Easy, Soft 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Tutorial
Step-by-step tutorial to make soft 100% whole wheat sandwich bread with a 15 minute sponge and only 1 rise. With 1000’s of comments and 5-star ratings, this fan-favorite may be the recipe that finally frees you from store-bought bread!
✩ What readers are saying…
“I have stumbled upon your recipe years ago, and it has been my go-to bread recipe ever since. Hands down, the best recipe I’ve ever used. Both for taste and for ease in making!” -Tiffany
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Let’s finally make perfect, whole wheat sandwich bread!
A number of years ago, before there were blogs, I taught myself to make bread. Through those few years of trying to get it right, my family ate many leaden loaves of bread without complaints (for which I’m eternally grateful!) in my quest for an easy, 100% whole wheat loaf that made great sandwiches and toast.
I’ve experimented with many different flours (Barley-Rye-Spelt bread, anyone?) and in the end adapted a great recipe that’s quick and easy and turns out a consistently good loaf.
This is the recipe that allowed me to stop buying our sandwich bread – really.
I don’t want you to have to go through all that, though, so I’m sharing a step-by-step tutorial so that you can start turning out great loaves right away – and free you from store bought sandwich bread forever!
First, though, why bother learning to make your own bread?
- It tastes WONDERFUL.
- You know exactly what’s in it.
- It takes less hands-on time than running to the store (a revelation to me, like most of our other pantry basics!)
- It’s cheap – these two loaves cost about .75 cents each (and I’m probably over-estimating).
- It just makes you feel good.
- It tastes WONDERFUL.
Convinced? Me, too!
I want to encourage you that you, too, can make bread… I promise. Just give it a try and DO NOT be discouraged by any loaves you may turn out that aren’t perfect (they’re still good for toast and breadcrumbs)- it’s all a part of the learning.
Trust me on this – I know. Just keep practicing.
Recipe Ingredient Notes
- Flour: You can use any type of whole wheat flour for this recipe, regular, bread, or white whole wheat. Many have asked what brand of flour I use and it’s typically Bob’s Red Mill.
- Yeast: Since this recipe starts with a sponge, both active dry and instant yeast work.
- Honey: I love the flavor of honey and how it compliments the whole wheat, but if you can’t do honey you can use cane sugar. Some have told me they’ve used maple syrup as well. You can lessen the sweetener if you want, but I’d always keep at least a tablespoon to help feed the yeast.
- Oil: I use an expeller pressed sunflower oil and occasionally avocado oil – both oils are more neutral tasting than olive oil. Some have told me they’ve used melted butter with good results.
- Update on Using Vital Gluten: As of November of 2010, I no longer add the extra gluten listed in my original recipe. My loaves are still fine for our family, but are probably not quite as high as the loaves pictured here. I’ve listed it as optional now in the recipe.
How to Make Soft 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
1. Make the sponge.
Combine warm water*, yeast, and 2 cups of flour in the bowl of a stand mixer (this can, of course, be mixed in a bowl by hand- I’ve just never done it that way…) and let it sit 15 minutes to create a sponge.
2. Add oil and then add the honey.
Adding the oil first and then the honey causes the sticky honey to just slide right out – no scraping needed. A lovely little trick.
*Note: I use warmest tap water without a problem, but if you’re unsure, you want to use a thermometer and have your water between 105 and 110 degrees – hotter than this will kill the yeast!
PRO TIP: this is the Kitchenaid mixer I use, after burning out my Artisan lift-top with all the whole wheat loaves I was making weekly. It is an investment, but the benefits are worth it to me, since it does the work of mixing and kneading (as well as being used for other baking recipes).
3. Add salt and 4 cups of the flour.
You can also add the vital gluten here, if using. You’ll mix until the dough starts to look like the photo above. Remove the paddle attachment and change to the dough hook to knead (or for those doing it by hand, turn out on floured surface).
4. Knead 6-7 minutes (or 10 minutes by hand).
After kneading, the dough should be cleaning the sides of the bowl, though sticking to the bottom. If it is sticking to the sides during the kneading process, you can add a little flour, a tablespoon at a time.
BIGGEST TIP: Be careful not to add too much flour – the dough should feel tacky to your finger when you touch it, but not slick to it. It’s okay if the dough still sticks to the bottom of the bowl- in fact with whole wheat it usually will (the dough should not roll out of the bowl on its own).
6. Prepare the pans.
Grease two 9 x 5 inch pans* while the dough is kneading. You can use oil, butter, or even line with parchment. I spray with oil and use a small silicone brush (no stray pieces left like from a regular brush) to get into the corners.
7. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cut in half.
Smoosh the dough down into an even-looking oval shape that you can cut in half with a dough scraper or regular long knife. TIP: On counters that can’t be used for dough, I use a tea towel dusted with a bit of flour- the dough doesn’t stick as much, so you use less flour, plus it’s easy clean-up.
*Update TIP: If your loaves aren’t rising as much, try making the bread in smaller pans. I now use these 8.5×4.5 USA loaf pans which I love because they don’t stick at all!
8. Shape the loaves
- a) Pat each half into a fairly even oval the length of the pan. (I used to stress over trying to shape a loaf – using a rolling pin and making it big, then I realized its not rocket science it only needs to be big enough to roll up a bit and create tension.)
- b) Roll up gently.
- c) Pinch the seam together and then pinch the ends and bring them in toward the seam.
- So that it looks like d) when shaped.
9. Place shaped loaves into pans.
Fit the shaped loaf into your prepared pan and repeat with the other loaf. TIP: Another reason I like using a towel to shape them: I simply take the tea towel, shake it off gently over the sink, and use it to cover the pans. Otherwise, cover with a plastic shower cap or other type of cover.
10. Let the dough rise.
Set the pans in a warm place. Don’t worry too much about this – the counter is fine, even the top of the fridge – just no cold drafts. Timing: Set a timer for 50 minutes, then turn the oven to 350 degrees to preheat for the last 10 minutes of rising time.
TIP: Depending on the warmth of your kitchen, time of year, and freshness of your yeast, you may need more OR less time rising. Go with the 1/2-inch or so above the pan as your guide and not necessarily the exact time I use in my kitchen.
11. Bake
When the loaves have risen 1/2 inch to 1 inch above the pans (1 hour for the loaves pictured above, but check yours sooner), put them in the preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn them around for even cooking and bake another 15 minutes, for 30 minutes total.
Notice one risen loaf is bigger than the other in the photo above right? It really isn’t about perfection around here – the bigger one seems to have a growth on the side, too – it’s a bubble and I just don’t worry about these things!
12. Take the loaves out of the oven.
To make sure they are done you can turn out a loaf and knock on the bottom for a hollow sound, but if your oven is truly at 350 degrees I’ve found they will always be done at 30 minutes. TIP: When you first make the loaves in your oven, I suggest you check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer – it should be between 200-220 degrees Fahrenheit in the center of the loaf. Then you’ll know how long your oven will take. Let the loaves cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then run a spatula around the edges right away to loosen any sticking parts.
13. Let cool on a rack.
Turn the loaves out onto racks and let cool at least 30 min. to 1 hour before cutting or you’re going to smush the bread down when you try to cut it! I know it’s hard, but have patience, it will be worth it in the end. (Then, if you’re like me, cut off one of the lovely ends, spread it with just a bit of real butter and bite into that soft, crispy wonderfulness…there’s just something about fresh-out-of-the-oven bread!) Cool the loaves completely before slicing, storing or freezing.
PRO TIP: See that completely flat spatula? It’s one of my favorite cooking tools – this spatula is just the BEST. It’s plastic, but sorta sharp for a spatula, so it gets EVERY last bit of dough from a bowl and is better at loosening things out of pans than knives because it’s not sharp enough to actually cut through anything.
Reader Raves
“THE BEST BREAD I HAVE EVER MADE!!!! Omg I absolutely love this recipe!” -Janet D.
“My ride or die sandwich bread! This is the most simple recipe and is so hard to mess up!” -Codie
“This is our go to bread—made it at least a dozen times. Easy. Soft. Delicious. We grind our own whole wheat flours out of wheat berries. Retains nutrients and has more fiber!” -Nani
“I’ve been making this for my family for almost a year, we no longer buy bread at the store!” -Becca
“I recommend your recipe to everyone I know who is looking for a no-fail 100% whole wheat. I’ve been baking and tweaking this recipe for a couple years. Last year, my dad said “this bread is so good, you should enter it in the State Fair.” Not only did I win the Grand Champion in the Washington State Fair in 2024, I won the Washington Wheat Growers Association Award.” -Betsy
I hope you love this whole wheat sandwich bread as much as I do and that it helps you to not have to buy loaves anymore!
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Soft 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- Two 9×5 inch OR 8.5×4.5 inch loaf pans (highly recommend the smaller loaf pans to get a consistent rise)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine water, yeast and 2 cups of the flour in a mixing bowl. Set aside to sponge for 15-20 minutes, until risen and bubbly (warmer weather takes 15 min, cooler temps usually needs 20).
- Add honey, oil, salt, (plus gluten, if using), and 4 cups of flour. Mix until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Change to dough hook (or turn out to knead by hand), and knead 6 to 7 minutes (10 by hand). Add only a few tablespoons of flour at a time if dough sticks to sides, being careful not to add too much.
- Form into two loaves and place in greased 9×5 pans (or 8.5×4.5 inch pans for a better rise). Allow to rise in a warm place for 50-60 minutes, until 1/2 to 1-inch above pans. TIP: You may need 15-30 minutes longer if your kitchen is cold – or less time if it's warm – but don't let it overproof (rise too much) or the loaf will fall when baked. Preheat oven to 350 degrees ten minutes before rising time is done.
- Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through if needed.
- Immediately remove from pans to cool on a rack. Allow to completely cool before slicing.****
Notes
Nutrition
Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread FAQs
The standard answer is to store bread wrapped in a bag (linen or plastic) at room temperature for 2-3 days and to never refrigerate it because that makes it go stale faster.
However, it will often mold before we eat it, so I do regularly refrigerate our bread! It’s perfectly fine for toast and will soften up with a warming in a toaster oven.
Also, a tip is to separate the loaves into halves if your household doesn’t eat that much bread and freeze the parts you aren’t using for later.
Double wrap each loaf in plastic bags (reused from produce bags work) and freeze until you need them, up to 4 months. You can freeze whole or cut before freezing (I always cut before so the slices are easy to remove). They freeze beautifully and you’ll never have to run to the store for bread again!
This is one of the most-asked questions I’ve gotten over the years. Since I don’t have a machine and the machines all have different capacities, I’m pointing you to this article from King Arthur Flour: How to convert your favorite recipes to a bread machine.
Or try Jerri H’s tips from the comments: “I dove in and experimented with making one loaf of this delicious bread in my bread machine, using the “dough cycle” and baking it in the oven after letting it rise in the bread pan for 75 minutes. I cut all the ingredients in half, and added 1/4 cup of bran flakes to give it a little extra fiber boost. I also used a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten. The bread turned out just as good as ever, however it didn’t seem to rise as high as when I made the full recipe by hand.”
More Easy Bread Recipes
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in the first year of the website, 2009.
Disclosure: affiliate links in this article will earn commission based on sales, but it doesn’t change your price. Click here to read my full disclaimer and advertising disclosure.
What speed do you knead at on the mixer? Thanks!
The Kitchenaid directions state that you should never knead bread beyond “2” speed, so that’s what I use. If you have a different model, check out what they suggest.
What if I were to use maple syrup instead of the honey? Terrible idea?
Go for it! The sweetener in this recipe is mainly to feed the yeast, so any type will work. There’s not enough to have a pronounced flavor usually.
Oh yes, it did stick! I’ll try that! I’m using King Arthur Flour and really like it! Thanks for the tip!
Glad to help!
I love how easy this recipe is! I am having. Trouble getting a good rise from it though. I let it sit longer this time and it did help but it fell after I took the plastic wrap off. Should I cover the loaves? Any other suggestions?
Shoot. The plastic may have stuck to the dough and made it deflate. Use a towel or make sure there is flour on top when you sit the plastic – or spray the plastic with oil.
When I use the lighter Hard White Wheat (still whole wheat), I find the dough rise better. King Arthur makes good whole wheat white flour.
I’m a total bread making novice. I followed your recipe and it turned out absolutely perfect 😊. I wish I could post a picture bc it’s so pretty. It can totally hold up as sandwich bread, not too soft or crumbly. Firm and flexible. I only had one small deviation. We keep our house at 68 degrees so I had to let it rise for almost 2 hours.
Good for you, Jenny! For success and for figuring out that it’s okay to let it rise longer when it’s cooler. 🙂
What is it that makes soft? That’s the part I struggle with on my current whole wheat recipe. I don’t want to leave the gluten out (which I don’t keep in the house) if that’s the key.
No, it’s not the added gluten, since I don’t add it anymore. The added gluten helps the bread rise a little better is all. I’m not really sure exactly what makes this soft, it may be that it’s a slightly wetter dough.
When doughs are enriched with fats (oil in this case) it will weaken the gluten slightly creating a finer crumb and a softer loaf.
Hi can I use this recipe in the bread machine instead?
There have been a number of commenters who have done it, though I haven’t. If you scroll through you should find some that give the details of how they adapted it.
I used spelt flour instead of regular while wheat, and it’s the first recipe that came out like perfect, soft sandwich bread. Most of the time spelt flour causes bread to be very dense, but your recipe worked great! Thank you so much!!!
Yay! I have found that to be true, too, April, and even add a bit of spelt in with WW since it seems to rise better.
A very good basic whole wheat recipe. Very tender crumb. I don’t have a stand mixer w/dough hook, and I got bored kneading by hand, so I gave it a few knocks around in my food processor with the dough blade. I’d forgotten how easy that is. Perfectly kneaded. Thanks for the great recipe.
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and that’s a great tip, Gail – thanks!
I tried the recipe and the bread tasted awesome however didnt rise enough to be called a sandwich bread. The slice were like that of a loaf cake. Wht could have been the reason for that?
Too cold of a kitchen, maybe? Is you yeast fresh? It’s okay to let it rise enough (maybe longer than stated) for it to reach the tops of the pans.
I have found more consistent rise without extra gluten using Hard White Whole Wheat flour instead of Hard Red and also using 1/2 spelt flour with the Hard Red. If you have these options, it may be worth a try.
Hi.. we have our loaves in the oven as we speak! This is our first time trying this recipe, and our first time making bread!
When mixing the flour, yeast and water at the start, how much mixing is required? If not mixed enough, will this affect the total rise of the dough? Our dough didn’t rise above the pan, and it’s not rising while it’s in the oven either. We are just wondering where we may have gone wrong. We didn’t add the optional gluten to the recipe, and when we had the dough rising in the pans before baking, we had them in a warm room (23 degrees Celsius), so we don’t know what we could have done differently.
We mixed the initial ingredients with a spoon, but are thinking we should have used the paddle on the mixer instead. Also, we had to warm the honey to liquefy it, so we are wondering if that had something to do with it.
This is a quick and simple recipe, and it looks like people have had a lot of success with it, and we would really like it to work for us without having to add the gluten.
If you have any tips or suggestions, we would really appreciate it!
I’ve had more consistent rise results when using white whole wheat (it’s a hard white wheat with all the nutrients and protein of hard red wheat, but is lighter in color and consistency). It’s more expensive, but you may want to try it. The loaves pictured were from when I used to use the extra gluten. My loaves without it sometimes rise more – and sometimes don’t. Sorry, my experience with whole wheat yeast doughs is that it’s hard to be consistent at home. I’ve also found that using 1/2 spelt flour causes the dough to rise more as well. You can experiment with flours, mixing, and temperatures to see what works best in your kitchen. 🙂
Does the TB stand for tablespoons ? I wasn’t sure .
Yes.
Thanks for this recipe, I’ve made this bread a bunch of times and it always tastes great but… I can’t seem to make it rise enough. When I leave the dough to rise it does go about 1/2 to 1 inch above the pan as in the recipe. However, after baking the bread ends up no higher than the top of the pan. The texture is soft and bread holds together well, but it’s too small to make sandwiches. Any suggestions?
Hmm, deflating is often a sign of over rising – is your kitchen warm? You may try a shorter second rise, just letting the dough get to just above the pan, then it may continue the rise in the oven ending up at 1/2-1 inch above.
Thanks for your suggestion, I think I will try that next time. My kitchen is not particularly warm, about 22c. I was also wondering how much does the “sponge” need to rise and if it’s possible that I left that too long?
Usually the 15-20 minutes is sufficient – 20 for your cooler kitchen.
Thanks. FYI I tried a shorter 2nd rise (45 mins) and bread ended up much taller this time. Yay!
Terrific!
My mom and grandmother always said a good seasoned bread pans cooks the best bread and never wash. Yours are just fine. Made your bread today just waiting for it to cool, 25 mins was plenty of time for my loaves to cook in my electric, my gas would take the 30. One of my favourite things is making bread, bun and cinnamon buns, even if I find a great stand by recipe I still like like trying others. Cooled, sliced, tasted, it’s a winner. Thanks Jami
Thanks, Sandra – glad you like it!
I love this recipe! I’ve used it three times in a row and have yielded three great batches of brea. Thank you for sharing!
Nice to know this, thanks, Aaron!
I made this recipe exactly as you said and it came out PERFECT! I have never made anything with only whole wheat flour that has come out so soft and fluffy. It tastes great! And I was so excited when my family tasted it and loved it! Thank you so much for this great recipe!
Wonderful, Scott!
Quick question, how much sugar could i use to substitute for the honey??
You can use the same or cut the amount in half.
Do you think it would turn out alright without adding the oil? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
No, it really needs the oil. Some people have used melted butter or coconut oil.
I forgot the salt! Will the bread be ruined?
Shoot! I’ve done that before with my whole wheat rolls. Um, it depends – it really is surprisingly flavorless without the salt, but maybe if you add salted butter or peanut butter? Or use the bread for grilled cheese and salt the sides? Get creative – you don’t need to throw it out. It will make great seasoned croutons if nothing else!
So I realized I forgot the salt right after the dough had formed (it had not risen yet). I took a chance and kneaded the salt into the dough by hand in small increments until it seemed incorporated. The bread still seemed to turn out great! I gave one loaf to my friend and she said it was delicious. I also read online that some people mixed the salt in a small amount of water and sprayed it on and kneaded it afterwards but I didn’t have anything to spray it with. Great recipe! I am making this again today.
So glad that worked out for you!
Added rosemary to the recipe. The kitchen aid I have is an artisan mini 3.5 quart, so it was a little difficult to knead. Stopped to push down the dough a few times before all the dough was kneaded properly which took me about 15 minutes or so. I used the tin loaf from Ikea which is 4.5 x 10 inches. Followed all the instructions as instructed.
Proof the bread in the oven. Preheated the oven to 170F, swithced it off and placed a bowl of water on the lower rack then placed the loafs of bread on the upper rack. Bread turned out perfect. Both bread rise at least 2 inches because they were 1 inch taller than the pan. I live in Bucyrus, Ohio and the temperature today is 19F so thought better to proof in a warm oven.
Wish I can post pictures here because it was successful!!! Have not eaten it yet because I am still waiting for it to cool but I am certain the bread is yummy.
Thank you for all this detail, Ashelia – I’m so glad they turned out nicely for you. I haven’t seen those pans, but will now be looking for them at the Ikea in Portland, next time I get up that way, they sound like a great size.