Homemade Wheat Bread (Aunt Kathy's Recipe)

Homemade wheat bread made with 100% whole wheat flour, but it's actually soft! This simple homemade bread has a hearty flavor and chewy texture of a whole wheat bread, but it's soft in texture like white bread.
Good Morning everyone!!! Yesterday was my little guy's 7 Th Birthday and he had such a great day. We had a Sponge Bob Party and took him to the Devils Bowl Raceway. It was really loud but Carson had such a great time. We only stayed about 2 1/2 hours because he asked what time it was and his dad told him 9 PM. He said that's my bedtime can we go home now?

I told him there is no school tomorrow you can stay up really late, he said I'm tired and I want to go home and go to bed. Poor kid I think 2 hours was his max time for racing. He loves to just kick back in bed and watch TV. Carson is our only kid that we don't have a hard time getting to bed. 

Today is Potluck Sunday and lately I've been bringing dessert's to the potluck. Well today I am changing things up a bit and bringing Aunt Kathy's Homemade Wheat Bread.  Aunt Kathy isn't my aunt, but she is Stephanie's Aunt Kathy from Fun Food's on a Budget and that is  where I got this wonderful bread recipe from. 

This recipe caught my eye when Stephanie said its 100% wheat bread with a soft white bread texture. I had to try it because every loaf of wheat bread I ever baked was dense and grainy. 
My kids wont eat a really heavy thick bread. I have made this bread twice already and it comes out really soft every time. This recipe has become our favorite homemade wheat bread recipe. Let's get started on the recipe. 


Add sugar to warm water (about 110 degrees) stir in yeast, and add shortening by spoonfuls to allow it to soften. Cover until yeast is dissolved. Add flour and salt, and knead for 5 - 10  minutes or until you have a somewhat sticky but pliable dough. 

Add the dough to bowl that has been coated with oil. Turn the dough over once to coat both sides. cover dough and allow to rise until double in size (about 40 min - 1 hour). 

 Punch down dough and turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. 

Shape into two loaves and place into two greased loaf pans. Cover and allow to rise until the dough is about 1/2 inch above the loaf pans. When I bake bread I like to roll the dough out and then roll up like I do when I make cinnamon rolls and pinch the ends to seal. Place each loaf into a greased loaf pan. 

I place mine in the oven with a glass bowl of warm water on the bottom shelf under the bread. I leave the oven light on and the bread rises beautifully. That is the method I use when I bake bread or rolls. I have also included a link on how to shape bread before you place it in your loaf pan. Click here to view the video.


Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Slide the bread out of the loaf pan and check if the bread is golden on the bottom and sides. If not return the bread into the oven and cook an additional  5-10 minutes.


Remove from oven and immediately remove the bread from the bread pans and lay the bread on their sides on a cooking rack. 






Aunt Kathy's Homemade Wheat Bread

2 - cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
1/2 - cup sugar
2 - tablespoon instant or active dry yeast
1/2 - cup shortening
1 - tablespoon salt
5 1/2 - cups whole wheat flour or as much flour you can knead into the dough

Add sugar to warm water (about 110 degrees) stir in yeast, and add shortening by spoonfuls to allow it to soften. Cover until yeast is dissolved. 

Add flour and salt, and knead for 5 - 10  minutes or until you have a somewhat sticky but pliable dough. 

Add the dough to bowl that has been coated with oil. Turn the dough over once to coat both sides. cover dough and allow to rise until double in size (about 40 min - 1 hour).   

Punch down dough and turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Shape into two loaves and place into two greased loaf pans. 

Cover and allow to rise until the dough is about 1/2 inch above the loaf pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Slide the bread out of the loaf pan and check if the bread is golden on the bottom and sides. If not return the bread into the oven and cook an additional  5-10 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately remove the bread from the bread pans and lay the bread on their sides on a cooking rack. 

Recipe yields: 2 loaves



27 comments

HoosierHomemade said…
That bread looks delicious! My husband loves wheat bread!
Thanks so much for hosting Potluck Sunday!
~Liz
Rachelle S said…
Awh, Happy Birthday to your 7 yr old! (I have a soon to be 7 yr old also, in Aug)

I love homemade bread! I just wish it didn't go stale so fast.
Tina Butler said…
Hi Rachelle, I usually freeze one loaf and use one. Maybe you can try that. We dont eat bread that fast so it would go bad. Maybe you can freeze it before it does its second rise in the loaf pan. Then you can just bake up the second loaf fresh.
Anonymous said…
I haven't made homemade bread very much, but this looks so good I'm going to try it. Thanks for sharing. Denise@cottagesisters
Anonymous said…
hey, tina, stop by today, i left you an award-or two! anne

www.anniebakes.net
Cindy said…
I've been reluctant to make homemade wheat bread after my homemade wheat pizza crust fiasco. I think I will have to try this one, because it looks heavenly and light. Thanks for sharing!!
Stephanie said…
So glad you like this recipe! It's my favorite bread to make because it's easy and turns out so good. :-)
Michele said…
Your bread looks delicious! I make homemade wheat bread for our family instead of buying it and it's so much better!
I haven't made wheat bread in forever. Yours looks so good.
Sheri said…
Just happened by your blog and I'm really enjoying it. The bread looks wonderful. Hope your son has a great birthday.
Leslie said…
HAppy birthday to your son!!!!
Love the bread..and I love that it doesn't use a bread machine!
tracieMoo said…
I never knew whole wheat could look so good! Definitely have got to try this :)
Tina Butler said…
Leslie I would probably mess it up using a bread machine. I am so used to making bread the old fashioned way and I love it.
Your bread looks perfect!! Happy birthday to Carson and I think that is so sweet that he knew it was bedtime!!
nancy huggins said…
Can't wait to try it and share with DH Aunt..I love wheat bread
Jane said…
Ooh...that wheat bread looks great! I love when fresh bread is soft and not too dense. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Happy Mother's Day to you! :)
That sounds wonderful! I might just have to make that for my husband sometime.
Kathleen said…
This bread looks and sounds totally amazing!
Kanga said…
Attempting to make this bread today ... but I think I did something wrong, lol! Gotta try and figure out what - it is pretty heavy and isn't rising (after the 5 minute kneading process and then rising in bowl for 10 minutes). Your bread looks FABULOUS, though!
Kanga said…
Should I have used whole wheat BREAD flour? The recipe didn't specify, so I just bought whole wheat flour by Hodgson Mill ... it is really heavy and dense, and won't rise. My yeast bubbled and I kneaded for the specified time....
aimbelina said…
can i use something other than sugar?
Tina Butler said…
@Aimbelina, You could probably use honey in place of the sugar. I'm just unsure of the amount to use. You may have to google it.

@Kanga, I used regular whole wheat flour. I don't know why it wouldn't rise the second time around. I use walmart brand wheat flour.

Other than a problem with the yeast I can't figure it out. You can email stephanie from "fun foods on a budget" because this is her original recipe.
Lauren said…
Made this bread for the first time today...YUM! I only had 2 c. WW flour left, so it was a mix of AP & WW. I threw it all in the bread machine on the dough cycle and prayed it would work. I did the rolling method and put the whole thing in my pullman pan and baked it for 30 minutes. I thought I'd be freezing half, but there's no way it's gonna last, lol!

It's the softest bread I've ever made! Thank you! (And the blogger you got it from!)
Anonymous said…
How long does is take to raise in the oven?
Sasha said…
What kind of yeast do you use? I just followed this recipe to the "T" (even measuring out my ingredients as though I was on the food network channel) and it is dense and not rising? Grrr lol.
Tina Butler said…
Sasha I am not in your kitchen so it makes it hard to tell you what went wrong. Your yeast could of been old or you could of killed the yeast by using too hot of water. This recipe is very forgiving and pretty easy to make so it could be a number of things. You might need to knead the dough a bit longer, but the listed time is correct. Bread making. can be hard until you get the hang of it. I usually use Red Star yeast.
Anonymous said…
i tried this bread yesterday. i used butter instead of shortening. It was perfect. Thanks for sharing