This is a sponsored post with Red Star Yeast, but all opinions are 100% my own.
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I know that it’s late summer and I probably *should* be giving you more last-minute salad recipes and burgers and things of the like.
Luckily, my friend Julia has taken care of that for us. Me? I’m the crazy lady who can’t help but bake bread in the middle of a heat wave.
Someone, commit me.
Actually, you know what? If baking delicious, hearty bread year-round is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
This recipe for Wheat Germ Bread comes straight from Red Star Yeast. To all of my bread-bakers out there – have you tried baking with Red Star Yeast yet? I am kind of a believer in “you get what you pay for” in this world, and I think that’s certainly true of my baking ingredients. Trust me friends – buying high-quality ingredients makes a real difference in your baked goods, and baking with a high-quality yeast really does produce breads that rise more and eliminates a lot of the questioning that can go into baking with yeast.
But back to the bread. There are two ingredients in this recipe that really give it depth and make it different from your average white bread: wheat germ, which gives the bread a subtle nuttiness and great crumb, and molasses, which provides a real depth of flavor (and a lovely color to the finished loaf). This bread is hearty enough to make great toast (perhaps with some homemade Apple Cherry Butter), but still soft enough to use for sandwiches. And to make it even better, there is no kneading involved with this recipe. Yep, that’s right, it is as easy as can be to make.
This may just become your new go-to bread recipe.
Recipe from Red Star Yeast.
Wheat Germ Bread
Ingredients
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Instructions
- In large mixer bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, wheat germ and salt; mix well. Add water, molasses, shortening and egg. Blend at low speed until combined; increase speed to medium and beat 3 minutes.
- Remove bowl from mixer and, by hand, gradually stir in remaining flour about 1/2 cup at a time to make a stiff batter. Cover; let rise until light and doubled, about 1 hour.
- Stir down batter. Spoon into greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or 2-quart casserole. Cover; let rise in warm place until light, about 45 minutes.
- Near the end of the second rise, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until deep golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on a baking rack.
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About Stephie
Stephie is the creator of Stephie Cooks, a food blog that focuses on creating memories around the food we share, with family recipes at the site’s heart. Stephie lives in Central Illinois with her husband, daughter, and a menagerie of cats and dogs. When she’s not in the kitchen or at her computer writing, you can usually find her curled up with a book or working on one of her many grandma-esque hobbies. Learn more >
Hi there I just found this recipe. Can you use honey instead of molasses? Thank you.
I have not but you could certainly try it. It would definitely give the bread a different flavor profile.
This looks great! I think I’ll try it out but minus the molasses. I can never find it in a small size, hate to buy that giant jar then have it go to waste.
Molasses lasts foreeeeeever. I’ve actually never had a jar go bad, and I don’t use it particularly frequently.
Stephie, could you confirm please what the ingredients would be if I wanted to make 2 loaves at the same time.
Great bread thanks for the recipe. I baked a loaf last night and by the end of breakfast this morning there is just 2 slices left. everyone loved it.
Just to add that I made it again with the WWW flour, about 75% as I ran out of AP. I increased everything by half (but only one egg, ran out of those too) for a larger loaf that fits better in the Zojirushi pan. The flavor is the same, but for some reason it’s easier to cut into thin slices for sandwiches. This is now at the top of our recipe list!
Thank you for sharing, Chris! I am so glad you love it and were able to adapt it to what you had around!
Hi again Stephie, I got a little sidetracked(!) but finally made this read today in my Zo breadmaker. It smelled so good we couldn’t resist cutting it right away. YUUUUMMMMM!! Thank you, that will be a regular for us. I’m going to try it with half white WW flour.
Hi I just discovered your site looking for a Wheat Germ Bread recipe. I want to try this; it sounds yummy and I totally agree about the molasses and wheat germ! I want to double check on the yeast. There is twice as much as usual. Is that correct?
Hi Chris – Yep, that is correct!
Can I make this in my bread machine?
Hi Melissa – I don’t have and have never used a bread machine, so I really couldn’t tell you. I am fairly certain it would take some adapting to make it work in a bread machine, but you would probably have to read your manufacturer’s instructions to know where to start with that. Let me know if it works out for you!
Melissa, you can make pretty much any yeast bread in your machine. Some, like French bread, would taste better baked in the oven, but if it has a dough cycle the machine can get you to that point. Very important to follow the machine instructions for order of ingredients, no need to pre-mix them. I usually hold back about 1/4C of flour and add it if the dough is too wet. Having carpal tunnel syndrome AND being lazy, I really appreciate my machine!
soooper bread recipe. I was search such a simple wheat bread. recipe. Thanks
I love the smell of bread baking any time of year!