If you love the taste of homemade bread but don’t want excess refined sugar or white flour in your diet, this recipe for healthy honey whole wheat bread will suit you perfectly. It combines the simplest of ingredients with the convenience of a bread machine to yield a delicious, honey-sweetened loaf of whole wheat bread that takes only five minutes of preparation time.
Healthy Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Bread machine time: About 3 ½ hours, depending on machine
Yield: One 1.5-pound loaf of bread (be sure to check bread machine’s size before making)
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons 80° F/27°C water
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons raw honey (such as Sleeping Bear Farms Real Raw Honey)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 3 cups of high-quality whole wheat flour (such as Wheat Montana Bronze Chief Premium Flour)
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast.
Directions
- Add the water, oil, and honey to the bread machine’s bread pan first.
- Add the salt and wheat flour next. Do not stir dry ingredients with wet ingredients.
- Make a small pit in the top of the wheat flour, and add the yeast to this pit, taking care not to touch it to the wet ingredients below.
- Place the bread pan in the bread machine.
- Select the whole wheat, normal, 1.5-pound cycle on the bread machine, along with any delayed bake instructions you may wish to add.
Suggested Topping Ideas for Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Don’t ruin a good thing by topping this bread with less-than-healthy choices such as butter and corn syrup-sweetened jam. Five delicious, better-for-you topping options include:
- Mash half of a fresh avocado with a fork, then spread on a slice of bread and top with freshly ground black pepper and a dash of salt
- Spread with sugar-free, organic peanut butter, and top with fresh banana slices
- Tear off chunks and dip lightly in a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- Serve with soup, such as this Healthy Homemade Vegetarian Lentil Soup, and dip the bread into the soup or use it to wipe up the extra soup left in the bowl
- If you must have butter, try this idea for “olive butter,” described by Paul Pitchford in Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, 3rd Edition (North Atlantic Books, 2003): In a large bowl, mix ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil with 1 stick of butter at room temperature. First, mash the butter with a fork, then blend the mixture with a wire whisk until well mixed. Pour the mixture into a ceramic or glass container, cover, and place in the fridge to solidify. Use it as you would butter—it will spread easily straight out of the refrigerator.
Why Is This an Extremely Healthy Whole Wheat Bread Recipe?
While many whole wheat recipes use some white flour as well, this whole wheat bread recipe for bread machines calls for the use of only whole wheat flour, giving you the full benefits of healthy whole grains. In addition, this whole wheat bread is sweetened with raw honey, which is also known for its numerous health benefits. Finally, the oil used in this bread machine recipe is heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil, another ingredient well known for its health benefits.
Join the Conversation