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Whole wheat honey sandwich bread with a few slices cut.

High Altitude Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Heather Smoke
This hearty whole wheat sandwich bread is lightly sweetened with honey, and studded with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds and walnuts, for a nutty, wholesome loaf that's wonderful for sandwiches and toast.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

4.89 from 9 votes
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Rising Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings1 large loaf

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
  • Bread Loaf Pan (the "small" USA Pullman pan works wonderfully for this recipe)

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • ¾ cup water
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 packet instant or active dry yeast, preferably Platinum Superior Baking Yeast
  • 2 cups bread flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled (plus extra for rolling the dough)
  • 2 - 2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
  • 1 ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
  • 2 tbsp unsalted pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp unsalted sunflower seeds
  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds
  • ¼ cup unsalted walnuts, finely chopped

Instructions
 

Activate the yeast.

  • In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, honey and 1 tablespoon of butter. Heat the mixture over medium heat to between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.
    If the temperature is hotter or colder, the yeast won't be properly activated.
  • Remove the saucepan from the heat. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk mixture and stir it in. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy and bubbly.

Mix and knead the dough.

  • Meanwhile, combine 2 cups bread flour and 2 cups wheat flour with the salt, seeds and walnuts in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the milk/yeast mixture and stir together to form a soft, sticky dough.
  • Attach the bowl to your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes, gradually adding in the remaining 1/4 cup wheat flour, if needed. The dough will smooth out, and should wrap around the dough hook, but may still stick to the bottom of the bowl.
    Even if the dough seems pretty sticky, you don't need to add more flour than stated in the recipe, or your bread will end up too dense.

Let the dough rise.

  • Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, being careful not to let the dough over-proof and get too big. It should take about 30-45 minutes.
    If your oven has a "bread proof" setting, use this. Otherwise, preheat the oven on to the lowest setting, then turn it off before you set the dough inside to proof.
  • Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan, and keep it on the back of the stove.
  • Prepare a bread loaf pan by brushing the bottom and sides lightly with some of the melted butter, then dusting with flour.
    Loaf Pan Tips: For today's recipe, I used the small USA Pullman pan, which measures 9x4x4 inches, making a tall loaf of bread. The large USA Pullman pan measures 13x4x4 inches, and will also work for this recipe. I've also used the standard 1-lb USA bread loaf pan, which measures 8.5x4.5x2.75 inches, for sandwich bread. Since the sides are not as high as the pullman pans, the loaf should puff over the top of the pan more as it proofs, before the bread is baked.

Shape and rest the dough.

  • When the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour a clean work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick, with a width that's equivalent to the length of your loaf pan. Roll up the dough into a log, and place it in the prepared loaf pan, with the seam of the dough facing down against the bottom of the pan, and the ends tucked down.
  • Brush the top of the dough with some of the melted butter. If you like, sprinkle the top of the dough with a handful of seeds. Set the pan in a warm place to rest for about 20-30 minutes while the oven preheats.
    The dough should be starting to puff up above the top of the pan. If you're using a standard bread loaf pan with short sides (instead of the high sided pullman pan), let the dough puff an inch or two above the top of the pan.
    Baker's Note: This whole wheat bread doesn't have as much "oven spring" as my white sandwich bread. That means it won't rise a great deal higher once it's placed in the oven. So be sure you don't under-proof it before baking, or it can end up dense.

Bake the bread.

  • While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the bread for about 40-55 minutes, until the top is a deep golden brown, and an instant read digital thermometer inserted into the center reaches 195 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Remove the bread from the pan (it should lift right out if you prepped the pan with butter and flour), and set on a wire cooling rack.
  • Cool for about 1-2 hours before slicing with a sharp serrated bread knife.

Notes

Store the bread in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze the bread for up to 3-6 months.
Keyword Bread, High Altitude, Honey, Sandwich, Seedy, Whole Wheat
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