In The Wild Heart Kitchen

My Whole Wheat Maple Bread is baked up with white whole wheat flour, oats maple syrup and cinnamon. Perfect for your morning toast or a tasty sandwich.

Hi, I know we’ve met but we haven’t really met yet…have we? Hey there! I’m Johanna; an avid home cook who enjoys spending her days creating recipes. But above it all, I am first and foremost a bread baker.

Baking bread is where my heart truly lies in the kitchen. Anyone who bakes bread can tell you that its a transcending experience. You simply lose yourself in it; hands deep in dough and kneading and shaping. Baking bread touches you to the very core. There is something that simply drives people stark raving wild when they see freshly baked bread. Freshly baked bread, with a simple swipe of soft butter, is simply unparalleled. There is no greater food on earth, so fight me.

Most folks tend to believe freshly baked bread is only trotted out for special occasions, but I would like to bring you the idea of the weekday bread. No, that doesn’t mean the bagged pre-sliced bread you buy in the store that has an alarming long sell-by date. I mean bread you make for your kids lunchbox, your morning toast, your midnight snack, by hand, every week.

Now, I just heard you there…what was that? Ah. You don’t have the time to bake bread, you don’t know how to bake bread. Don’t worry, this is the bread I bake for my family every week because its easy, requires minimal hands on time and is relatively foolproof. My Whole Wheat Maple Bread is adapted from a King Arthur recipe and I have a slowly made it my own. It’s a great bread for novice bread bakers, the “I don’t have time to bake bread” bakers, and the busy mamma (or pappa) bakers.

If you are new to bread baking, I highly suggest you read my The Beginners Bread Baking Guide which will provide you with good foundational knowledge and answer many questions you may have on the subject.

You will love Whole Wheat Maple Bread!

I’ve lost count how many times I have given this bread recipe to first time bread bakers. Scribbled it on the backs of scraps of paper while online at the grocery store and to fellow moms during a playdate. I have baked this bread so many times, I know the recipe by heart. If I could shout this recipe from the rooftops, I would, because its THAT easy and THAT darn delicious.

Whole Wheat Maple Bread tastes like cool, autumn New England mornings, a warm oversized sweater hug, and the bread you want to keep eating…forever. I love it because it’s lightly sweetened with real maple syrup, spiced with a touch of cinnamon, and folded with oats. Though this bread is whole wheat based, its so soft and light. The key is using white whole wheat flour to give this bread great nutrition without the heaviness of conventional whole wheat. It’s delicious freshly baked and shmeared with soft butter and preserves, sturdy enough for sandwiches and makes the most incredible French toast. It will quickly become your weekly “go to” bake. It freezes well, and it keeps fresh for quite a few days in the bread box.

Here I am, shouting from the rooftops: “Attention bread baking novices and gluten non-believers! Here is your chance to bake gorgeous home-made bread!” Still nervous? Don’t worry! I have provided very detailed instructions to help you achieve bread success! Still still nervous? You can always reach out to me for bread baking assistance!

Print Recipe

Everyday Whole Wheat Maple Bread

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea

Cuisine: amaerican

Keyword: bread, cinnamon, maple syrup, whole wheat

Servings: 2 loaves

Author: wildheartkitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup oats
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 3 ½ cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
• olive oil or flavorless oil such as avocado for coating the bowl
• 3 tablespoons milk for brushing
• oats for sprinkling

Instructions

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 1 cup of oats, butter, cinnamon, salt, maple syrup, and boiling water (I know this sounds odd, but it must be boiling). Stir well. Let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes, or until the mixture is barely lukewarm.
• Add the white whole wheat flour, bread flour, and yeast.
• Fit a dough hook onto the stand mixer and set the mixer on medium. Mix for about 5-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth to the touch with a little tackiness. During the kneading process, you may need to add small amounts of flour and scrape down the mixing bowl a few times. Add flour in 1 tablespoon increments.
• Unplug the mixer and unhook the mixing bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl and lightly coat the bowl (up the sides and all) with oil. Place the dough back in the bowl and then flip it over so evenly coated with oil.
• Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, allowing some slack in the middle.
• Let the dough rise in a warm spot for one hour. This spot doesn’t have to be in your kitchen! It can be anywhere nice and toasty. If its especially cold out, wrap the bowl with an additional towel to keep it warm.
• After one hour, uncover the dough, reserving the piece of plastic wrap. Slowly punch down the middle of the dough and fold in (from the outside to the middle) and punch down the dough from each side and then flip over.
• Using a knife or bench scraper, cut the dough in half.
• On a lightly floured surface, carefully stretch out one of the dough halves into a rough 7×9 rectangle. Place the rectangle in front of you with a short side facing you.
• Think of forming this loaf like folding a blintz or a burrito. Starting from the side closest to you, slightly tuck in both sides of the rectangle (about an inch or two) and then roll the dough into a cylinder.
• When you get to the end, give the loaf one more tuck in and scoot the loaf carefully towards you, using the friction of the work surface to seal in shut.
• Place prepared loaves in a 9×5 inch loaf pan that has been buttered/greased.
• Cover the loaves with the reserved piece of plastic wrap and let them rise in a warm place for one hour or until the loaves have risen over the edge of the loaf pans by about 1 inch.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with milk and heartily sprinkle them with oats.
• Place the loaf tins on a cookie sheet and place them in the oven for 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes, lightly tent the loaves with aluminum foil and bake them for an additional 10 minutes. (IMPORTANT – tenting simply means rest a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the loaves. This allows the bread to continue cooking without the exterior of the loaves burning.)
• Remove from the oven and let the loaves rest for five minutes. Then, carefully turn them out of the tins and allow them to completely cool on a wire rack.