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 bread 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
- Homemade Hawaiian Sandwich 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 1/2 cups Bread Flour
- 2 cups Old fashioned rolled oats reserve some to top bread with
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup milk 2% of 1%
- 1/2 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 forms.
- Scrape sticky dough onto a lightly floured surface (whole wheat flour). Gently knead with your hands until dough is still a little sticky, but able to be formed. Form into a large ball and place into a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap 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.
- Generously grease the sides and bottom of a loaf pan. Use butter or crisco because an oil will simply fall to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the dough has doubled gently "punch down" (deflate) the dough. The dough will still be a little sticky, so you may want to either lightly flour your hands with whole wheat flour or wet them with water. Flatten the dough in the bowl, then fold up the bottom half of the dough to the center. Then fold down the top half to the center and take a piece of the sides of the dough and fold into the center.
- Gently add the dough to the loaf pan by flipping it so that folded side is down, and smooth side is facing up. Gently place a linen towel over bread and let rise for another 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle a few oats on top of the loaf and then add it to the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top of the loaf is a deep golden brown.
- 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
I may be overthinking this. Is the butter just used cold? Or is it softened or melted?
Not overthinking at all! My mistake for not including it in the recipe card - it should be mostly melted and cooled.
Hi! I’m wanting to try out this recipe but we only have instant yeast on hand. Would this change the amount? Thanks!
Hi Courtney! No problem at all! You can actually just skip the 10 minutes to activate the yeast and just mix in the flours!
How should I store this bread after I have sliced into it? How long is it good for?
Hi Ruth! It's best to store the bread in a cool dry place and to keep it nice and soft, store it in an air tight plastic bag. It's best for about 3-4 days. But I also like to pre-slice it and then store it in the freezer and just take out the slices that I want when I want them. In the freezer it will be good for up to 3 months! Enjoy!
I used to be a bread baker in a tiny health food store back in my college days. That's where I first made oat bread and I must say it was my favorite to make AND to eat. Your recipe...I completely love! The ingredient list is simple and pretty much all you need for perfect bread every time. Thanks for sharing this beauty!
What a FUN college job!! Although if that were me- it would have been the Freshman 35! ;P