This Whole Wheat Honey Oat Bread is the perfect healthy, hearty, sandwich bread and easy enough for any new bread baker to make!
Haaapppyyyy New Year, friends! How's everyone doing with their resolutions so far into this first week of the New Year? Although I didn't really set any this year, after the success of this Whole Wheat Honey Oat Bread, I'm taking that as a hint that I need to resolve to make more breads and add more gluten to my New Year! 😉
My husband is usually the bread baker in our house. He's the Dan behind Dan's Como Bread. He knows all about hydration levels and proper kneading techniques, etc. I, on the other hand, I've got our No Knead Rosemary Garlic Bread and No Knead NY Deli Rye Bread down. Can you guess why? That's right. I'm a lazy bread maker. I will eat the hell out of all of the delicious and complex breads my husband will make, but when it comes to making it? I leave that to him. That's why I love this recipe so much. It's practically a no knead recipe.
Ingredients Needed
- Flours - A mixture of Bread flour and Whole Wheat Flour. We love Bob's Red Mill flours.
- Active Yeast - You could also use instant yeast, it will activate much faster.
- Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - Be sure that they are old fashioned, instant oats wont work for this one.
- Milk - We use 2% but you could also use 1%.
- Honey - To add the sweetness!
- Butter - Unsalted. But you can also use salted if that's all you have and then just reduce the salt in the recipe by just a touch.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Prep your dry ingredients in a large bowl and then add your activate your yeast by adding warm milk, honey, and water in a bowl of a stand mixer.
Step 2: Pop that dough hook on and put that baby to use and let it do the kneading.
You can knead this by hand, but of course that just takes more work.
Step 3: Let your dough proof in a large bowl.
Step 4: Add dough to a well greased loaf pan and then let it rise again in the loaf pan and sprinkle on a few more oats.
Step 5: Bake!
This bread is the perfect sandwich bread. It's a little dense and has a nice soft chewy center with just a touch of sweetness from the honey.
It's our new go-to sandwich bread! Simple, fast, and easy enough for this lazy bread baker to make!
Our Other Favorite Homemade Breads
- Dan's Como Bread
- English Muffins From Scratch
- Copycat Dave's Killer Bread
- No Knead Rosemary Garlic Bread
- Easy White Sandwich Bread
- Easy Dinner Rolls From Scratch
- Easy Crusty French Baguette
Happy New Year of more fresh baked bread, friends! If you decide to give this recipe a try, be sure to share it with me on Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram!
Whole Wheat Honey Oat Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 3/4 cups Bread Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Old fashioned rolled oats reserve some to top bread with
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup milk 2% of 1%
- 1 cup water
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant
- 3 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Heat milk and water in microwave for 45 seconds. Add to bowl of a stand mixer with honey and then sprinkle yeast on top. Let sit for 10 minutes until yeast activates (becomes foamy). If using instant yeast, this will only be a couple of minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix flours, salt, and oats together in a large bowl and melt butter. You want the butter to be slightly cooled when adding to the dough.
- Once yeast has activated, add butter to mixer bowl and with the dough hook attachment, beat on medium low. Slowly add flour and oats mixture and beat until a sticky dough ball forms.
- In a lightly greased large bowl, add the dough ball. Cover with a linen towel and let rise until doubled (about an hour). If your house is cold and your oven has a "proof" setting, this works well too.
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Once the dough has doubled gently "punch down" (deflate) the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured countertop. Don't worry about kneading the dough, now it's time to just shape it. Flatten dough into a large rectangle and then fold the sides up into itself then roll the end closest to you away from you, rolling your dough up into a log.
- Shape the dough by first flattening it into a large rectangle. Take the ends and fold them in towards the center of the rectangle, but not so much that they meet in the center. Turn down the top part of the dough onto the turned edges and then the bottom. Flip over and give a quick roll so you have a large log.
- Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan and add the dough with the folded edges down. Gently cover with a linen towel and do one final rise for 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle the reserved oats on top of the loaf and then add to oven, middle rack. Bake for 35-40 minutes, but check at 30. You want the dough to be nicely browned, but be careful that it doesn't burn.
- Remove from oven. Gently transfer to a cooling rack. You can check to see if it is done by giving the bottom of the loaf a thump with your thumb. If it sounds hollow, it's done. You could also use a thermometer and check for an internal temperature of 190° F.
- Let the dough cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Cutting it beforehand could make your center gummy. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Adapted from Girl vs. Dough
