Homemade honey oat bread is easy to make at home and perfect for beginning bread bakers! – Try this hearty bread in sandwiches, toast, or warm from the oven with a drizzle of honey!
How to upgrade your sandwich game and just your life in general: make homemade bread!!
Bread is just one of those things that’s easier and more practical to buy in the store, but once in awhile it’s SO much fun and seriously such a treat to make it at home.
If you’ve never tackled homemade yeast bread before, let this recipe be your sign to give it a shot! It’s very beginner-friendly in technique, the dough is super easy to work with, and you don’t even need a stand mixer.
This bread brings back nostalgic memories for me and I’m seriously SO excited for you to try it!
I grew up with my mom baking homemade bread every Wednesday morning (pretty sure she still does!) and let me tell you, there is nothing better than that.
Bread = good memories and good future. That’s just the magic of bread.
This Honey Oat Bread features…
- A soft, hearty bread texture with just a little bit of chewiness from the whole wheat flour and oats
- Lightly sweetened honey flavor
- A bread dough that’s easy to work with and perfect for beginners
- No stand mixer required, but instructions for both stand mixer and making it by hand
Making the Honey Oat Bread
(scroll down to the bottom of post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Active dry yeast
- Warm water
- Egg + egg white
- Honey
- Oil
- Salt
- Whole wheat flour
- All-purpose flour
- Quick-cooking oats
Stand Mixer vs. Mixing Bowl
Both a stand mixer and a mixing bowl + wooden spoon will work for mixing this bread. Obviously, by hand requires a little more elbow grease and arm power, but it absolutely doable!
If you choose to go the stand mixer route, make sure you use the dough hook for mixing and let the machine knead the dough on medium speed 5-7 minutes until the dough is stretchy and elastic,
If you are making the dough by hand, use a large bowl and a wooden spoon for mixing the dough. For kneading, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead about 10 minutes or whenever the dough is stretchy and elastic.
Why do we knead dough? We’re forming gluten during kneading which helps yeasted dough rise and expand for better bread volume and gas retention while baking.
Moral of the story: don’t rush the kneading process! You will know your dough is properly kneaded when you can stretch it several inches without it tearing.
Tips for Perfect Honey Oat Bread
- Use water at 110F degrees – we recommend temping your water to ensure it’s not over 110F. If you use water that’s too warm, it will kill the yeast and your bread will not rise.
- Use quick cooking oats- we’ve found that quick oats work best here because of their soft texture. If you only have old-fashioned rolled oats on hand, give them a few pulses in the food processor until slightly broken down.
- Measure flour correctly – we use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
- Knead dough properly – as we previously discussed, this step is where we develop the gluten which is crucial for forming the structure of the bread.
- Allow dough to rise until doubled – turn the dough into a clean greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
- Let dough rise in a warm place – yeast dough loves warm environments for rising. We recommend 75F-80F for a rising environment in your kitchen.
- Roll dough out – punch the dough down and divide into two even portions. Roll each portion out into a 9×12 rectangle, tightly roll up into a cylinder, tuck ends underneath, and place in 9×5 loaf pans. This rolling step is a little secret for getting extra bread height!
- Brush loaves with egg wash – this helps the loaves brown nicely while they bake. You can even sprinkle a little extra oats on top for a beautiful garnish!
- Let loaves rise until doubled – depending on temperature of your kitchen, this could take 30-45 minutes or up to an hour
- Bake bread at 350F – the bread will be a deep golden brown and should register 190F on a kitchen thermometer when it’s done. We highly recommend using a kitchen thermometer for this part!
- Cool bread completely – this bread will slice much easier if you let it cool completely on a cooling rack before digging in.
Ways to Enjoy Bread
- Sandwiches
- Toast
- Alongside a soup or stew
- Fresh with butter, jam, or a drizzle of honey
Storing and Freezing Bread
For storing on counter: allow the bread to cool completely, seal in a ziplock bag, and store on the counter for up to 3 days. We’ve found that after the 3 day mark, the bread starts to get slightly dry.
For freezing: allow the bread to cool completely, wrap well or store in a ziplock bag, and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw bread and reheat for serving.
If you choose to freeze this bread, we recommend freezing it the day you make it to preserve freshness.
For reheating: reheat individual slices in the microwave on high 15-30 seconds OR wrap bread in tin foil and reheat in a 350F oven 10-15 minutes.
Y’all, it’s not fancy, but this bread is just plain good and you need it in your life.
The heartiness of it makes it incredible for a sandwich, but definitely don’t pass up keeping it simple and enjoying it warm with a good drizzle of honey.
Oh, and if you think two loaves of this bread is too many, trust me, it’s not and you will DEFINITELY want that much.
It quite possibly might not even be enough.
More yeast breads to try next!
Honey Oat Bread
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Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups warm water (110F)
- 2-1/2 teaspoons (or one 1/4 oz package) active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or canola, vegetable, or olive)
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats, plus extra for topping
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
- 4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1 large egg white, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Place warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook OR a large bowl. Dissolve yeast in water and let stand 5 minutes until foamy.
- Mix honey, egg, and coconut oil into yeast mixture until smooth. Add salt, oats, whole wheat flour, and 4 cups all purpose flour to bowl and mix on low speed OR with a wooden spoon if making dough by hand until dough pulls away from sides of bowl, about 2 minutes of mixing. (if dough seems a bit wet, add additional all-purpose flour by the tablespoon until dough pulls away from sides of bowl)
- If making dough in stand mixer, knead dough in mixer on low speed 5-7 minutes until dough is stretchy and elastic. If making dough by hand, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until dough is stretchy and elastic, about 10 minutes of kneading.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place at room temperature 1 to 1-1/2 hours until dough is doubled in size.
- Once dough has doubled in size, preheat oven to 350F. Line two 9×5 loaf pans with parchment paper OR lightly grease. Set aside.
- Punch risen dough down and turn onto a floured surface. Divide dough in half and roll each half out into a 9×12 inch rectangle. Tightly roll each rectangle starting at the short side, pinching ends to seal. Transfer each loaf to prepared pans, tucking ends under.
- Brush each loaf with egg white/water mixture and sprinkle with additional oats. Allow loaves to rise in a warm place at room temperature 30-45 minutes until doubled in size.
- Bake loaves at 350F 25-30 minutes until bread is a deep golden brown and registers 190F on a kitchen thermometer.
- Cool bread completely in pans on a wire cooling rack. Once cooled, remove from pans and use a serrated knife to cut into slices. Enjoy!
Cheer B Kosak says
Excellent results for me with your recipe, I will say I added a little flax, wheat germ, chia seed and hemp hearts. None of that disturbed the balance with the dough. I will make this again! Thank you!
Sarah says
Thanks for sharing your modifications!! Happy to hear you enjoyed this bread 🙂