locally sourced honey which has greater health benefits. If you’d like to use all wheat flour, instead of mixing wheat with all-purpose, you can do that. Additionally, other milks (like almond or oat milk) can be used to replace the 2% milk.

What You’ll Need From The Store:

• All-Purpose Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Active Dry Yeast
• 2% Milk
• Honey
• Unsalted Butter
• Salt

Tips For Making Homemade Yeast Bread

Yeast breads can be intimidating, but with a few simple Homemade Yeast Bread Tips, you can troubleshoot your way to amazing oven-fresh bread. My biggest tip is ensure you’re using fresh yeast that isn’t out of date and you’re warming your liquid to the correct temperature to ensure you are activating the yeast.

Directions To Make Honey Wheat Bread

In a bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour and yeast.

In a saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, butter and salt to 120-130ºF. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture.

Blend, with your hands, until moistened for about 3 minutes. Gradually stir in remaining whole wheat flour and enough of the remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Punch dough down. Shape into two loaves; place in greased 9×5-inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Bake until browned, 40-45 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.