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 crap 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 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!
Want some toppings for your bread?
- Homemade Vegan Butter
- Homemade Peanut Butter
- Homemade Cashew Butter
- Homemade Almond Butter
- Simple 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!
Sign up for our email list while you’re here, you’ll get an awesome (and free!) dinner recipes ebook and you’ll be the first to know when new recipes are posted to the blog.
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 loaf pan.
- Cover and leave to rise for 20 minutes.
- While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 390 degrees fahrenheit (200 degrees celsius).
- 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.
*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
Alison says
May 10, 2019 at 5:31 pmI’m a newbie to baking and am making this bread for the first time today – for a vegan friend! It’s in the oven NOW. I mixed the ingredients with a spoon – I don’t have a big heavy mixer. I hope that is okay! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Alison Andrews says
May 11, 2019 at 10:40 amHope it came out great! 🙂
J says
May 13, 2019 at 2:15 amI’m confused-I want to make this bread but have never seen a yeast package listed at 11 grams. All I’ve seen are seven. I use jarred yeast anyway but was wondering if you could clear this up for me. Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
May 13, 2019 at 3:34 pmHi J, those were the sizes of the packages I was getting in Dubai, now I’m in South Africa and they are 10g, which is why I added the note that it really equates to 1 Tbsp. All the best! 🙂
Anush says
May 15, 2019 at 9:05 amHi,
Would you be able to share exact measurements of ingredients to be mixed together? For some reason not being able to see it in the recipe. Thanks so much
Alison Andrews says
May 15, 2019 at 6:16 pmHi Anush, sorry the site was down temporarily and we had some issues but they are now resolved and you should be able to see the recipe card outlined in pink perfectly at the bottom of the post.
Blaze says
May 16, 2019 at 10:55 pmI’m a bread baker by trade, but I was curious what you preferred for this recipe, a mixer a spoon or your hands? My dough seemed a little stiff but was still sticky. I’m letting it rise right now.
Alison Andrews says
May 18, 2019 at 8:13 amI use a spoon. 🙂
Cindy says
May 18, 2019 at 3:53 pmI’ve made this recipe so many times, I feel like it’s second nature now! I thought I’d chime in because it’s been so fun and successful. The first half dozen times I made this bread, I used a spoon. Perfect bread. I tried my food processor several times, perfect bread. Then I tried my stand mixer, perfect bread. Lastly, I tried my Cuisinart hand mixer with dough hooks and bingo, I found the best way for me to make this bread. I have found that decreasing the flour by a 1/4 cup makes an easier dough for me to handle and by adding the liquid to the bowl first helps keep the dried bits on the side of the bowl to a minimum. I’ve used half white/half wheat flour and a very tasty but lighter weight loaf with 1 cup oat flour and 3 cups of wheat flour (very crunchy toasted). One time I accidentally let the bread rise too long and the top did cave in but voila – perfect bread anyway. This is definitely a “No Fail” recipe! Hope this helps 😊 .
★★★★★