How to Make Whole Wheat Bread Tutorial
ByBesides making Sourdough Bread, this is my favorite, simple 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe. This recipe makes two loaves. (I always double it for my family, so if the pictures in this tutorial look like twice the amount, that’s because it is.)
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
6 cups (give or take) whole wheat flour, divided
1 ¾ cups warm water, divided
1/3 cup honey
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons melted butter
Mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour with 1 ½ cups of warm water in a large glass bowl. Allow this to sit for about 30 minutes. This will break down the gluten and help the bread to rise better.
In a small bowl mix together ¼ cup water, 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast and 1/3 cup honey. Allow this to sit for about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and mixture becomes bubbly.
In the meantime, melt 3 Tablespoons butter in a small sauce pan. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You don’t want the hot butter to kill the yeast.
Add 1 teaspoon salt, melted butter and yeast mixture to the flour and water mixture. Gradually add the remaining three cups of flour and stir well. As the dough becomes harder to stir, pour it out onto a clean counter and begin to knead the dough. If you create a nice dough before adding all three cups of flour…you don’t need to continue to add it in. Just add enough to make a nice, non-sticky dough.
Here’s a video to show you how to knead the dough. Two things: 1) I was having a freaked out hair day. So glad I could share it with you. 2) I’m pretty sure “wetter” is not a real word, yet I use that word toward the end of the video. I are sorry.
Don’t you love how I “spank” the dough at the end of the clip? There’s something very gratifying about giving the dough a nice “spank”. You should try it sometime.
Once you’ve kneaded your dough, place it into a bowl to rise.
Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise for at least one hour or until it has risen to twice it’s starting size.
While you’re waiting for your dough to rise, get your bread pans buttered. You can also do some laundry, wash some dishes, or clean the bread dough out from under your fingernails.
There it is…doubled up.
Give the raised dough a nice punch.
(Punching? Spanking? Who knew making bread was so violent in nature?)
Using a floured hand, pull the dough out of the bowl onto the counter.
Knead for three or four minutes until the air bubbles are all gone.
Now you can watch how I shape my dough into loaves before baking. Again…more spanking…
Cover and allow 30 minutes to one hour to rise again. They should double in size, but the rising should happen more quickly this time because the yeast knows what to do by now.
See here how the loaves have doubled in size?
Bake the bread uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when you thump the top of it. (Great. Spanking, punching and thumping. I am really a bad influence.)
Allow the bread to cool in the pans for 10 minutes,
then remove it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
The bread slices more easily after it’s cooled. However…it’s awfully hard to wait…and bread fresh out of the oven slathered in butter is really, really good. I say go for it.
A few notes:
- Making bread from start to finish takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Most of that time is waiting and baking time…but if you plan to make bread, you should block out an entire morning or afternoon.
- If your water or butter is too cold or too hot, it will kill the yeast. If you can put your (clean) finger in the water or butter and it doesn’t burn you, but just feels warm… you’ve got the right temperature.
- If the dough in your bowl has risen to double and suddenly you need to nurse the baby or wash cottage cheese out from between your toddler’s toes…just go punch down your dough and let it rise again before you shape it. It won’t hurt anything.
- If you want to shape your dough into loaves, but bake them later: Shape your loaves then put them directly into the freezer before they have a chance to rise. Allow them to sit in buttered loaf pans for several hours (or overnight) so that they can thaw and rise before baking.
- Many of you have asked if I have a bread machine. I don’t, so I’m sorry I am not able to answer your questions about them. I’m assuming this recipe would work in a machine, but I don’t know. Maybe some of you with bread machines can chime in on this?
Click here to read through posts describing and explaining grains, grain mills and grinding flour!
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Haha! I think you have my same 2 glass loaf pans. I used to wish i had new ones but I love my one skinnier loaf and one fatter!
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I just found your site and am LOVING it! I’ve made the pizza pockets and now this bread. We just almost ate a whole loaf right out of the oven. So yummy! Thanks for sharing!
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So when you double it do you double the yeast? This is a question I have always had about doubling bread recipies do you double the yeast or do you not?
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Cassandra Reply:
September 21st, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Yes. Definitely, *definitely* double the yeast as well. The poor little guys have twice as much work to do now!
But seriously, if you don’t, your loaves will be dense as anything. :P
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What is the difference in baking in a stoneware vs. glass loaf pan? Do you have a preference? I need to buy a few pans as I only have 1 metal pan. My girls don’t like the crust really hard and crunchy.
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Laura Reply:
October 2nd, 2010 at 5:28 pm
I like baking in stones better…I have no idea why! I think stones make the crust less crunchy, although I think it is similar in glass.
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if you half/double the recipe do you half/double the bake time? pardon me, i am a novice :]
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Laura Reply:
October 2nd, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Nope, keep the time the same if you half the recipe. :)
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Can instant yeast be used for making bread? The package instructions say it can be directly mixed with flour. I am a bit confused? Never baked breads before. Should I reconstitute in warm water first like normal yeast? Please help me.
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Laura Reply:
October 11th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
I think that the yeast I use is actually the instant also, but I still activate it in the honey/water because I like the result. I suppose you wouldn’t have to though!
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Christy Reply:
October 29th, 2010 at 5:12 am
She is correct. You don’t have to activate it ahead of time. I use instant yeast all the time for making bread. Just throw it in with the flour, and it’ll be fine. Happy baking!
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Britney Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
The directions on my instant dry yeast say to avoid direct contact
with cold water and to stir with flour for 30 seconds.
Will stiring it in with warm water and honey cause problems?
I’d like to follow your recipe exactly because my dough seems so dense
and small. Not nearly as satisfying to spank! :)
p.s. LOVING your website. I know I’ll be here often.
Laura Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
I really think the warm water/honey will be fine. It really is nice to spank the dough. :)
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When I made this bread for the first time (actually this was the first bread I made ever) it turned out ok but it seems very “grainey” do you have any suggestions? Is it maybe the wheat I’m buying? I’m going to try it with whole white wheat this time….do you know if I could put the wheat flour in the blender to maybe not make it so grainey? And I just love your website, it has encouraged me to make more “homemade” items. You are really a BLESSING in my life! Thank you! ;o)
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Laura Reply:
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:52 am
Well, when I grind my own flour, it does get pretty fine. You could try the blender idea. And YES, do try using white whole wheat (instead of red) to see if that makes a difference. We love white wheat so much better than red wheat!
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Twila Reply:
December 19th, 2010 at 7:48 am
Okay, I bought a used wheat grinder awhile back. And I must admit that although I cook and bake quite a bit, I’ve never used it. I feel stumped knowing how to. White wheat, red wheat, soft wheat, hard wheat. I just don’t know where to start. I decided I MUST get unstuck. SO, can you tell me about wheat grinding. Are there any tricks or differences in used regular store bought flour and grinding your own? Does it really matter if it’s red, white, soft, hard etc?
As I have looked through your recipes (which look great!) I haven’t seen where you have used the flour within 10-12hrs…I thought that was important for the nutrients. As you can see I am full of questions. If you know of a good site, cookbook etc that would better get me started, that would be appreciated as well.
Blessings,
Twila
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Laura Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
I don’t always use my ground flour within 12 hours, but I freeze what we have leftover to have available for quick recipes. As far as your other questions go, you might find these posts helpful: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/grains-and-grain-mills
whew! i have been trying to make this since i posted the last time (oct 1st)
the only thing i have trouble with is getting the dough to rise the SECOND time in the loaf pans. isn’t that strange? is there a reason for this or do i just need to work at it more? after all i have never made bread before this.
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Laura Reply:
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:51 am
Hmm, I’m not sure why it wouldn’t rise in the pans if it already rose in the bowl. Have you tried putting the pans in a warm place? I’ve even heard of putting a cloth over a heating pad and setting your loaf pans there to get the rising to happen.
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Sheri Reply:
December 16th, 2010 at 8:38 am
One thing I do in the winter to help the yeast is turn the oven on to “warm” for a few minutes, turn it off, then let my bread rise inside the warm oven. Works like a charm. :)
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Shelley Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 11:47 am
I have this cool (warm) wood stove that we heat our home with in the
winter. I place a couple pans upside down on the top on the wood stove and then put
the bowl of dough or bread pans with dough to rise on there…covered with
the towel. Dough in bowl usually rises in 40 minutes and dough in bread pans
30 minutes. In the summer I bring dough to rise to the warmest place in my home.
Warm is good! Great website and good humor, Laura!!
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Cindy Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
I also let my bread, pizza dough, everything rise in a warm oven. It works better there than anywhere.
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Well thanks to Glenn Beck we tried making our own wheat bread turned out great. We grind our own wheat stifted it and then made the bread by your recipe Love it.Great with honey butter. neighbors love it too.Will be making more for Thanksgiving Dinner. Thanks for your tips.
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I just wanted to share that I did a price analysis on homemade vs. store bought bread. According to this recipe and azure standard prices for all organic ingredients except the water (and the butter isn’t organic in this pricing, but my local health food store sells the organic butter cheaper than $4!), the total per loaf comes to $1.19. That’s $2.46 less than the leading Rudi’s Organic Sweet Whole Wheat bread.
You can save almost $15 on 6 loaves of bread. Plus your homemade bread is much tastier.
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Could this recipe be modified for use in a bread machine? I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and can not knead the dough by hand.
Cammie
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Laura Reply:
November 29th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I would imagine so, but I really have no idea because I’ve never ventured into learning a bread machine.
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McKinsey Reply:
December 6th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Cammie, if you have a kitchen aid mixer you could use the dough hook and knead it with that.
I have great results that way!
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victoria Reply:
March 26th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
@McKinsey, can you give a little more detail about using this
recipe with a Kitchen Aid?
@Laura, awesome site! I have 3 boys (5, 5, & 2) so being in the
kitchen alot is a must lol as i am sure you know :) I enjoy reading
your tips & ideas. Thanks so much for sharing your information,
ideas, & recipes with us.
Shelley Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Hi! I have made lots of bread in my machine…then my machine broke and
I found Laura’s recipes. Just find your machine’s cook book and add
the ingredients in the order that it calls. 6 cups of flour will fit
in the machine to make dough and then divide to rise and bake in pans.
You can cut this recipe in half and bake the bread in the machine.
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Made this a few days ago and it is the best homemade bread that I’ve every made. I’ve tried a lot of recipes and finally resulted to buying my bread at a local bakery for $5 a loaf. The ingredients listed on the package are the exact ingredients you use. I won’t be needin’ to buy that $5 bread anymore because this is even better! I’m making another batch as we speak (for the freezer!)
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Speaking of freezing….do you freeze your bread after you’ve cooked it and does it still taste the same???
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Laura Reply:
December 9th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Yes, sometimes I freeze it after it’s baked and cooled. It’s not quite as good as when it’s fresh, but it works pretty well!
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When increasing recipe & need to bake in 2 batches how to bake 1 batch without 2nd over rising in pans?
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Laura Reply:
December 27th, 2010 at 10:55 am
I’m not sure if I’m understanding your question correctly, so forgive me if I don’t answer correctly. When I double the recipe, I just use four baking pans and bake it all at once. I have a large bowl to mix up the double batch in. I just do two batches at once.
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I see that no gluten has been added to your recipe. I just got a grinder for Christmas (wa-hooooo!) and was told by a friend that you need to add gluten flour when grinding your own white wheat. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I made cinnamon rolls after I opended my grinder and they did seem less flakey or stretchy than usual. Anyway I just want to thank you as well because you are totally the reason that I know anything about grinding your own wheat! I even e-mailed my husband that letter you wrote. And then he got me the grinder! And then I made his favorite cinnamon rolls!! How awesome is that?! You rock!
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Laura Reply:
December 27th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Yes, many do add gluten to their recipe but I’ve never needed to. I let my flour sit in the bowl mixed with water for a half hour or so which helps release the gluten naturally. You can try that (as explained in this recipe) and if that doesn’t work, maybe your friend can tell you how much gluten she adds?? CONGRATS on receiving a grain mill!!!! Very exciting!
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Kristina Reply:
December 28th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Ah-ha! I used soft white rather than hard white! That must be the problem! Thanks again- i’ll keep working at it until I get it right!
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Kristina,
I’ve been baking bread for over 5 years now, and this is the best bread I’ve ever made. I’ve added gluten to recipes and have not gotten the consistency I did with this bread. I did let my flour sit in the bowl (hard red spring, fresh ground) for over an hour, as my 3 yo and 4 month old kept me distracted. My husband declared that it was just as good if not better than store bought bread.
I use a Bosch mixer for my kneading.
Twila,
Soft wheats give you more of a store bought flour (reg flour with all the nutrients still in). Hard wheats have higher gluten content which is better for bread making. If you want to make a cake, use soft wheat…. bread use hard wheat. Red wheat is a richer heartier wheat flavor… Montana gold is a much lighter flavor. Hope this helps.
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Laura, thanks so much for the videos! I have been making bread for awhile and I make really nice bricks which my poor family then eats. I have made beautiful bread once but apparently it was a fluke.
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Even with your fabulous videos my bread didn’t turn out well. Everything looked great when I put it into the oven but after a few minutes, the top caved in. It took longer to rise than you recommended so I just left it until it doubled in size before baking it. Any hints as to what I might have done wrong?
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Laura Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Aw, bummer. :( I can’t be sure, but I think what may have happened is that the bread rose a bit TOO long after you shaped the loaves and before it went into the oven. When I have forgotten my bread and let it rise too long, it’s like it forms a big air bubble inside and it POPS once it’s in the oven, causing it to cave in.
SO, it sounds like you did everything right, but it just rose a little bit too long. Try again…you’re so close!!!
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Veee Schenk Reply:
January 20th, 2011 at 9:37 am
Thank you so much for responding to me. That makes sense. I think I’ll try my smaller (8.5″ X 4.5″) pans. Then I’ll see it crest above the pans and won’t wait too long. With the larger pans (9.5″ X 5.5″) it was still flat and below the rim so I waited for it to get higher. I do want to say that it smelled heavenly while baking, my husband even said so, and it tastes very good. So I’ll be trying it again soon.
Thanks again.
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Morgan@ Real Women Cook Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
I did that before and it was a salt issue. Make sure you are adding enough salt..
Can I freeze the finished loaf? Also I am slow so is the above recipe good for two loafs or one? Thank you!
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Laura Reply:
January 25th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Yes, I freeze mine in ziplock freezer bags. This recipe makes two loaves.
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So I am currently attempting this bread right now. I just put it in for its first rising, but I am not hopefully. My dough was WAY too dry so I add a bit of water and then kneeded it and it was rock hard. Almost impossible to kneed. Is it possible that this recipe has to have fresh ground wheat???
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Laura Reply:
January 25th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
I think maybe that since you’re using store bought flour, you might just need to use less than the recipe calls for. I should have specified that in the directions!
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Awesome! I am eating a slice fresh out of the oven as I type and it was so worth the wait! I had a little trouble in the begining,the dough got pretty stiff before I got all 6 cups of flour in and it took FOREVER to rise the first time, but once I put it on top of our wood stove it doubled very quickly. Excellent recipe. I don’t think I will be going back to store bought!
I love this blog by the way. Youre an amazing woman Laura thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge!
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I am currently on my third try at the bread recipe in the last 24 hours…it just is not looking or feeling correct. From the video it looks like your dough is very “doughy” and easy to work with – much like pizza dough. Mine on the other hand is rock hard. It lumps and crumbles and doesn’t want to rise. When I punch it out, it is like hitting a ball of solid play dough – not bread dough. I have the 3rd round in a warm oven trying to get it to rise in the pans before baking. Any suggestions? I am getting a little silly trying to figure this out! smiles!
Could my flour be too course? It is store bought 100% Whole wheat (stone ground) it just won’t plump and the baked loaves are like super dense – not like a homemade loaf of sliced bread. more like a baguette. Thanks!
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Morgan Reply:
January 23rd, 2011 at 10:33 pm
How are you measuring your flour? If you are scooping it with the same
cup you are measuring with or lightly scooping with a spoon to fill the
measuring cup? There is a big difference in the amount of flour you get..
You want to lightly scoop with a spoon and fill the measuring cup so that
its not packed down.
Hope this helps, when I am feeling like being lazy and scoop measuring
I get dense loafs due to too much flour.
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McKinsey Reply:
March 27th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Kandice,
I have found if you add too much flour you will get a very heavy loaf. Just
because it calls for 6 cups doesn’t mean you need that much. You might only
need 5 1/2 cups or a bit more. I will add up to five and then a little bit
until it gets the right consistency. Keep trying!
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So the first time I made this I made one giant loaf and it was very dense! lol
Today I made it with a few changes since I was using store bought flour
I added an extra 1/4 tsp yeast and another 1/4 cup water and subtracted about 1/3 cup flour.
Its turned out PERFECT!
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Hi, I was just wondering if this can be made with sprouted white wheat. I have sprouted wheat berries in my freezer that need to be ground (in my vitamix dry container). Are there any modifications when using sprouted flour? Thank so much! Blessings!
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Laura@HeavenlyHomemakers Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 11:19 am
It should be fine, although I’ve never used sprouted grains to know for sure.
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what do you, Laura, like to use this bread for? We use it for sandwiches, toast, for dinner, and it makes great bread crumbs.
Also where/how do you store your bread?
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Laura@HeavenlyHomemakers Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 11:36 am
That is exactly what we use this bread for! I store it in freezer bags in the fridge.
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Help! I am attempting to make bread for THE VERY FIRST TIME since we are snowed in and almost out of bread! But I just remembered I am OUT of honey! (Used the last of it to make applesauce bread the other day!) Will it taste okay without honey? Should I add something else?? (succanat or something?)
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Laura@HeavenlyHomemakers Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Just use sucanat instead, like you said. You need some sort of sugar otherwise the yeast won’t activate and you bread won’t rise. Sucanat should be fine, same amount as the honey called for in the recipe.
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Michelle Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 11:43 am
Thank you!!! I managed to squeeze a LITTLE bit of honey out but
will use sucanat also! Thanks again!!
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I saw where you mentioned your homemade flour was a bit more powdery so I had to make a few changes to your recipe to accommodate store bought flour.
Here is the link for those who aren’t awesome enough to make their flour.
Hope you don’t mind.
http://real-women-cook.blogspot.com/2011/02/honey-whole-wheat-bread-step-by-step.html
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I’m wondering how long does this keep in the fridge or on the counter? I have little guys so we probably wouldn’t consume a whole loaf in a day. Is it still good a day or 2 later? And best kept in fridge or on counter? I am normally one to shy away from bread/dough making (my husband actually loves to do that kind of stuff, but he’s been swamped with work lately), but your website is inspiring me that I CAN do this kind of stuff! (Hubby and I actually are working on finding the rennet to make our own mozzarella together!) That said, just curious about the ‘shelf life’ of this bread. Not expecting the shelf life of the store bought, chemical bread. :-) Just curious if it’s worth my time/effort to try this if it doesn’t get chowed in a day… Thanks for your time!!
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Morgan@ Real Women Cook Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
I store ours in aluminum foil, due to lack of other things, on the counter for up to a week.
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Laura Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I store mine in a ziplock freezer bag in the fridge.
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Laura Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
I should also mention that it keeps for about a week or week and a half in the fridge.
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Laura, as far as the freezing goes. Do I let them rise for the first time, then put them in the freezer before the second rise, or just put them in the freezer right off the bat? I tried this bread and it turned out perfectly! Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
February 9th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
If you want to freeze the dough and bake it later, let it rise, then shape it into loaves, then freeze right away before it can rise again.
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I’m so excited to try this, I was about to start grinding some wheat and getting out my pans. Luckily I came to my senses and realized I have to leave my house in an hour, so first thing tomorrow!
Looks like a great recipe, and the videos are super helpful. Making bread is the one baking skill I haven’t really tackled. I’ve been looking at recipes on other blogs, but every one of them involves a bread machine which I don’t have. Thanks for showing me how to do it the old fashioned way : )
By the way, I just wanted you to know that I’ve printed off far more recipes from your blog than from any other that I read. They’re all simple and tasty and perfect for our family. Thanks again!
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When I mixed the 3c. flour with 1 1/2c water it was not enough water to even make all the flour moist, much less runny like your pic looks. I am certain my measurements were acurate,I will definately have to add more water if I still need to add 3c. more flour. Has anyone else had this problem?
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Andrew Reply:
March 1st, 2011 at 2:19 pm
This website does this same recipe but with store bought flour. It worked great for me.
http://real-women-cook.blogspot.com/2011/02/honey-whole-wheat-bread-step-by-step.html
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Billy21 Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:28 pm
I also had to add more water. 1.5 cups sure not enough, I just figured to add more and add more flour if I have to at the next mix…yup not enough water. I would like to hear from someone who has tried this. Maybe it is not supposed to be soupy? Just Damp?
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Laura Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 4:24 pm
The picture there is actually of the yeast/honey/water mixture. The one above that one is of my littlest guy stirring the flour and water together, which is supposed to be damp, not runny. Sorry for the confusion! I’d say try 1 3/4 cup to 2 cups of water if your flour still is not damp enough after 1 1/2 cups.
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Billy21 Reply:
March 24th, 2011 at 3:20 am
I did add a little more, maybe hit two cups….teense more maybe
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I just made this recipe in my bread machine and it turned out beautifully! I followed Laura’s recipe amounts exactly. I added the warm water and honey first followed by the salt, flour and finally the yeast. I did add a little more water during the mixing cycle. I ran it on the dough cycle, then removed it, made two loaves, put them into buttered pans and let rise for 30 minutes. Then followed the rest of Laura’s recipe for baking at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Hope this helps anyone out there who uses a bread machine. Thanks Laura for sharing this recipe! We raise bees so I’m always looking for ways to use our honey and this is a great and healthy recipe!
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Hi,
I am new to bread making and am just curious if there is a more inexpensive place to purchase whole wheat flour in bulk, other than just buying it off the grocery store shelves?
Thanks a bunch.
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Sara B Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I contacted a local Mormon church (because they have storehouses) and I can buy 25 pounds of hard white wheat for grinding for less than 8 dollars! I am still in awe. Not sure if they sell the already ground wheat. Mine doesn’t. The wheat kernels are not organic but non GMO.
I know you were asking about flour and not kernels, but just thought I would throw that out there! :). Hope you find some!
Depends on where you live…northeast Ohio and Pennsylvania areas (some others) have Frankferd Farms and other co-ops. You can try that! My Mom buys 25 pounds of flour at a time.
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I made this a few weeks ago with store bought organic hard white wheat flour and it was so dense. I got my grain mill last week and tried this recipe again today. Oh my goodness! The difference was dramatic! I felt so successful to bake a great loaf of bread from scratch. Thank you for all your advice and great recipes.
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I think your hair looks cute in the video :) Thank you so much for taking the time to explain to us how to spank the dough :) A good way to get out our frustrations!
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I would really like to “soak” this recipe and I have 7 cups of flour left from my wheat grinding adventure, I am so excited! But I didn’t see any information on how to soak these grains. Can someone enlighten me please? :) I’d like to soak it today to make tomorrow, if possible.
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Laura Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 4:20 pm
I’ve not tried soaking this recipe. I would imagine it MIGHT work to add some buttermilk to the water and soak the grains overnight, adding the remaining ingredients the next day but I can’t say for sure!
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Rebecca Reply:
June 27th, 2011 at 8:51 am
I would be interested in knowing if you do try soaking this recipe and how it turns out.
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Thanks, this was great! My bread turned out too dense, didn’t rise enough. I am blaming me on that. I learned alot! Ground my own wheat AND for those with an apocolyptic (sp?) attitude about home storage I wanted to see if that 45 year old wheat from my parents home was edible. Yes it was. But then anything with butter is super! Made the house smell great too! thanks again!
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YES! I finally had success making bread!! Got my wheat delivered Tuesday night, ground my own flour yesterday and made 2 loaves of YUMMY bread with this recipe! SUCCESS!!!!
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Grinding my own wheat just isnt working out the dough is so hard and no soft like it should be or like it is when i use store bought flour any ideas this has been a disaster
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Laura Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Aw, sorry for the frustration! What mill are you using? Here are all my posts on grains and grain mills if that helps at all.
http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/category/grains-and-grain-mills
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Hi Laura! Just wanted to say thanks so much for this great tutorial. My husband asked me to start making our own bread this past fall so we could save a little money. I have had some success, but nothing as good as the bread we used to buy. Well, last week I made 6 loaves of your bread it was so amazingly good and healthier then the white bread I had been making. My husband & our weekend guests raved. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
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Laura,
I have a couple questions about the flour once it has been ground: 1.) How long can it sit in a container/bag before it either needs to be used or put into the freezer? 2.) When you freeze the flour, what do you store it in?
I’m totally new to this “grinding flour: thing. I’m writing from western North Carolina and the nearest grain mill that I’ve heard of is 3 hours away! Thankfully, my sweet parents went to visit my brother, who just happens to be in Seminary those three hours away, and purchased 10 lbs. of hard white wheat flour that they had ground there in the store! However, I’m worried now bc the flour was ground on Friday and mom just brought it home to me today (Tuesday). Is it “bad” now? And, am I saying it correctly, “ground”? I’m sure you’re giggling at me right now. Just wish you could hear my southern drawl! Thanks so much!
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Laura Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 1:38 am
The freshly ground flour either needs to be used right away, or put directly into the freezer. I put mine into an old ice cream bucket – works great in the freezer! Once it’s ground, even if it’s frozen, it begins to lose some of it’s nutritional value, so is best used right away if possible.
You can still use the flour you got though…the flour that can be purchased at the store is quite old and still usable.
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Kelly Johnson Reply:
April 25th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Thanks Laura for your help! I “braved up” and for the first time in my life, I made a bread recipe that required me to Knead the dough. Wow. I made your recipe for soft pretzels and they turned out great! Now, I gonna give this bread recipe a try! What a blessing you and your website have been for me and my family! God bless!
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I just pulled my first ever loaf of bread out of the oven, and I just wanted to let you know how happy I am! It seems silly to feel so accomplished for having made such a simple thing, but I’m happy so who cares :P.
I made a few little adjustments to the recipe; instead of honey I used agave nectar, and instead of butter I used applesauce (I wanted it to be vegan), and despite being a little dense, it’s delicious!
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This is the best bread I have ever had! Usually, it takes my family of 4 adults almost 2 weeks to go through a loaf of store bought bread. I started making your recipe, and have to make at least 2 loaves to last the week!
And thank you so much for making a video on kneading. My first two loaves turned out well, but I felt like I didn’t do it quite right…watched the video, and the bread since has been even better-much nicer loaves!
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I am so excited to try this today. Thanks to the poster who tried it in her breadmaker. We’ll be trying it with white whole wheat today, as that is what I have in the freezer. My husband is joking that he will hang out by the stove waiting for this to come out.
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I love your post on bread! I am contemplating the idea of trying out bread making (as I’ve made my own pizza dough in the past – but with regular white flour). We don’t do much dairy over here for allergy reasons, so can the butter just be substituted out for olive oil? I assume so, but it never hurts to ask! :)
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Laura Reply:
June 14th, 2011 at 6:51 am
Yes, olive oil would work just fine!
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Jamie Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 2:02 pm
So I made the bread, it tastes awesome!!!, but I do have questions. :)
My bread was SO short! Maybe only 2 inches high. It seemed like it had a nice texture, so I didn’t think it was an issue of rising, but maybe? How tall are your loaves when they are done baking? I’d love to have actual sandwich size loaves if possible. This maybe be a dumb question, but if I simply had more dough in each pan, would that make them higher, or would that cause baking issues?
My yeast didn’t actually bubble in the warm water and honey. Against what I thought was my better judgment, I went ahead with the bread, and much to mys surprise the dough did rise, each time. But I’m wondering if it didn’t rise enough or that was maybe the cause of my ver short loaves.
So any way to get a taller, more square loaf of bread? And any idea why the yeast didin’t bubble, but it did rise?
Thanks!
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I hadn’t gotten a reply to my comment, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to post my question again in the hopes that you’ll have an answer for me! :)
“So I made the bread, it tastes awesome!!!, but I do have questions. :)
My bread was SO short! Maybe only 2 inches high. It seemed like it had a nice texture, so I didn’t think it was an issue of rising, but maybe? How tall are your loaves when they are done baking? I’d love to have actual sandwich size loaves if possible. This maybe be a dumb question, but if I simply had more dough in each pan, would that make them higher, or would that cause baking issues?
My yeast didn’t actually bubble in the warm water and honey. Against what I thought was my better judgment, I went ahead with the bread, and much to mys surprise the dough did rise, each time. But I’m wondering if it didn’t rise enough or that was maybe the cause of my ver short loaves.
So any way to get a taller, more square loaf of bread? And any idea why the yeast didin’t bubble, but it did rise?
Thanks!”
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Laura Reply:
June 30th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Sorry, I just get a ton of emails and comments with questions so I have a terrible time keeping up and answering within a good time frame!
Since the honey and yeast and water mixture didn’t bubble, it leads me to think that your yeast wasn’t activated well. Although, if the dough rose…
Did it rise again in the pans after you shaped the loaves? It actually could be that it rose TOO much, then “popped” and sunk down to make a shorter loaf?
How many loaves did you make – this recipe should make two loaves. Maybe you just didn’t have enough dough in your pans?
Sorry for all the guesses – it’s always hard to know without seeing it myself!
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Jamie Reply:
July 12th, 2011 at 5:44 am
That’s okay, I understand! You finally replied and then I got busy and didn’t reply to you. So the dough rose twice, both in the bowl and in the pans. I might have let the dough rise a little longer in the bowl, but I was conscious of not letting it over rise in the pan because of troubles another commenter had. So I don’t think over rising would have been a problem since I let it rise for a little less time than you recommended in the pan – although who knows. But it did rise in the pan, to probably not quite double in size.
So I guess what I’m wondering is if you think it is more likely that I, for some reason, had less quantity of dough than you normally do, and it is just an issue of I need a little bit more in the pan (btw, I did bake two loaves), or if you think it is a yeast/rising issues since my yeast/honey mixture didn’t bubble (even though the dough did rise twice). I for sure need to bake bread again, but I’ve been hesitant since I didn’t know what went wrong last time.
Any and all thoughts/comments/suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!
And again, the bread was delicious, even if it was a short, stumpy loaf.
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Jamie Reply:
July 12th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Eeek! I wish I had you on speed dial right now! I am in the middle of baking bread again, and I did a test batch of the yeast, to make sure it was working. (warm water, yeast, 1 tsp of sugar) That bubbled up just BEAUTIFULLY! So I thought this is it! Then I go to make my actual yeast mixture with the water, yeast and honey and that has not done a darn thing. I keep peeking over at it to see if it’s gotten foamy, and it hasn’t. Now I’m wondering if I should use my dud yeast/honey mixture, or if I could use my yeast/sugar mixture and then just add some honey into the bread while mixing. Any idea??
Thanks!
Laura Reply:
August 13th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Weird, I have no idea what may have happened to it. :( Any chance the water was hot and killed the yeast?
Can you bake it not in a pan but on a baking stone?
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Laura Reply:
July 7th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Sure, that should work!
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My husband made this today and it is SO good! We just got a grain mill and used it for the first time (with hard white wheat). We will be making this over and over again. I’m going to try your pizza dough next! Thanks so much! :)
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Hi Laura,
I tried your cinnamon roll recipe for a potluck and it turned out very well!! I was my first time making cinnamon rolls. So I am really happy that I found your website!
I also started to make my own bread recently. I saw the whole wheat bread recipe and it looks very nice! Just have one question about the recipe. Is it possible to add some seeds or oat in the recipe? If yes, do I need to reduce the amount of flour or I should add some more liquid ingredients?
Hope to get your reply and thanks a lot again for the recipes and the little stories about your family. I really enjoy reading it! :)
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Laura Reply:
July 17th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
Yay for you and the cinnamon rolls!! :)
Yes, you can add seeds or oats – I wouldn’t think you’ll need to cut down the flour much. But, what you could do so that you know how much you’ll need: add just part of the flour, then add the oats and/or seeds that you want…then add the remaining amount of flour or however much you need to complete the dough. Does that make sense??
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This is absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for sharing! I will try adding herbs, garlic, and other arromatics to enhance your whole wheat glory!
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