This Easy Honey White Bread Recipe Is Great for Beginners (2024)

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This Easy Honey White Bread Recipe Is Great for Beginners (1)

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 40 mins

Proving : 105 mins

Total: 2 hrs 55 mins

Servings: 20 servings

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Bread and honey are a combination made in sweet and chewy heaven. The sweetness of honey gives the bread a fantastic taste, color on the inside, and a beautiful golden hue to the crust. Our recipe for honey bread needs just seven ingredients and will deliver to your table a wonderful loaf that's difficult to beat in texture, color, and flavor. Honey bread is great for sandwiches, French toast, or bread pudding. A slice of it with butter is a great snack or breakfast, and the ease of making it will make this bread your new family favorite.

Honey has been used in baking and bread baking for centuries as it adds moisture to the dough or batter. Because of its sugars, it can help the yeast grow when used adequately. Its antibacterial properties can retard mold growth, so its use in ancient recipes was key to extending the shelf life of baked goods before refrigeration was invented.

Our simple recipe is ideal for beginner bakers. Don't let the number of steps in the method fool you. In bread making, attention to detail is key, but it doesn't necessarily mean the end product is difficult to achieve. Proofing the bread is the longest part of the process, and the recipe is more hands off than it is hands on. For this recipe, you need two bread tins—9x5-inch ones are great—and close to three hours from beginning to end. Finally, we recommend using bottled water instead of tap water to make your bread. Water softeners and chlorinated public water can sometimes kill the yeast needed to make your bread dough rise.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups water, warm

  • 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast

  • 1 cup whole milk, room temperature; or skim, or non-fat

  • 2 tablespoons honey

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened

  • 6 cups bread flour, divided

  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    This Easy Honey White Bread Recipe Is Great for Beginners (2)

  2. In​ alarge bowl, mix the warm water and yeast. Ideally, the water temperature should be between 95 F and 110 F.

    This Easy Honey White Bread Recipe Is Great for Beginners (3)

  3. Add the milk, honey, salt, and butter. Stir well to roughly incorporate.

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  4. Add 4 cups of the flour and mix well. Add in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl.

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  5. Turn the dough out onto alightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the dough is firm and smooth to the touch. If using a standing mixer, mix on high for 3 to 5 minutes.

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  6. Grease amedium-sized bowl with 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil. Place the dough inside and turn it over in thebowl a few times so that it's lightly greased all over.

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  7. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

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Shape and Bake the Dough

  1. Punch down the dough. Turn the dough out onto alightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes or until the bubbles are out of the bread. If using a standing mixer, mix for 2 minutes at medium speed.

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  2. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Shape each dough half into a loaf-shaped oval ball.

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  3. Grease two 9x5-inch bread pans with the remaining teaspoon of vegetable oil.

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  4. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size. Around 15 minutes before the time is up, preheat the oven to 350 F.

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  5. Bake the loaves for 40 minutes or until the bread top is golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on top. Remove the breadfrom the pans and allow them to cool on arack.

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  6. Enjoy.

Choose Your Favorite Crust

Depending on what you do before or after baking the loaves, you'll end up with a different type of crust:

  • Brush the loaves with melted butter immediately after baking to achieve a soft crust.
  • Spray the loaves with water while they bake for a crispy crust.
  • Brush the loaves with milk before baking to get a dark, shiny crust.
  • Brush the loaves with egg whites before baking to get a shiny crust.

What is bread flour?

Bread flour has a higher amount of protein than all-purpose flour, from 11 to 13 percent. Having more protein helps the dough to also have higher amounts of gluten, which gives the dough stretch and elasticity. This means that bread made with bread flour will rise higher and have a chewier bite than bread made with all-purpose flour.

You can make your own bread flour by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of wheat gluten to each cup of all-purpose flour you use in your bread recipe.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
183Calories
3g Fat
32g Carbs
6g Protein

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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories183
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g4%
Saturated Fat 1g7%
Cholesterol 6mg2%
Sodium 232mg10%
Total Carbohydrate 32g12%
Dietary Fiber 1g4%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg0%
Calcium 21mg2%
Iron 0mg2%
Potassium 63mg1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

  • Yeast bread
  • american
  • family dinner
  • bread

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This Easy Honey White Bread Recipe Is Great for Beginners (2024)

FAQs

What happens when you add honey to bread? ›

Color: Honey can give bread a darker crust and crumb color due to its natural sugars caramelizing during baking. This can result in a golden or amber hue, depending on the type and amount of honey used. Tenderizing: Honey can act as a dough conditioner, making the bread softer and more tender.

Will yeast rise with honey? ›

Honey has been used in baking and bread baking for centuries as it adds moisture to the dough or batter. Because of its sugars, it can help the yeast grow when used adequately.

Can you use honey instead of sugar to make bread? ›

out the sugar for honey! Just substitute honey for the. same amount of sugar in the recipe and add a little. extra flour to make up for the added moisture.

What is the secret to soft homemade bread? ›

Brush With Butter

Butter contains fats that retain gases during baking, ensuring the dough rises properly in the oven and softening the crust. If you forget to brush the dough before you bake, you can still apply it as soon as you take it out. The butter will minimize the amount of crisping a loaf will do as it cools.

Is honey or sugar better for yeast? ›

Honey creates a more golden crust than sugar does. It also helps to keep bread moist and adds a distinctive flavor. Because of its antibacterial properties, it retards mold, which improves the shelf life of baked products. But that antibacterial property has a downside—some honeys can kill yeast.

Why do you use honey instead of sugar in baking? ›

Honey results in a moister, fluffier texture.

Sugar is a dry, loose granule, and it imparts that texture to baked goods.

What happens when you mix honey with yeast? ›

Yes, honey works great as a replacement for sugar in yeast dough recipes. The major role of sugar in dough is to provide food for the yeast and honey more or less does the same thing.

Can you add too much honey to yeast? ›

In answer to your question, you can use too much honey. Somewhere above 4 1/2 pounds per gallon, you get into territory that is very tough for yeast, and many will stall before fermentation is complete. When above 5 pounds per gallon (above a gravity of 1.200 you reach a point where most yeast can't even start.

What honey kills yeast? ›

All the honey types assessed were actively disturbing the growth of the microbes, but Jarrah honey was significantly more active against the three Candida species when compared to the other two types of honey.

What is the best honey for baking bread? ›

Amber honey is little darker, with more caramel notes, which makes it perfect for bread; I use it in my Parker house rolls." "For personal use, I'm such a fan of honeycomb. It's almost unbelievable to me that bees can produce such an incredible treat!

Can diabetics eat honey? ›

If you prefer the taste of honey, go ahead and use it. But only use honey in moderation. Be sure to count the carbohydrates in honey as part of your diabetes eating plan.

Is honey good for a diabetic? ›

Generally speaking, yes, it's OK to eat honey if you have diabetes. But you should consume it in moderation. Although honey has a lower glycemic index (GI) than table sugar, it still contains sugar. And any type of sugar will raise your blood glucose levels.

Is it better to use oil or butter for bread? ›

The spongy texture and moist flavor that oil creates can be a boon to certain recipes. Not to mention oil is cheaper and easier to work with. Butter will always provide superior flavor and that melt-in-your-mouth texture. In many recipes, combining the two gives the best of both worlds.

What do bakeries put in bread to keep it soft? ›

Commercial bakeries use two types of ingredients to slow spoilage — emulsifiers and enzymes. Emulsifiers keep bread from going stale by preventing oil and water from separating.

How can I make my bread lighter and fluffy? ›

All it takes is a small amount of dough enhancer per loaf to create a much lighter and fluffier result. Using a dough enhancer like Vital Wheat Gluten works to improve the texture and elasticity of the dough and elongate the strands of gluten. Doing so allows more room for the gas in the dough to develop and rise.

How does honey affect baking? ›

What Does Honey do in Baking? Honey is a 'humectant'. This means that it retains moisture- great news for baking as it helps keep biscuits and cake moist. Honey compared with traditional refined sugar, also means you gain a richer colour and fuller flavour.

Why do you put honey in dough? ›

It also has a significant effect on dough rheological properties. Honey powder contributes to yellowy crumb and golden brown crust, increases fermentation or mixing tolerance of dough, and causes baked products to remain fresher and more moist.

Does baking with honey destroy nutrients? ›

Honey should not be heated rapidly, over direct heat. Basically, the hotter you heat it, the more potential for reducing nutritional value. Excessive heat can have detrimental effects on the nutritional value of honey. Heating up to 37°C (98.6 F) causes loss of nearly 200 components, part of which are antibacterial.

Does honey lose its benefits when baked? ›

Beneficial bacteria and harmful heat

Heating honey to high temperatures – generally above 45-50°C – eliminates these benefits by killing the bacteria, enzymes, and antioxidants that make honey so powerful.

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