Wholemeal Bread Recipe

Our brown bread recipe is a simple and satisfying bake, and perfect for bakers who are new to making their own bread. It’s soft, airy, and delicious, and perfect for sandwiches - or simply toasted with butter.

Does wholemeal bread flour need more water?

Wholemeal flours like rye, buckwheat or gluten-free are ‘thirstier’ than other flours - they absorb more water, so you’ll need more to get your dough to the right consistency.

Does wholemeal bread require more kneading?

As wholemeal flour absorbs more water, you’ll have to knead it a little more than you would if you were making white bread.

How to make your wholemeal loaf rise

If your wholemeal bread isn’t rising, this could be because the yeast is too hot, which causes the yeast to die. The yeast should be warm, not too hot or cold. Make sure the ingredients you mix the yeast with are also warm.

Our trick is to add some strong white bread flour to the wholemeal bread flour. Even just a little white flour has enough gluten to give the dough better structure. If you’d like to do this, we recommend using Allinson's Strong White Bread Flour to your wholemeal bread flour - it’s a great all-purpose flour and its high gluten content makes it particularly suitable for bread making.

If you’re new to breadmaking, we’ve got loads of simple guides to help you master the techniques you need - including getting your bread to rise, how to knead dough and how to tell if your bread is baked.

If you enjoy making our wholemeal bread recipe, you should try our Wholemeal Bagels recipe. They’re just as tasty and a wonderful addition to a delicious weekend brunch.

Reasons to bake:

⭐Perfect for novice bakers 

⭐Doesn’t need a bread maker

⭐Keeps for up to a week in a breadbin