Honey Bread {Traditional Recipe}

This Honey Bread is a very simple loaf that uses no yeast and so can be made quickly using ingredients that are pretty standard store cupboard staples. This makes a delicious breakfast bread served hot with some butter and if you get the dough ready the night before, you can pop this in the oven and have a freshly baked loaf ready and waiting on the breakfast table the next morning. Super Mom? Yep :)

Honey Bread

I used to make bread all the time. I'd start the dough in the evening while everyone was winding down and leave it to prove overnight. The kids started to to enjoy helping me and loved kneading the dough. It was actually quite a relaxing thing to do, and it's not hard.

I got really into it and bought a bread maker intending to never buy another loaf again. And for a while we did. But then I fell out of love with the bread maker and banished it to the back of the cupboard as it took the bread kneading ritual away which was the part we liked, and then...well in all honesty a bakery opened near where we live and they make the most amazing breads with the same Real food ingredients we used and I figured it was likely costing more money to make bread than buy it and so slowly our lovely little bread making ritual faded out.

But we still enjoy making bread sometimes, especially if the breads a little different, like this Honey bread. Plus, lets be honest, you just can't beat the smell of fresh bread cooking in the oven as it wafts through your home making everyone hungry. We've started baking breads a bit more often now as our bakers has been closed recently. And I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it!

This honey breads going to give you a quick loaf with a crusty crust and a soft, sweetly chewy middle. We eat this at anytime but it's often associated with breakfast in this house, I guess because it's called honey bread and we usually have honey at breakfast. No rules here though :)

I've used whole grain bread four for this recipe as we like the texture the grains give the loaf. You can use wholemeal for the same recipe and it'll work just fine, but you do really need to find a strong bread flour. Bread flour specifically, has a higher protein content than non bread flours and this produces more gluten. Gluten in turn traps gas bubbles and helps give bread it's bread-y texture.

I used a Dove malt bread flour and it's available in my local store, have a look in your local stores to see what different bread flours they stock. If all else fails, try online, there are a huge range of bread flours available but many shops still only stock a basic couple. You should be able to find wholemeal even if there's no grain flour available.

What Is Honey Bread?

Honey bread is simply a fairly basic loaf that's made with honey, replacing a good portion of the water you's usually use. This gives you a really sweet bread. Honey helps keep the loaf moist whilst giving you that scrummy crusty bread crust.

There is no yeast in this recipe and so it needs no time to prove. I use baking powder to give the dough a rise and this means you can get it made and out in the oven way faster than you can with a regular loaf made with yeast. Which sometimes, is a really good thing!

How Long Does Honey Bread Last?

The honey in this bread helps preserve the bread but even so, unlike store bought breads that often contain any number of preservatives, being a Real food ingredient bread, you need to eat this bread within 2 days.

This will keep best in a bread bin so the air doesn't get to it or it you don't have a bread bin, you could use a plastic bag, something like they use at the bakers or better yet, invest in one of these reusable linen bread bags if you're going to start making bread more often.

What Does Honey Do For Bread?

Honey has been used for many many years in bread making. It adds moisture and sweetness to the bread and helps the crust to crisp up.

You find you get a chewy texture using honey in the dough, and you'll still taste the sweetness when you eat it with only a little butter on it, making this one of the kids favorite breads.

How Does Honey Affect Dough?

Adding honey to dough replaces the sugar usually added to breads making it a good Clean alternative to using refined sugars, but there are a couple of other benefits to it as well.

The sugars in the honey help to preserve your bread and it gives the bread a beautiful golden crust that crunches when you take a bite. I find I use less honey than I would have sugar as it's so sweet. You'll notice that the added moisture from the honey adds to the 'chew' of the bread and it's not crumbly at all.

Honey Bread For Tea

Don't reserve this honey bread for breakfast only, it's a great loaf to have for tea time too! Try having this sweet bread instead of the usual afternoon cake. Thanks to it's sweetness, you could serve this with some chopped bananas for a slightly different afternoon pick-me-up, it'll keep the kids going right through until dinner time.

Try toasting this on a low heat (the honey will toast this bread faster than usual) and mashing some banana and cinnamon together and slathering it on top of honey bread toast.

How To Know If Your Loaf Is Cooked

Bread is easy to check for cooked-ness! As well as your bread being golden and looking like a crusty loaf on the top, the true test is tapping it using your knuckles on the bottom and seeing what sound it makes. If your bread is cooked, it will make a hollow sound.

If it doesn't sound hollow, your bread needs to go back into the oven for another 5 minutes.

More Clean Eating Loafs

• Banana date loaf
• Lemon curd loaf
• Carrot and walnut loaf
• Spiced pumpkin bread
• Sweetcorn bread
• Banana and blueberry bread

How To Make Honey Bread

Ingredients

• 1½ Cups Wholegrain flour Or wholemeal flour
• ½ Cup Honey
• 100 ml Water
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Salt

Instructions

• Heat the over up to 190° and put some parchment paper onto a baking tray. Put to one side
• In a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt and combine
• Put the honey and water into a small pan and heat gently, just to loosen the honey. If your honey is runny you can skip this step and combine the water and honey in a jug
• Make a well in the flour and pour half the honey and water mix in. Using a wooden spoon mix the water and honey in and then add the rest bit by bit until you have a workable dough
• Make sure the dough is very well combined , add another tablespoon of flour if it needs it, or slightly more water if it's too dry. You'll know which your dough needs to be workable
• Turn the dough out onto a floured worktop and knead it into a ball and then flatten it so it's about 4inch's high. Sprinkle a tiny bit more flour on the ball
• Using a very sharp knife, cut a cross across the bread, about ¾ of the way through the loaf. This helps it cook
• Bake your bread for 25 minutes until the loaf is golden and crusty on top, and makes a hollow sound when you tap it on the bottom with your knuckles. If the bread doesn't sound hollow, pop it back into the oven for another few minutes
• Leave to cool for 20 minutes before cutting it and then serve with some butter!

Honey Bread Recipe