Simple 5-ingredient whole wheat bread. You just don’t get easier than this no-fail and no-knead recipe! Hearty, wholesome, nourishing and delicious!
You know, I always wanted to be the kind of person who makes their own hummus and bakes their own whole wheat bread. So I’m pretty chuffed that I have become this person!
So now I can feel all wholesome and earth-motherish. Well, at least I would if I had some kiddos other than my two cat babies.
Recently someone was saying to me that they’re ‘eating clean’ now.
And ‘eating clean’ is quite the popular phrase in diet culture. But depending on which diet camp you’ve found yourself, ‘clean’ can have vastly different meanings. Like for some it means eating plenty of meat but cutting out grains and processed foods. And of course that is not at all what it means in the vegan community!
But anyway, I am not a fan of labelling foods like this because it’s a value judgement, like ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Which some can take to extremes and it can lead to eating disorders (not good!).
But that being said, lately it can be hard to find a loaf of bread in the store that doesn’t have a heap of junk in it. There is one particular loaf of wholewheat bread that I bought, and we just didn’t get around to eating it (or throwing it out).
However, it was just as perfectly fresh 3 weeks after purchase as it was on the day I brought it home from the store! Hmmm!
So I do like to make some whole wheat bread myself, and when it’s as easy as THIS, then there’s no reason not to!
How to make whole wheat bread
I have literally never come across a recipe as easy as this. It’s just 5-ingredients, and you don’t even have to knead it!
In fact, kneading is out with this recipe. You just throw in some whole wheat flour, a packet of dry yeast and a little salt to a mixing bowl. Then mix in some maple syrup with some warm water and add the wet ingredients to the dry.
Mix in to just combine (no kneading! I’m not going to tell you again you super-keen kneading fan), move it into a greased loaf pan (a little parchment paper on the bottom is also a good idea), cover it and leave it to rise for 20 minutes.
It does all its rising before it even hits the oven. So the height it is when it goes in is pretty much the height it is when it comes out!
Put it into the oven and bake for 40 minutes. And bingo you have freshly baked bread!
I mean really I don’t think it could be easier even if you used a bread machine. Well, I’ve never used a bread machine so I can’t really compare, but with a recipe as easy as this, who needs a bread machine?
Well, don’t quote me on that, maybe I’ll get one, one of these days. I do like nifty little appliances. 😁
And the BEST thing about baking your own bread is your whole house smells delicious and you get to eat it warm from the oven.
I mean really if you don’t feel like cooking, just make a loaf of this (it barely counts as ‘cooking’ it’s too easy), and serve it with a huge salad, maybe some roasted garlic hummus and avocado and various other toppings and dinner is done and dusted!
Of course it goes immensely well with any homemade soups too! So if you’re having a delicious vegan potato leek soup or vegan tomato soup or vegan lentil soup for dinner, then this is going to be awesome for dipping.
You will LOVE how easy this bread is to make, and how perfectly it comes out. It is:
- Hearty
- Homemade
- Nourishing
- Easy
- Filling &
- So Delicious!
It’s best when very fresh (the day of making it) but it will keep for a couple of days in a closed container and it also makes very delicious toast! You can freeze it, but it will be best used for toast after freezing.
Want some toppings for your bread?
- Homemade Vegan Butter
- Homemade Peanut Butter
- Homemade Cashew Butter
- Homemade Almond Butter
- Simple Vegan Guacamole
- Creamy Avocado Hummus
And for more breads, check out our vegan cornbread, vegan banana bread and our easy vegan dinner rolls!
So let us know what you think of this recipe by leaving a comment and rating the recipe! Thanks so much!
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Easy No-Fail Whole Wheat Bread
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 16
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Pin RecipeDescription
Easy 5-ingredient whole wheat bread. You just don’t get easier than this no-fail recipe. Hearty, wholesome, nourishing and delicious!
Ingredients
- 4 cups (520g) Whole Wheat Flour*
- 1 Packet (11g) Instant Yeast (~1 Tbsp)*
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Maple Syrup*
- 2 cups (480ml) Warm Water
Instructions
- Add the flour to a mixing bowl with the yeast and salt and mix together.
- Dissolve the maple syrup in the warm water and then add to the dry ingredients.
- Mix – don’t knead – until you have a sticky well combined dough.
- Transfer to a greased 9×5 loaf pan. You can also line the bottom with parchment paper if you think there will be any chance of it sticking.
- Cover and leave to rise for 20 minutes.
- While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C).
- After 20 minutes when the dough has risen, bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
- Absolutely BEST when fresh, but will keep for a day or two in a closed container. After which you can make the most delicious toast.
Notes
*Weigh your flour for the most accurate results.
*Not all instant yeast packages are 11g, lately I have been getting packages that are 10g, and they work perfectly, so you don’t have to be that precise with the measurement of instant yeast. If you have a package of instant yeast that is a larger size, 11g is around 1 Tbsp of instant yeast.
*Maple syrup can be replaced by another sweetener such as agave nectar or other syrup.
*If your dough hasn’t quite risen as high as mine in the picture at the 20 minute mark then leave it a couple more minutes, sometimes it takes a couple of minutes longer to get to the perfect height, but don’t leave it too long or it will rise too high and then you’ll get a muffin top loaf!
*Prep time includes the 20 minutes spent rising.
- Category: Appetizer, Side
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 16)
- Calories: 116
- Sugar: 0.8g
- Sodium: 74mg
- Fat: 0.8g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 24.5g
- Fiber: 3.6g
- Protein: 4.5g
Keywords: whole wheat bread
Mine came out like a brick. When I went back and looked at your video , your dough was much more wet than mine. Followed recipe, But maybe I need to increase the water next time? Plus I used whole wheat flour has been in my pantry for sometime now.
Hi Gay, it might be a good idea to weigh the flour next time just to make sure it’s the right amount.
Love this recipe but I can’t seem to get my dough to rise. Could it be that I’m using stone ground whole wheat flour?
★★★★★
Hi Jocelyn, I actually love stone ground whole wheat and have used it for this recipe and it works great. I would guess it could be the yeast. Sometimes if yeast has sat on the shelf too long before being sold it can lose its freshness. I would buy a new batch of yeast. :
Hi Alison,
I have realised that you did used stone ground whole wheat in the recipe but thanks for the confirmation, as I am about to make a batch. I was using this flour as dumpling for my vegetable soup but it went soggy, so decided to make bread instead.
★★★★★
Make sure you are using correct water temperature to activate yeast, not less warm nor too hot to kill yeast. Also, I have seen that covering it with lid of cake holder so that it is completely covered and putting it in warm place like microwave oven for 20-30 minutes gives me the best rise.
I made this recipe with whole-wheat flour and it came out perfect. Can I substitute the whole-wheat flour for white flour without changing the other ingredients?
I’m not sure about replacing all of it, I’ve replaced some of the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour when I didn’t have enough whole wheat and that worked fine, but that was just replacing one cup of it or so.
I made this tonight and it is perfection! Thanks so much for the great recipe.
★★★★★
Thanks Victoria! 🙂
made this bread again…this time i substituted 1/4 cup of flour with 1/4 cup of old fashion oats and i put some on top before letting it rise. i use pure honey instead of syrup. came out delicious…especially toasted. i took photos..is there a way to share them or post them?
★★★★★
Awesome Renee! You can always post them on instagram and tag us @lovingitvegan and #lovingitvegan if you’re on insta. Unfortunately there isn’t a way to share photos in the comments but we would love to see them! 🙂
Thanks!!
Can I make this bread gluten free? I have to stay away from wheat
Hi Alice, not as far as I know. You would likely need a recipe designed for gluten-free.
This was so insanely easy, that I was standing there wondering if I missed a step or did something wrong lol.
I will prob add another tsp of maple syrup next time to compare, but it was densely delicious! Two thumbs up!
★★★★★
Haha, that’s awesome! Thanks for the great review Rosy! 🙂
I have made this bread about 8 times now i have been using honey i use 4 tablespoons of honey and it has come out great
I use honey too – i will try putting in 4 tbs instead of 2 🙂
★★★★★
Could you add anything like oatmeal or other grains to this bread?
Hi Ashley – I tried using oatmeal – and it came out great — I substituted 1/4 cup flour with 1/4 whole oats and i patted some on the top of it before it started to rise. I use honey instead of syrup. came out great
HI Alison,
I could only get my hands on wholemeal flour, which I’m pretty sure is different to wholewheat. Do you reckon the recipe could still work? I would really like to get into making my own bread :))
I would give it a try! All the best! 🙂
This is super easy and delicious 😋 First time I’ve made this bread. I had to add a bit more water. Thanks
★★★★
Thanks for sharing Monique. 🙂
This recipe is really simple, and I like the minimal ingredients, which works well for my Plant Based diet. I’ve made it two times in a week, and both times the bread doesn’t really rise that much. The second time, I left it for 40 minutes to rise, and it didn’t really rise too much higher than after 20 minutes. The bread is delicious, however, but pretty heavy and dense. What am I doing wrong? I even used an organic whole wheat bread flour.
Hi Cynthia, I’m not sure if you’re doing anything wrong, the bread is supposed to be quite dense, but still delicious. 🙂
Make sure you are using correct water temperature to activate yeast, not less warm nor too hot to kill yeast. Also, I have seen that covering it with lid of cake holder so that it is completely covered and putting it in warm place like microwave oven for 20-30 minutes gives me the best rise.
★★★★★
This recipe is fantastic! This is the 2nd time I have ever made bread as I thought bread making would be too difficult but this recipe has given me confidence to make our own healthy, delicious bread. Thankyou! 😀
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for the great review! 🙂