A simple and easy Whole Wheat Bread Machine Recipe. This is the perfect bread machine recipe for wholemeal bread that will make healthy and delicious sandwiches and toast for your family.
I love making a simple loaf of bread in my bread machine to use for everyday breakfasts and lunches, or as a side with a quick dinner. Bread Machine White Bread, Thyme Bread, Oatmeal Bread, and Seed Bread are some of my favorites, but I come back to this bread machine whole wheat recipe often too.
If you’re looking for healthy bread machine recipes, you have come to the right place. Using a bread machine to make wholesome homemade wheat bread is the easiest thing ever! You just toss the ingredients in and let the machine knead and bake your loaf for you.
Don’t have a bread machine? Try my no-knead bread recipe instead!
Try using your homemade sandwich bread to make tuna salad sandwiches or a classic BLT!
Do you know what else the bread machine does really well? It makes amazing Pizza Dough!
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
You only need six simple and inexpensive ingredients to make this whole wheat bread machine recipe. You’ll add them to your bread maker in the following order:
- Water: Water mixes everything else together into a cohesive dough.
- Melted Butter: I like the flavor that butter adds to homemade breads, but you can use olive oil if you prefer.
- Sugar: A bit of granulated sugar helps to wake up the yeast and helps to give this bread a golden-brown crust. You can leave the sugar out if you’d like to make sugar-free wheat bread.
- Salt: Salt is added for flavor. It’s optional if you would like to reduce the sodium in this recipe.
- Strong Whole Wheat Bread Flour: Wheat flour comes in a variety of types. The one you want to look for should be labeled as “whole wheat bread flour”. It will also usually be labeled as “strong” or “high-gluten” which means that it has a high amount of gluten, which is perfect for breadmaking.
- Instant Yeast: Instant yeast is the right choice when deciding what type of yeast to buy for your bread maker bread. You may also see “bread maker yeast”. This is also Instant yeast, just with a different label, so feel free to use either. Active Dry Yeast won’t properly bloom in the bread maker, so don’t use that here.
How to Make Whole Wheat Bread in a Bread Machine
Visit my recipe for Bread Machine White Bread for more tips and tricks!
- Add Ingredients: Layer your ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the following order: Water, Butter/Oil, Salt, Sugar, Flour, and lastly, Yeast.
- Set Up and Turn On: Add the bread pan to the bread machine, and make sure that it’s secured. Close the lid, and plug in the machine. Choose the wholemeal or whole wheat bread setting, medium size, and start the machine.
- Let the Bread Maker Work: The bread machine will now take over for you, and knead, proof, and bake your bread dough!
- Cool: When the baking cycle ends, unplug the bread machine, open the lid, and remove the pan from the machine with kitchen mitts. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then shake it out of the pan and allow it to cool completely. Carefully remove the paddle from the bottom of the loaf if it got stuck there.
Tip!
I’ve provided measurements in cups for your convenience, but measuring by weight is best. A digital scale will help you ensure that you are using the correct weight of flour.
FAQs
The manufacturer’s instructions will tell you to add the liquids first, then the dry ingredients. The instant yeast always goes in last. This ensures that the yeast is separated from the liquids until the kneading begins, and is an important step to follow.
Follow this recipe, using 50% strong whole wheat flour and 50% white bread flour. Increase the yeast to 1 ½ teaspoons, then follow the recipe as written.
You should store your homemade bread wrapped in plastic wrap or foil to keep it soft and fresh. Bread machine wheat bread can also be frozen, wrapped well and airtight, for up to two months. Avoid putting bread in the fridge, as the conditions there will dry out your loaf.
This Hamilton Beach programmable bread maker is very well rated on Amazon and available at a reasonable price. You can buy more expensive bread makers, but I would start with a basic one until you’re comfortable and know that you want to use it often.
You should always make sure that your yeast is fresh and active. It could be that your yeast is dead, or you added too much salt or sugar, or you forgot to add the yeast.
You probably added too much yeast.
If this happens for some reason, add more liquid (1 tablespoon at a time) until a ball of dough is formed.
You need to add more flour, add it gradually (1 tablespoon at a time) until a ball of dough is formed.
This whole wheat bread machine recipe makes the best Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches ever, and so much more! I can’t wait to hear about what you do with your homemade bread.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (350ml) water temperature 110°F/45°C
- 2 tablespoons (30g) melted butter can be substituted with oil
- 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 cups (480g) strong whole wheat bread flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
Instructions
- Layer your ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the following order: Water, Butter/Oil, Salt, Sugar, Flour, and lastly, Yeast.
- Add the bread pan to the bread machine, and make sure that it’s secured. Close the lid, and plug in the machine. Choose the wholemeal or whole wheat bread setting, medium size, and start the machine.
- The bread machine will now take over for you, and knead, proof, and bake your bread dough!
- When the baking cycle ends, unplug the bread machine, open the lid, and remove the pan from the machine with kitchen mitts. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then shake it out of the pan and allow it to cool completely. Carefully remove the paddle from the bottom of the loaf if it got stuck there.
Notes:
- Warm Water: When making bread it’s best to have all ingredients at room temperature to start. The water should be a bit above that, at 110°F/45°C, in order to activate the yeast.
- You Can Sift the Flour: Sifting flour before making bread with it helps to aerate it, and will make a fluffier, less dense bread. It’s not necessary for success but is an option.
- You will get a medium 1 and ½ lb or 750g loaf.
- Nutrition: Calculated is just a rough estimate for the smallest loaf if it’s sliced into 10 slices. Info is per slice.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Jonathan Squires says
I just put all the ingredients in the bread machine (Amazon Basic) and am waiting for the sweet smell of fresh bread to fill my home. I adjusted the recipe as follows: 2/3 half and half, 1/3 filtered water to equal 9.5 ounces warmed higher than room temperature, then adding 2.5 tablespoons of butter instead of oil. I sifted 1cup white flour, 1cup wheat flour (King Arthur) and another 1cup of white flour. I added 2 tablespoons of dried milk power, 3 teaspoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of dry, active yeast. While it was mixing I added a tablespoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of turmeric. Success!!! It came out great even though I left the setting on 2 pounds. It is delicious even with all the substitutions I made to the recipe. Thanks Diana.
Diana says
You are very welcome, and thank you for sharing that with me!!
Leah says
This may be dumb…. I am sorry I am SO NEW to this…. my instant yeast is in a packet… and is dry… I thought to activate the yeast you have to let it sit in water…. Do i do this and THEN add it to the top of the mixture in the machine, or do I add it dry and just dump the packet right on top?
Sorry if this is silly!
Amanda says
Why is my bread so dense i followed recipe exactly and yest was not old, this happens most times i make this bread using whole wheat bread flour (strong)
Diana says
100% whole wheat loaves will always be dense, unless you do 50% white bread flour and 50% whole wheat then it will be softer. To make it tender, I can suggest doing 50% white bread flour and replacing the water with milk.
Amanda says
Hi used 50/50 and milk still dense
Tracy says
This is the first bread I made in my new bread maker……I have never made bread by hand and the first machine I had was always used with premade box mix that only required water and yeast…… After reading reviews on my machine I expected to mess-up my first loaf or so…..I was so surprised to find that it turned out great; the taste was very and the color and shape were like the picture. I am very glad I found this wonderful website with such a easy to use recipe. Thanks so much!
Diana says
You are very welcome, Tracy! I’m glad that you decided to give this recipe a try, I’m sure it tastes much better than the premade stuff.
vern says
what about the wheat gluten, most wheat bread calls for it..
also, do u have a recipe for this in lower carbs made in bread machine? thanks…vern…
Bev says
Can i just make the dough in my bread machine and bake it in my oven? If so what temperature and for how long?