Simple Whole Wheat Bread
This easy one-rise bread is ready in 90 minutes! It’s soft and perfect for French toast and sandwiches. I also use it to make rolls. Make sure the egg and oil are at room temperature and be sure to aerate your flour before measuring. No mixer? Just mix it in a bowl by hand but knead longer, about 150 turns. (This recipe also works with all white flour) - Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Makes: One loaf
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (260 gms) whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup (65 gms) bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (1 packet / 7 grams) instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
- 2 Tablespoons sugar (or honey but add honey after the milk)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240 mL) 1% milk, heated to 120-130° F for instant yeast (or 110-120°F for active dry)
- 2 Tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil (or any vegetable oil)
- 1 egg
- about 1/4 cup additional bread flour
Instructions:
- Place flours, yeast, sugar & salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir in milk, followed by oil and egg.
- Beat on high for 2 minutes.
- On low speed add about 1/4 cup bread flour until dough forms a mass.
- Place dough on floured surface and knead 50 turns.
- Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
- Shape dough into a loaf and place in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4-inch loaf pan.
- Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm spot until it’s one inch taller than the pan, about 35 minutes.
- Meantime, preheat oven to 375° F.
- Bake for 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, I cover the top of the loaf with a foil tent to prevent over-browning.
- Remove immediately from pan onto a cooling rack. Let it cool at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Problems with this recipe? Click here.
Want to Eliminate the Egg? Try my easy honey wheat bread.
Prefer Rolls? Click here for the recipe.
Want Sandwich Buns? Click here.
I decided to try your whole wheat bread recipe today. Though it didn’t rise as high as yours, even though I left 40 minutes instead of 35. In the end the finished product was more dense than yours, but very flavorful. It was my first time with this recipe, so feel the results will improve when I make my next loaf. However, do you have any suggestions that might help me for the next time?
Next time, leave it to rise until it’s one inch taller than the pan, no matter how long it takes. Good luck!
Before cooking the Wheat Bread I wanted to make sure there was not a typo. The ingredients call for 2 teaspoons of instant yeast, most all your other breads call for 1/4 teaspoon, are 2 teaspoons correct?
The recipe is correct as written.
Is there a nutrition list for this bread recipe?
Tweaked it twice – first time replaced granulated sugar with brown, second time replaced granulated sugar with molasses. Also used the next size larger loaf pan. Great results. The original recipe is wonderfully basic which makes it quite adaptable to a few nips and tucks. I’ve been baking bread since my children were little – some 60 years ago. Finding a new, truly excellent recipe such as this is a joy. Thank you!
I loved the bread, came out exactly and seems quite foriving. Thankyou so much for teaching us how to bake without fuss!!
awesome,
S.
My husband gave it a 👍🏽, so this will be my go to recipe for whole wheat bread.
Jenny – I found your video online yesterday and tried this today (which was also the maiden voyage of my new KitchenAid stand mixer). As fate would have it, I was called away just as I started the 35 minute rise, so I put it (covered) in the refrigerator for 4 hours. It rose perfectly and baked up beautifully! So many thanks for this very forgiving bread. I’ll never go back to store-bought!
This recipe is fantastic – have tried it several times this month and has turned out great every time! The only time it didn’t, realised I’d forgotten to add the oil but it was still edible, just a little holy.
Thanks for sharing your bread recipes, Jenny, so good and v reliable indeed.
Can I double this?
Nevermind lol…I already asked this in November hahaha.
Why the egg? Thats not healthy. One yolk has the day’s supply of cholesterol. I left it out and it turned out fine. It also turned out well by substituting water for the milk.
Egg yolks contain cholesterol but do not raise serum cholesterol, which is why I don’t hesitate to use them.
And eggs have the healthy cholesterol!
Delicious bread! Thank you Jenny!
I think you are wonderful! I love your sense of humor. I just watched, again, your video of the easy bread and I love the part where you talked about the bread being so forgiving, unlike some people you know. LOL.
I think is rude of people making comments about this or that, that this is unhealthy and stuff. Continue to do your marvelous videos and I will be here supporting your wonderful work by watching you on YouTube.
Blessings of health, love and joy to you and yours.
BTW, I am making your easy bread. It’s rising now. Can’t wait to try it with the Zuppa Toscana I am making it tonight!
You took the words right out of my mouth. Thanks for beating me to it.
In my humble opinion, if people want to tweak a recipe or want to believe that eggs, butter, salt or what-have-yous are bad… then don’t flippin eat them. If they don’t like the recipe… wonder your happy fingers on to another page and be quiet. There’s no need to say anything. Are they expecting an award? A thumbs up? Recognition? I see it time & time again and it’s super annoying. …. “let’s make bread without flour… it makes people fat.” 🤪.
You do you, Jenny. The rest of us that actually love cooking & know why a certain ingredient is added/needed, will continue to watch.
The bread was dense and it stuck to the nonstick pan, it looked beautiful though
What can you use if you don’t have a thermometer (for milk)? Is there some trick or tip?
Did you look at the FAQs? https://www.jennycancook.com/problems-with-yeast-baking/
Ok, so after batch #8….wait, let me back up. So #3 was delicious!!!! And all the others after that. I just couldn’t figure out WHY it wasn’t rising like yours! So while washing out my bread pan (only have the one mind you) I happened to notice the measurements. This is a larger pan! Uggghhh so, it is true they are not as puffy as yours, they all taste super d duper!!! And when I get a smaller pan I’m sure they will puff up like yours!!! This recipe is amazing!! It is so good toasted with pb&j. I’m so proud of myself! Lol (thank you!!! Btw 😉😊)
I need help!
I have made this 3 times and every single time my dough will not rise. I even bought a thermometer to be sure the milk was exactly right. I just don’t know. The yeast is in singles packets and the exp date is 8/18/2020. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I used to use regular yeast, not rapid rise–sometimes had the same problem!!–Since I went to rapid rise–it has never happened again!!!–That being said–make sure your temperatures are pretty close to what they are supposed to be–I have found by trial and error–to err on the high side–120°
Jenny, I just discovered your recipes, and I have been leaving comments everywhere. My mom taught me to cook as a girl. She was a home ec teacher. Now I love mining your wealth of recipes and baking knowledge! Thank you for all of your work!!! The videos are so helpful and fun!!! We just made the whole wheat and white bread by hand perfectly. We threw in a little grated applewood smoked cheddar, rosemary and garlic powder. I will need this bread every week. Thank you again!!
Jenny, I just discovered your recipes, and I have been leaving comments everywhere. My mom taught me to cook as a girl. She was a home ec teacher. Now I love mining your wealth of recipes and baking knowledge! Thank you for all of your work!!! The videos are so helpful and fun!!! We just made the whole wheat and white bread by hand perfectly. We threw in a little grated applewood smoked cheddar, rosemary and garlic powder. I will need this bread every week. Thank you again!
easy and awesome ………………Thank You
Hi Jenny. I feel like I know you from watching your videos. For years, I used the dough setting on a bread machine, then did the rest by hand. While making rolls for Thanksgiving, the machine broke. Thank goodness for you! I don’t need a bread machine, I just need Jenny! I made your wheat bread and it was delicious. Thanks for all you share and for being so friendly.
Can I double this recipe?
You can double any recipe. You would be making two loaves instead of one.
Hi Jenny,
well you did it again! This is the best bread recipe and easiest I have made yet.I changed just a couple of things, I used one cup white whole wheat flour and one cup AP instead of two wheat and used honey, did not use bread flour just AP flour. Thank you again for your fun videos and great recipes. You look so good for your age…I’m the same age so I can say that lol (you look better then me)
Jenny
Love your videos – you are hilarious
The recipes I’ve tried including this one are great
Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing polish recipes especially!
Is this recipe easily doubled? If so, what ingredients would you double? Thank you!!
The best bread ever. So happy I found this recipe. Thanks Jenny.
This bread is just delicious. I was less than accurate in some respects but thought I’d go ahead and see if the recipe would forgive me anyway. And it most certainly did. Can’t wait to try the rolls version….at Thanksgiving? With turkey gravy? OMG! Thanks again, Chef Jen!
Hi, Jenny,
In your video for Simple Whole Wheat Bread, you’re working on a green board of some kind. Can you tell us more about the board; it’s size and composition, and where you purchased it? LOVE your recipes and videos, thank you so much for posting!
Hi Jenny….I love your videos and your recipes! I’ve tried some of them and they’re always winners with my family. Thank you for sharing with us! 🙂
I made this last night and it was the first time I made a loaf of bread that turned out! I followed the recipe except I didn’t use honey as I didn’t have, but I am so excited that I made my first loaf! It tasted amazing and I will be making more! Thank you!!!
BADA BOOM! I am now a bread making machine!! I love this bread, letting another loaf sit right now. But, what I love more, is that this lead me to find out I LOVE BAKING STUFF! I had no idea, so thanks for “waking” it up 😀
I made this bread recipe in the afternoon and it is so good thank you to share good recipes et tutorial too very interesting
Ive made bread since i was a youngster im now an oldster. Why an egg? Can I just leave that out? Ive never put an egg in any yeast bread before only quick breads like banana bread etc. ????
I left the egg out and it turned out perfect!
This is what my man wanted. A light wheat bread for sandwiches that wasn’t heavy. We’re not buying store bread anymore since theres other ingredients and preserves added to it. This is by far the best and easiest wheat bread I have made that got my mans thumbs up approval. Thank you for sharing.
LOVE LOVE LOVE! This bread turned out beautifully. Thank you! 🙂
Omg!! Just took the bread out of the oven…couldn’t wait for it to cool off, this is the easiest, most delicious homemade bread I’ve ever to made, instead of using sugar, I used molasses. Thank you Jenny!
ooo molasses that would be good too.
I’ve tried it with white sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses and with maple syrup and all turned out great. The only addition I make to the basic recipe is that I alway add a capful of “realemon” to any and all yeast bread recipes, and have never had a failure.
I read that baking bread with a pan of water on the shelf beneath it keeps the bottom from burning. Seeing as you’re such an obvious pro with bread, what are your thoughts on this technique? Thanks!
I put my bread dough in my oven with the oven light on to raise and sometimes if its dry in the house ill put a cake pan of boiling water in with it for the steam. It works well. Also, when i bake my french bread in order to get that nice crispy crust ill throw in a few ice cubes onto the bottom of my oven for the steam. works for me anyway. if your bread is burning on the bottom you might have it too close to the bottom of the oven. middle is best
Hello Jenny, I finally gave your bread recipe a try yesterday and my oh my, was I pleased with the results!!!!! My family and I are in love with this bread so much so that today I’m planning on making 2 more loaves!! I did substitute milk with almond milk and added some more water to make a softer dough… I didn’t areate the dough so maybe that’s why it was a little tighter but it all came out awesome in the end! Just wondering if we could bake it without a loaf tin as I only have 1 bread tin. Also can we do without the egg (I’m trying to not consume eggs). Thanks again for such an awesome and hilarious video! 😊
Dear Jenny,
I absolutely love your recipe! I have a big family and have always wanted to make homemade bread but never thought I had the time. Your recipe is so easy and quick, I was skeptical it would actually turn out. I was literally in tears, the bread turned out so beautifully! My kids laughed but I was so happy to find a healthy recipe that is so fast. Since I made my first loaf of bread, two weeks ago, I have not bought any chemical filled bread from the store! I have been making one loaf every other day for my family of 6! I have even added 1/4 cup ground flax seed and it turned out perfect. My parents also loved the loaf of bread I baked for them! Thanks for the great recipes and funny videos!
I have been making this bread for so long now and every time I do, I think that I must leave a comment! It is SO easy and really delicious. I add in 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds, 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds plus 1/4 cup of millet after the 2 minute mix but before adding in the extra flour. It is the tastiest recipe for bread that I know of and cannot believe how easy it is.
Thank you for taking time to share this variation – it sounds really good.
Just finished baking another loaf of this great bread, and once again it turned out perfect. The only thing that remotely could be considered as an alteration to Jenny’s recipe is that I also add one capful of RealLemon together with all of the other ingredients.
JENNY YOU ARE AMAZING!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU’RE DOING!
My question was so dull I had to reply, lol. Made your no knead bread and now the whole family is in on it!
Thank you again,
I would like to make rolls instead with this recipe. I know it will work because it’s amazing bread. Please tell me how many rolls per batch you would recommend as I like them to be uniform so I weigh each out. A medium sized roll slightly bigger than or nearly the size of a slider bun would be great.
Thank you,
Just saw the roll recipe, sorry, rotflol.
Thank you,
I bake one loaf a week. They only change I made was using 100% Whole Wheat flour. It rises nicely and tastes great. I found with or without 100% WW it is great bread.
Thank you for this recipe. Perfect result. Exactly what I wanted for sandwich bread.
Help!
I followed your recipe exactly, somehow though, the dough was very thick and tough…right after I added the milk pretty much. 🙁
You might find an explanation in the FAQs. If not, let me know and I will try to help further.
I’ve done this bread twice and each time it’s very sticky after it forms into a mass. I added flour while kneading it but I just had to continue adding flour until it finally allowed me to form a ball. PLEASE HELP!!
Please look at the FAQs. https://www.jennycancook.com/problems-with-yeast-baking/
EASY AND PERFECT! My wife and I have a system. She bakes, I cook. She does the biscuits, I do the gravy. The only other time I baked, was no bake cookies. Obviously, this was my first time making bread. It was super easy and came out perfect! Thanks for making me feel like real baker.
This recipe is perfect. I’ve baked many loaves of whole wheat bread and this was by far the easiest, prettiest and best texture. My new go-to recipe, for sure. Also, it stayed soft for DAYS – crazy – and then made great toast when it was starting to get dry. Love it.
Well, I’ve just finished baking another loaf of this delicious recipe, and I must say that your recipes are totally foolproof. I’m 75 years old, and started using your recipes approx 3 years ago. Prior to that, I used my bread machine, which was fine, but not nearly as good. I must say that I still use the bread machine with your recipes, using it only for making the dough. I then take the raw dough from the machine and continue according to your directions, and I have NEVER had a disappointment with any of your breads or other recipes. Thank you Jenny.
3rd time making this bread, awesome every time,. Jenny rocks
I made the whole wheat bread and whole wheat hot rolls and entered them in our local county fair and got a 1st on the bread and a 2nd on the hot rolls, great recipe.
Well that makes my day. Congratulations and thanks for letting me know!
I bake my own bread because American bread is too sweet (compare UK and European recipes to American recipes), I made this without any sugar and used 2 tbs of 1/2 and 1/2 (your milk is too sweet also) made up with water, the loaf came out perfect, completely different to my usual method, but it works and that 10 min rest time is enough to clean all the equipment and get it all put away, this will be my go-to recipe (minus all the sugar) from now on, took longer to rise but probably because its summer and the A/C is on, no biggie just followed your instructions, absolutely delighted with this.
I put my bread dough in the oven to raise with just the oven light on…when raised enough i take it out and turn the oven on….it only takes 5 mins to heat up if that. then cook as usual. the oven light is just enough warmth and its out of drafts.
Have made this recipe and it turned out great.
Have you every tried to add sunflower seeds or flax seeds to this recipe?
Thinking I might try it and see how it turns out.
Love your website.
I have just posted Betty – I add 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds and 1/4 cup millet after the initial mix but before adding in the extra flour – it is really good!
I grew up in rural Iowa and my mother was a consummate bread baker. My siblings and I used to take a slice of my mom’s bread to school so we would not to eat the boughten white bread. My mom taught us all how to make bread. I think she thought if we all knew how to make bread we would never starve. Must have worked since I am now in my 70’s and still going strong. I love the simplicity of this recipe. You cal always tell if your bread is going to be good by the feel of the dough as you knead it. Thanks Jenny for this simple and quick WW bread recipe. Enjoy your blog very much. Jere
I am making it now… Waiting 35 minutes for dough to rise.
I am scared! Never before I had made bread, but you make it look so easy! Thank you, Jenny!
I will leave a comment when I taste it. Fingers crossed! Hoe it will taste like your bread!
well? how did it turn out? Im sure it was good.
When I try to make this, as soon as I put the 1 cup of milk and egg (warmed up) in the mixer, it turns into a clump, like I already kneaded it before mixing it, is there something I’m doing wrong? I am adding the one cup measure of milk, the egg, the oil, all that but this happens, which then leads to a lot of cracks in the dough. Can you help me?
You may find an answer using the “problems” link at the bottom of the recipe. It could be you are not aerating your flour. If you’re in a higher altitude, I have no experience with that but you can easily research the changes needed for high altitude baking. I hope that helps.
Have made several times. Always good.
Dear Jenny,
I am wanting to try this recipe soon but I have a question, I am above 9000 altitude, do I need to change any ingredients or bake time? I watched your video then came here, looks pretty simple but I was told that at our altitude my ingredients will need to change. Can you help me out?
Who’s your daddy… lol
This recipe is a good best Whole wheat bread recipe
Hello,
I have two questions. How would I change the recipe to use instant milk, as I don’t drink milk? Also, would using whole wheat flout entirely make a difference in the recipe?
Hi! I’ve made this bread a lot lately and I’ve really enjoyed the recipe. I let the yeast rise a bit with warm milk and sugar but still use the same total amount of milk called for above. Thanks, Jenny! p.s your video is really funny.
Will this recipe work if one uses a gram digital scale to measure flour?
1 cup of flour is 120 grams.
My metric conversion chart might help: https://www.jennycancook.com/category/metric-conversion-chart/
I use a scale and these are my measurements for a perfect loaf:
400 gms flour (You can use 100 percent whole wheat, but it’ll rise a bit less, still delicious though!)
245 ml water
8 gms active dry yeast
7 gms salt
a pinch of powdered ginger
half a spoon of sugar (to activate the yeast in water, though sugar isn’t really required)
1 egg
15 gms of oil
Then I just follow Jenny’s method in the video. I make this at least once a week, usually twice, and its delicious! Thanks Jenny!
Thank you for taking time to share this.
Nice presentation… I like cooking at the age of 70 and making good. Now I will try this recipe. Thanks…
Jenny, i made this bread several times now, is the perfect recipe, light, delicious and healthy. So easy to make. Thank you!!!
Dear Jenny,
I love your recipe, but am using wheat flour I mill myself and the dough is too sticky. I end up needing to add an extra 1/2-1 cup flour to make the dough work. Should I use less milk or less oil? I’m high altitude at 6000 ft.
FANTASTIC!
Have tried numerous Whole Wheat recipes but nothing has risen like this, nothing has been as light as this.
For the 2nd loaf I used White Whole Wheat [same nutritional value] and added 2 tsp of Caraway seeds and about 3/4 tsp of Dill. Close your eyes and it is a soft Rye bread.
Super easy and great tasting. kudos
Turned out beautifully! Thank you
I made this loaf today replacing the first two ingredients with:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sprouted whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup bread flour
Then I followed with the rest of the recipe. The bread rose faster than expected and was really good!
I am interested in the nutritional information, please.
Thank you.
There are quite a few online nutrition calculators that are free to use (I prefer this one https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator). It’s easy to use, & you can tailor the ingredients to exactly what you are using at home for the recipe 😀
Thank you J.P. from J.J. for helping J.D. 🙂
Love your recipes I made this bread with spelt flour and all purpose flour, turned out very good.
Thank fir your videos and funny comments
Me encanta tu receta ,lo hice y me salio estupendo ,muchas gracias por compatirlo !!!!!
Hi made this yesterday mine turned out interesting lol I didn’t need to add the 1/4 cup of flour before turning out and kneading, it came together quickly, after forming the loaf and setting it to rise in warm space all was great I think my pan was a tad bit bigger as after the 35 minutes it was 1/2 inch below the lip of the pan, so I left it another 10-15 mins ( didn’t get any bigger) I popped it in the oven and tented after 15 mins came out great ( a little misshapen the top 1 inch had drifted still attached just funny looking) however it still tasted great and for my first time making bread I consider that a success
Hi Jenny! I have never made a yeasted bread before and was pretty certain my first effort would fail. But I used your recipe, followed your instructions exactly, and the bread came out PERFECTLY. Thank you! I
Absolutely amazing. First time, I didn’t heat the milk enough so didn’t rise,or maybe yeasts were old 🙂 OR me was lazy. We made crackers from what ever came out.
Two days later tried again, follow your instructions and came out beautiful and delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous recipe
I made this bread today.. turned out perfect! This is the very first time making whole wheat bread…. I am an avid baker, and have made many loaves of bread through the years, first time attempting whole wheat…. for health issues! I am amazed at how well it raised given the fact that it was clearly a tougher dough… It did brown quickly however… so I covered with foil as recommended. My 91 yr old Mom gave it a thumbs up!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Deena
FYI
I used a glass loaf pan..
How long will this bread keep and how do you store it?
Second time making this loaf, first time watching the video. Came out very very good, first round I didn’t get as good a rise and ended up with a heavier bread ( great with Sunday roast). Today. I realised I didn’t have bread for work tomorrow kicked out a loaf per your instruction, minus the mixer, just buttered the heel of one end and devoured it. Such a great recipie to learn, I’m hesitant to try the common 2 loaf batch so this one is great to build a benchmark on. Thanks so much for the knowledge!
I used Almond Milk, because I thought I had milk, and I didn’t.
You used almond milk? Did it still turn out great?!!! I have to use milk alternatives and would LOVE to know the outcome!!! 😀
I have not tried this recipe yet but have used almond milk in many other bread recipes and it worked fine. Did not see a difference.
What brand is your bread pan and do you think because I used locally packaged flour from a farmer’s market that could be why I did’t get a higher rise just at top of pan level?