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) milk (reduced fat or whole 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 no longer have a kitchen aid or any other stand mixer(gave it to my daughter who I thought needed it more with 2 boys). Do you think this would work with just a hand mixer as long as I finish by hand? Has anyone done it?
I’ve made this four times the past month and it has been delicious every time – my family loves it too. The only change I make it to use all wheat flour. When I double the recipe I use my big old Bosch mixer because it’s much easier to mix. This is a really great sandwich bread and it’s now my go-to recipe. Thanks Jenny!
Amazing recipe! I made it with freshly milled fine whole wheat flour and bread flour. I made it with honey. It is very sliceable for toast or sandwiches. I finally found a recipe that will replace store bought bread.
I got a kitchen aid for Christmas this year and it got me in the mood to make a quick loaf of bread! This recipe is simply! Thank you for your videos! Always happy and funny!
God bless you!
I used your Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe to make bread for our Christmas dinner. Christmas isn’t until tomorrow, but the wife and I had to sample it and Wow!.
Thank you so much and I will not be making any more bread machine bread in the future.
Thank you again and Merry Christmas.
I made my first loaf! It was perfect, simply perfect! I finally found my new whole wheat bread recipe. Easy, fast. fool proof. Thank you, Jenny!
Can you substitute with a gluten free flour?
Just a tip for those of us that live in very cold climate. I had problem with proofing. I learned a tip how to fix that. Boil water on stove top. Turn on oven light. Do not turn oven on, just the light. Place boiled water in bottom of oven and leave dough to rise. The warmth from the light is enough. With the steam from the boiled water to do the trick. Have not tried technique as of yet. Just a tip I learned.
An even better tip to save energy/dollars is to microwave water in a 16-OZ microwave-safe cup 1 – 2 minutes, depending on wattage. Set bread in microwave after water boils and close door. Microwave acts a perfect proofing box.
Funny half the pleasure is that “smell” when bread is almost baked, and the next half is wondering if Jenny is married?
Do you need to proof active dry yeast first? I would think so but you didn’t say so I didn’t and my dough has not risen after 35 min. I’ll wait longer but think next time I’ll either proof first (maybe in the milk) or get some instant yeast instead. Am sad as I was really looking forward to easy fresh bread.
Either yeast will work without proofing. Please look at these FAQs for a possible explanation. https://www.jennycancook.com/problems-with-yeast-baking/
Kudos. Finally someone that can cook. I do love to try for something new for the holidays and this video was SPOT ON. THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME. Everything flowed nicely. My highlight is that you didn’t spend a lot of time jabbering. Most blogs or recipes sites are horrendous to navigate, not to mention the darn ads. You are my present for the holidays. I can’t wait to see how my bread turns out.
Three beautiful loaves out of the oven. Sent pic to son so lost two immediately. I’m eating the crust before that disappears. I’ve baked a lifetime of bread but this is very special. I need to have your suggestion for storing. I really do not care for plastic so wrapped loosely in foil. Does it freeze well? Thank you. Dziękuję
This should be helpful: https://www.jennycancook.com/how-to-store-homemade-bread/
Storing info appreciated. Two more loaves on the rise this morning so hopefully with 5 loaves I get to have some. Surprises me how heavy dough appears yet perfect after baking. Winner for sure!
Me and my boyfriend have basically zero knowledge of baking, and we managed to make this on our first try. We’re at a high altitude but we didn’t adjust anything and somehow it worked! A great recipe and super easy to follow. Thanks Jenny! We’ll never buy bread again!
How do I double this recipe?
Multiply each ingredient by 2.
hello.. when we let the bread rise is a room of 67 degrees warm enough? my aunt suggested the oven at 200 but that cooked it 🙁 I want to do it again but not sure about how to let it rise.
https://www.jennycancook.com/where-to-rise-dough/
I made this bread twice so far. It’s so delicious, and very easy to make. Thanks Jenny
HI Audra,
I put mine in the microwave free from drafts, do you have one? put a light towel over it as she does in the video, do not turn the microwave on 🙂 set your timer and then pop it into the oven.
I just stumbled on this bread recipe. Boy of Boy looks so delicious, I am planning on trying it tomorrow Morning God willing. tutorial was great and also Jenny is so funny, she had me cracking up ” who’s your daddy”
Just think my Mom owned her bakery for years and I never knew how to make bread. I tried making some earlier this week. I wasn’t sure how to mix the instant yeast, the bread looked pretty, but was like a piece of brick. I had a small piece and put the rest in the trash. 🙂
Thanks so much
Hello Jenny, thank you for the recipe and video tutorial. I tried it yesterday. It was the first bread I ever made. It came out so wonderful.
You seem like a very nice lady, but I am a little offended from you using Our Heavenly Father name in vain. Of course not asking you to change who you are, just my observation.
Love your recipes, keep up the good work.
I’m offended that you would reference a non-existent being. It’s a cooking video. She’s a wonderful and interesting person. Leave Jenny alone.
I agree. No need to use His name in vain. Non-existent? You speak for yourself and your own experience.
Oh my God could be referring to the many millions of deitys out there. I don’t think Shen was offending tithe one you’re referring to you. Sheesh.
The bread came out absolutely awesome. Very talented lady. Look at all those cooking’s and baking utensils lol
Made this bread tonight and for some reason it did not come out of the pan easily a small piece even stuck in pan after I got the bread out. Anyone maybe knows why ?
Thanks
I always spray my pans with a little olive oil and have never had one stick.
Hi Jackie, I dont have a lot of bread making experience. I only made it once. However what I did is used parchment paper with a bit on the sides to pull it out. I worked great no sticking at all.
Letting it cool in the pan for quite some time will help the bread release itself from the pan.
Jenny, I made this bread this morning to give as a hostess gift for a friend. It was SO easy and turned out fantastic. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I make a ton of whole wheat bread, four to six loaves at a time. Decided to try this recipe. Oh my it is incredible!!!! I just finished scaling your recipe to four loaves and will try it-fingers crossed. But so far, there is no better single loaf recipe. Thank you for sharing!!!!
I just made this recipe this morning. First time ever aking bread. The flavor was great and taste so good. The only thing is that when I cut it in slices (after letting it rest about 30 minutes or more,) it kind of crumbles, kind of looks like gaps in the bread and that’s why it crumbles in those areas. Can anyone help me, please? This is the first time I do anything like this, so I have no clue on what to do 🙂 Thanks so much!
My guess is that it was too warm still. 30 minutes may be fine for some breads if they are small enough, but doing that on this size of loaf may be the thing.
The other thing I thought of was that perhaps you needed to knead the bread a bit more aggressively so the gluten structure was stronger. Just some ideas!
I use a round scallop serrated knife (the serrations are rounded instead of most serrated using sharp points) and it works well with warm bread, I’ve have even used it straight out of the oven, I love to test taste the warm heal slathered with butter.
Melissa, I would think that a 30-minute cooling would be enough. My first thought was that perhaps it was the way you “shaped” it before putting it in the pan. When you shape the dough, you should try to reduce air bubbles. Notice the way Jenny flattens the dough, rolls it, and then tucks the ends in. you might try rolling your a little tighter (but not too tight!).
Hi Melissa, I’ve been thinking about this and then my loaf today was a bit too crumbly, also. I was going to have my KitchenAid knead my bread for me, but I ran into some difficulty, so I finished by hand. I googled it and this is what I found, “Too much flour and not enough water can cause crumbly bread – people often do this if the dough is too sticky and they add more flour rather than kneading through it. Other culprits can be overproofing or not kneading enough – the things you need to do to get a good structure.” Hope this helps you.
i would like to triple this recipe, any suggestions?
would i need 3 pkgs of yeast? etc.
thanks !!
You’d probably need a really large pan to do this- I’d recommend making the bread just 3 times. but, if you triple the recipe, triple the yeast too. It’ll be a big bread
Love your videos and tips. How do you get the bread to rise in 30 min? I’ve followed this recipe three times now and it has never risen 1in above the pan even after letting rise for and hour. My yeast is new and my milk was warm so I’m very confused.
Could be altitude or house temp, when I made it it took about 40 min for mine to rise 1in above bread pan. Pan might also be tall
The 90 minute whole wheat bread recipe turned out delicious!! The best bread I ever made. Thanks!
Hello! How come this does not have to rise twice? Meaning, one bulk rise, shape, then rise again in bread pan.
I live at high altitude, and made my own altitude adjustments. It came out great. I was wondering what altitude adjustments you would recommend. I decreased the yeast which I don’t think I would do again. I also added vital wheat gluten.
Hi Jenny
You are a AMAZING PERSON AN COOK.I enjoy every video You make.
If You got a several eggs in Your Brasier and I POP THE QUESTION WILL YOU ACT LIKE IN THIS VIDEO.
I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS ,PLEASE DON`T STOP THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Jenny: I just made your recipe and it came out wonderful! Thank you for sharing.
I tried half a dozen wheat bread recipes that were good but not great. Yours is great and will now be my bread of choice. Thanks.
Great taste and texture. I think I have found my go to whole wheat bread recipe!
Hi Jenny, can you tell me how you store homemade bread? Thank you.
Hi Marietta! Not sure if this is what you are looking for but mine lasted 3 days in a cotton bag wrapped in a linen towel in bread box. I wrapped half the loaf in 2 cotton towels and put it in the freezer for 2 days before transferring it to the breadbox. We are trying to cut down on plastics in our house and this seemed to work really well. Good luck with yours!
Thank you!
https://www.jennycancook.com/how-to-store-homemade-bread/
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! It came out wonderful!
Has anyone use sourdough starter instead of yeast? If so, how much did you use and how did you adjust the rest of the recipe?
Jenny–could you add a “search” button to search within answers/questions.
Thank you for an excellent recipe! I’ve made this one and others with much success! Your flatbread is a staple in our home.
Hi-
I do like this recipe except for the fact that the dough was very sticky! I followed this recipe exactly, but maybe I could do with a little less water-I don’t know. I had to keep adding more and more flour and kneading it as Jenny demonstrated was hard to do since the dough was sticky. PLEASE
Please look at the FAQs.
Thanks Jenny-I probably measured the liquid incorrectly!
Is the salt necessary?
Hi Vee-
I do think that the salt is necessary for the flavor of this bread.
Now, a question for everyone. My dough was VERY STICKY! Should I use a little less water than the recipe calls for? As a result, it was very difficult to finish kneading by hand!
Please look at the FAQs.
Hi Jenny made this bread a few times delicious..TY 👍
I LOVE this recipe! I stumbled across it about a month ago. After my first loaf my husband told me to never buy store bread again. I tweaked a couple of minir things but overall an excellent recipe. I found mixing the oil and egg together before adding to flour helps it incorporate better. I also brust the crust with melted butter as it comes from the oven. The last thing is to use an electric knife for slicing. It gives more even slices.
I have been baking this bread pretty much on a weekly basis for the last three months. I love this recipe! Jenny, what I want to know is how the heck did you ever discover this method? You are a magician! Thank you, thank you.
I live at 8,600 feet elevation so I put double yeast and 2 rounded tablespoons of wheat gluten. My making is good with these adjustments. Some people like to slow the oven down but I don’t .
Excellent recipe. Just made this bread and I am jumping in joy.
Thank you very much Jenny. You are awesome 🙂 God bless you.
Hi.
Just to let you know I used almond milk in your whole wheat recipe and the bread came out great thank you a simple and it’s easy
Best regards.
Falex
Thank you Jenny for simple directions to an awesome bread. My first loaf is in the oven. You made me into a baker! What a hoot! God bless
After years of making bread disasters I can finally make a dependable and very tasty loaf of bread in a very reasonable length of time. Thanks so much!
Just saw your response to making Jenny’s bread. I am going to really try this myself too. You have encouraged me. My mom made wonderful bread, mine has always been a failure. It seems even the stuff I make in my bread machine never will ever measure up to my mom’s. But hopefully when I try Jenny’s my report will be different.
After you take the loaf out of the pan you can put the loaf back in for 5 minutes to crisp the outside a little more of you like.
Baked bread for the first time ever using this recipe. It turned out just like in your picture. So easy to make and delicious. Thank you very much Jenny. Passing the recipe around.
Your bread recipe recipe changed my life. I am 67 years old and have been trying to bake a decent loaf of bread for over 40 years, I have used bread machines, my moms bread recipe ( taking a whole day and still not edible) and then I found your video. I have been making this bread for my husband for a month now and he absolutely LOVES it. I love your videos Jenny. You making cooking fun and most of all EASY
Jenny! Thank you, for this easy to follow recipe! I made it and now my husband demands that I make it often! Well, I have to admit, I do love the bread too and our 7 year old son!
It took me an hour to rise the dough an inch over the pan but it was definitely worth the wait! I am going to make this again this weekend, 1 whole wheat and 1 regular flour. I will also be making some buns!
Thank you again for this quick and easy to follow recipe! I am an avid fan!
This is definitely my go to recipe for wheat bread. 🙂
My husband just came home and saw me kneading….he said, “ oh good you’re making those buns, I really like them”….and so I am!
Making hamburger and hotdogs buns using this delicious recipe!
Thank you once again!!👍🏼👏🏻
Hamburger buns! Yum! Can I ask how many you make from this recipe? How big do you shape them?
Hi Jenny, Just want to say I can’t wait to try your Whole Wheat Bread recipe! Thank you so much for taking time to do a video to share it with us. I love all your videos and how you explain everything so well,your bright pretty colors, your beautiful aprons, and your wonderful sense of humor. You are very much appreciated! 🙂
Hi Jenny,
I have been baking this bread for about 6 months now and it comes out perfectly just like yours in the thumbnail picture. I have only one question. I do not know why I waited so long to ask you. When I slice the bread, it leaves a lot of crumbs and sometimes it feels too dense unlike the store bought bread. Could you please suggest if this is how it should be or if I might be doing something wrong!
I have the same problem sometimes in baking whole wheat bread.
First, follow the recipe exactly.
Use a whole wheat flour such as King Arthur or Hodgson’s Mill.
I think Jenny uses King Arthur, as I do.
Aerate the flour, Jenny’s blog or FAQ gives instructions.
For more consistent results, weigh your flour.
I get better results using bread flour with whole wheat flour
I think your problem is that your flour-liquid ratio is a little off. The brand of flour, the weather, altitude, all can affect that ratio. The King Arthur flour site has some good information on this.
If you are using a stand mixer, after your ingredients are blended, take the dough ball out and hand knead per instructions. You should be able to tell if it is too wet or dry. Either way, adjust with just drops of water and small amounts of flour, while kneading.
I am so glad I found your recipe, just finished my loaf and it came out absolutely beautiful.
Should I keep yeast in the fridge. Love your video making bread. cute. Going to make it tomorrow.
Once opened, yeast should be kept in the freezer, not the fridge.
Recipe easy peasy & SOOOO good!!
Thank you, Jenny!! 🎉🍞🎉
(Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes)
Hi Jenny! This is the simplest most awesome whole wheat bread. Thanks a lot for the recipe. I want to ask if I can change the ingredients to 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup barley flour and 1/2 cup maize flour, with the remaining same procedure, will that be okay?
I’ve been baking this recipe now for a couple of years. I’ve been tweeking it with each baking and now constantly use the same tweeks. I’ve found that a full 3 cups of flour turns out the best, most consistant, loaf. I use 1 cup of white flour, 1 cup of whole wheat and one cup of multi-grain. I add a capful of Realemon (almost as if I were using buttermilk) and I always use a large egg. The rest of the recipe is unchanged, and turns out the best loaf….for me.
I don’t know why I need more flour. I aerate it by adding it to my measuring cup with a spoon. I live in the lower mainland of BC Canada 🇨🇦 at approx 15 feet above sea level.
I’m curious if anyone else has found 3 cups of flour is needed.
This by far is the best whole wheat bread recipe I’ve tried. It’s super easy and very good. My loaf turned out beautifully. I love that you were specific about how many times to knead the dough, which took only 2 or 3 minutes (recipes that call for the stand mixer and dough hook require 7-8 minutes of kneading). I’ve made several bread recipes before but this will be the one I make over and over again.
I’m a novice at bread making and I’ve been trying different recipes each weekend. This is the first one I tried (and it turned out great!) I’m so happy you’ve shared this recipe. It beats all the ones I’ve tried. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
I love your recipes and I am so happy that I found them —— I want to make the wheat bread this weekend I only have glass or ceramic loaf pans which would you suggest
I have never used either one but you can probably do a search for baking bread bread in a ceramic (or glass) loaf pan – you might need to make adjustments.
Hi
Thought I would let you know that I used a pampered chef loaf pan end it came out looking just like yours so excited looking forward to eating it 😀
This is the recipe I go to for wheat bread. Very tasty
Great recipe worked perfectly only I used too big a pan so it didn’t rise up very high but filled the pan so the loaf ended up a bit small. Still very edible and good to eat. Thank you Jenny.
Very disappointed in the recipe. Three times and no luck-doesn’t rise. The last time I bought new flour, new yeast and a thermometer to check temp of milk
and still no luck. Used room temp egg. Checked your suggestions but of no value.
I’m so sorry. It’s worked for me and for so many people. Is it possible you used the wrong flour, like whole wheat pastry flour?
I Had the same Problem. Bread didn’t rise , tried twice gave up
You can probably find a solution in my FAQs.
Hi Jenny! This bread is so easy to make! My honey and I love the recipe with the honey. I’ve made twice, now, and the ONLY issue that I have is that the bread sticks to bottom of pan. I didn’t grease the pan the first time, but I did the second, and still it sticks horribly bad. Should I raise my oven rack? It is set exactly middle of oven. Thank you! God bless you- donna
Do not raise your oven rack. I have 2 suggestions: 1) Use butter to grease the pan. 2) If that doesn’t work, line the pan with parchment paper.
Hi Jenny use to watch your show back in the day loved it, so glad I discovered “Jenny Can Cook.I would like to know can I use this receipe in a bread machine?
I use a B & D bread machine on the dough setting. Let the cycle complete (90 ninutes) turn the dough out, knead it about 3 minutes, shape it into a loaf, place it in the pan to rise (approx 30 minutes), and then bake in the oven.
I made this today. It didn’t rise as expected. Not sure what happened. I put it in the oven anyway, because Jenny said it would rise more. I don’t have a mixer so mixed it by hand, I used an extra 1/4 cup of flour..that might have been the problem. But it tastes great. Not overly heavy for not rising as much.
Will try this again but not add the extra flour. And really knead it next time.
Hi Esther, I would guess two things. Ensure you added enough sugar (yeast require sugar), and ensure the milk was warm enough (I think some people underestimate how warm the milk should be).
From my experience, sugar is not required with yeast. I add the sugar for a little sweetness in the bread.
Hi Jenny,
I loveee your videos. You remind me of my Mom and that made me happy.
Can you add honey instead of sugar?
You are amazing!!
Thank you.
Pam