Honey Whole Wheat Bread

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One lesson I learned from our 10 days of real food experiment was how easy and economical it is to make your own bread. While I don’t eat a lot of whole wheat bread because of my mild gluten intolerance, my family does love their bread for sandwiches and toast. Most bread at the grocery store is unacceptable from a “real food” perspective, because even the “organic” and “all-natural” varieties tend have at least 20 ingredients, including added sweeteners, refined oils, and other mysterious ingredients.

We enjoy the honey whole wheat bread from Great Harvest, but it costs $5 a loaf. I’d rather not have to keep up with that price tag since my family goes through 2 loaves of bread a week. Lisa of 100 Days of Real Food created a good copy of this bread, but hers calls for a bread machine. I make it in the oven with a couple adjustments.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

This honey whole wheat bread is delicious and easy to make.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Cook Time:45 minutes mins

Rise Time:3 hours hrs

Total Time:3 hours hrs 55 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 cup warm water give or take

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan with olive oil.
• Measure 1/4 cup of lukewarm water and mix it together with the yeast and honey. Set aside.
• In a stand mixer with a dough hook, combine the flour, salt, and olive oil. Slowly add the yeast/water mixture, and then slowly add about a cup of lukewarm water. Stop when the dough begins to come together into a ball.
• Put the ball of dough in a non-reactive bowl and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes (use the longer time if the air temperature is cool).
• Form the ball into a rectangle and transfer it into the loaf pan. Allow it to rise close to the top of the pan (about another 60 to 90 minutes).
• Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Nutrition

Calories: 178kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 80mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg

Servings: 12

Calories: 178kcal

Author: Annemarie Rossi

Cost: $1.75 per loaf

Honey Whole Wheat Bread Price Breakdown

This loaf of bread weighs 2.2 pounds, the same as the Great Harvest loaf. Here is what I paid for each of the ingredients:
2 tsp. yeast:  $.37
4 cups white whole wheat flour:  $.75
½ tsp. salt:  $.01
¼ cup honey:  $.50
2 tbs. olive oil:  $.12
Total cost:  $1.75

The Great Harvest store is 30 minutes away from our house, so it takes us a lot more time to buy a loaf from Great Harvest than to make it ourselves. It takes me 10 minutes to mix the ingredients at a moderate pace, and the rest of the work is just watching the clock and doing things at the necessary times. Going through 2 loaves of bread a week, a homemade batch costs $3.50 compared to $10 for a similar amount of bread from Great Harvest. It’s definitely worth it to me!