30-Minute Honey Whole Wheat Skillet Bread — Skillet breads bake quicker than bread in loaf pans, so you get to enjoy this bread sooner rather than later. It’s soft, fluffy, chewy, and lightweight with a moist crumb that reminds me of the texture of a moist muffin.
No-Knead Whole Wheat Skillet Bread
Every once in awhile, I get lucky with a recipe. The stars align and things works out better than anticipated.
This cast iron skillet bread is that recipe.
Recipes like this are the good karmic payback for all the caketastrophes, seized chocolate, wasted butter, and various fails that I experience. Fresh, warm, no-knead whole wheat bread in a half hour is great karma.
It’s the easiest bread I’ve ever made. It only takes 3 minutes to mix up the batter in one bowl. It’s so easy you’ll think you’ve missed something.
Simply combine all the ingredients all at once in one bowl, pour buttermilk over the top, stir until just moistened, and turn dough out into the skillet and bake. No kneading, no mixer, no dough hooks. Nothing fancy or complicated, and no tricky steps.
It’s reminiscent of Irish soda bread in appearance, but I avoided the pitfalls that come with soda bread. Usually that’s dry, bland, crumbly, and by the next day it’s even drier. This bread is anything but dry.
I had a little buttermilk to use and wanted a quick and easy bread but didn’t want to remake Browned Butter Buttermilk Banana Bread. Even I didn’t need another banana bread recipe. This week.
Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls were out of the question because they aren’t quick. I loved the loaf of bread that’s created when making Fruit, Seed and Nut Crackers. It’s so good I almost didn’t even want to make crackers with it and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
So I recreated a version of it, minus the fruit, seeds, and nuts. I baked in a skillet rather than loaf pan so that it bakes more evenly, and in about one-third the time.
What’s in Whole Wheat Skillet Bread?
To make this no-knead whole wheat bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Whole wheat flour
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Canola oil
- Honey
- Unsulphured molasses
- Brown sugar
- Buttermilk
How to Make Cast Iron Bread
Simply combine all the ingredients except the buttermilk in a large bowl, then slowly add the buttermilk to the mixture. When pouring the buttermilk over the dry ingredients, start with 1 cup, and stir.
The dough should be quite loose, shaggy, and very moist. The flour is like a sponge and seems to inhale the liquid. If it’s at all dry, add up to 1/4 cup more buttermilk so that it’s nicely moistened. I used 1 1/4 cups buttermilk total.
The dough will be lumpy, bumpy, thick, and not at all smooth. Don’t overmix and don’t try to make it smooth. It’s like pancake batter, less is more when it comes to stirring and mixing.
Turn dough out into the skillet in a circular mound that’s about 6 inches in diameter and bake for 15 minutes at 400F, rotate the skillet 180 degrees to ensure even baking, lower the oven temp to 350F and continue to bake for 10 minutes at 350F, or until browned and done.
Starting out with a hotter blast of air and then reducing the temperature helps create internal steam, helping the dough rise better, which creates a puffier loaf than if you bake at 350F the whole time. The same principle applies to muffins create bakery-style, high-domed muffin tops.
After removing the skillet from oven, turn bread out of the skillet and onto a rack immediately because the carryover heat will continue to cook the bread and the bottom will become too browned.
After the bread has cooled completely, I wrap it in plasticwrap, and slide it into a large Ziplock or airtight container, where it’ll keep for 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. But leftovers weren’t an issue here.
It’s moist and flavorful enough that ripping off soft hunks and enjoying them plain and fresh was just fine; and with a little hummus or butter, even better.
I used it for PB & J sandwiches with Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter. So good.
It’s soft, fluffy, chewy, and lightweight without being airy, crumbly, or dry. The crust isn’t a tough or overly hearty and the interior has a moist crumb that reminds me of the texture of a moist muffin. Buttermilk always works miracles keeping things light, moist, and tender.
It’s has just a very slight hint of both honey and molasses amidst the heartier wheat flavor. It’s not a ‘sweet bread’ and the honey just takes the edge off the wheat, which can sometimes be a little bitter or earthy.
On a work-reward scale, this is the type of recipe you wish every other recipe could be like. Three minutes of effort for a scrumptious loaf of soft bread.
The hardest part is waiting 25 whole minutes for it to come of of the oven.
What Skillet Should I Use?
I used my Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 10-1/4-Inch Skillet to make this cast iron skillet bread recipe. If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet, this 10-inch pre-seasoned cast iron pan
is $15 bucks. With almost 2800 4.5/5 star ratings, you really can’t go wrong. Or, bake it on a baking sheet. No excuses not to bake this easy loaf.
Can I Use All Whole Wheat Flour?
For the flour, I used a combo of whole wheat and all-purpose, one cup of each. I’m sure you could use a combination of your favorite flours including whole wheat pastry flour, bread flour, ground oats, rye, or almond flour. I’d be reluctant to use more than 50% wheat or another similarly low gluten flour because they’re more resistant to rising.
Can I Use Gluten-Free Flour?
I don’t know how gluten-free flours and baking blends will behave, but because of the buttermilk, you have as good of a chance of any as getting some height and lift, even without gluten.
Can I Use a Buttermilk Substitute?
If you don’t keep buttermilk on hand, pick up a container of Cultured Buttermilk Powder. Not all grocery stores have it, but it’s in the baking aisle. It’s shelf stable, and just mix a couple tablespoons with water for buttermilk.
Or, make homemade buttermilk by adding 2 tablespoons white vinegar (or lemon juice) to 1 cup milk, wait 10 minutes to allow it to curdle, stir; use as necessary. Or, add 1/4 cup yogurt to about 1 cup milk, stir, and use as necessary.
Those options give you many of the benefits of a cultured milk and for a this recipe, they’ll likely be fine. However, I don’t recommend the shortcuts for a very fancy cake or fussy recipe that calls for buttermilk. Use the real thing.
Tips for the Best Whole Wheat Bread
If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, I recommend using a 9×9-inch baking pan and bake it in there, or use about half of a 9×13-inch pan. The bread is not at all dry or crumbly. In fact, it’s so moist that I fear if you bake it in a 9×5-inch or standard loaf pan, rather than a skillet, it’ll never cook through in the center before the edges burn.
If you’re not consuming this bread immediately and it stays on a rack to cool for an hour or two, you may observe a fair amount of water released that’s pooled underneath the rack. Mine released about 3 tablespoons in 1 hour.
I store all my fully cooled bread by wrapping it in plastic wrap, then placing it inside a large Ziplock where it stays fresh for up to 4 days. Bread may also be frozen for up to 3 months.
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30 Minute Honey Whole Wheat Skillet Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon unsulphered molasses (I recommend a medium molasses
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed (I use light brown)
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk*, see Buttermilk Tips below if you don't have it on hand
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spray an enameled cast-iron skillet with cooking spray, grease a seasoned cast iron skillet, or prepare an oven-safe skillet; set aside. My skillet is 10 1/4-inches and I recommend a skillet from 8 to 12 inches in diameter. Alternatively, bake bread on a Silpat-lined or greased baking sheet.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients in the order listed, except the buttermilk, and give a quick stir to mix them.
- Pour 1 cup buttermilk over the top. Stir to combine. Dough should be quite loose, shaggy, and very moist. The flour is like a sponge, and if dough is at all dry, add up to 1/4 cup buttermilk so that it's nicely moistened, and stir until just combined (I used 1 1/4 cups buttermilk total). Dough will be lumpy, bumpy, thick, and not at all smooth; don't overmix and don't try to make it smooth.
- Turn dough out into skillet in a circular mound that's about 6 inches in diameter and 3 to 4 inches high. Score top of bread with a knife, making a cross.
- Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350F and bake for 10 minutes, or until bread is golden and done. (When I lower the temperature to 350F, I also rotate my skillet by 180 degrees to ensure even baking).
- With a large spatula, slide or nudge bread out onto a wire rack immediately to cool. Don't keep it in the skillet because it will continue to cook and bottom will get too browned. Serve after it's sufficiently cooled.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This was delicious! It’s so quick and easy. The dough is definitely very moist, so don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong.
Thanks for trying this recipe and I am glad it was quick, easy, and delish!
I think this bread would be well suited to partly alternative flours such as oat, barley, rye, millet, or other non-gluten flours. The reason I think this is because the gluten naturally present in the wheat is not developed in this recipe. That being said, I have not actually tried this recipe, so my comments are theory only. Good luck to those who try. Try it as an experiment. If you fail, this is not a large recipe, and you haven’t wasted too many ingredients. When I have bread failures, I always try to find some chickens to feed it to.
Just made this bread and had to make modifications because I didn’t have several items. I used the modified buttermilk with lemon (didn’t have the real thing); I only had dark molasses so I used grade B maple syrup and used maple sugar. Everything else followed the recipe. The taste was good but it was a little crumbly. I used King Arthur whole wheat white flour only – maybe that created the crumbly texture. Next time I make it, I’ll try with less mods and see what happens to the texture.
When you start making modifications in baking recipes, it’s fairly natural that the results won’t be like the results in the original recipe. I would say stick to the original recipe next time and it likely won’t turn out crumbly.
So easy and delicious!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad it was easy and delicious!
Thank you so much for this recipe, it has become a staple in our house! So delicious lightly toasted with butter for breakfast.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad it’s a staple now!
This was soo good! Â Wonderful flavor; sweet but not too sweet and super easy. Â
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out just right for you!
My dough was like pancake batter. 2 C flour and 1 cup of milk is a very thin batter. I used white bread flour and white whole wheat flour. Most receipes
call for 3 cups flour and 1 cup liquid. How do you get the dough that thick?
Tasted like gingerbread, looked like cornbread.
I really don’t know where our methods differed. Thanks for trying the recipe.
Same thing happened to me. I measured by weight, so maybe it’s because some bakers are heavier handed than others when measuring by cups?
With only 2 cups of flour, I used just 1 cup of the buttermilk and it was like pancake batter. I think it needs 3 cups of flour. Did anyone else find it more
like batter than bread. I could no way make slits in the top, it was to wet.
Maybe your flour is a different consistency than mine. I use King Arthur all-purpose. It has a slightly higher gluten content than any other flour; therefore you may need slightly more flour when using other brands and/or your buttermilk could have been thinner than mine. Mine is usually quite thick. As always trust your judgment and sounds like you did! Hope you enjoy the bread!
Roberta I had the same experience but the bread turned out amazing all the same
Hey Averie,
Can I use a regular baking loaf pan for this bread? I’m not sure if the skillets at my home are oven-safe — don’t wanna risk my mum’s anger! lol
Also, I tried a no-yeast quick wheat bread yesterday, and it turns out very crumbly (as in, it breaks when I try to spread butter onto it). Is yours crumbly as well? How can I prevent it from being OVERLY crumbly?
Thanks~~
The bread is not at ALL dry or crumbly. In fact, it’s so moist that I fear if you bake it in a 9×5 or standard loaf pan, it’ll never cook thru in the center before the edges burn. So if you dont have a skillet you trust, I would use a 9×9 baking pan and bake it in there, or use about half of a 9×13 pan.
Thanks Averie! I made the bread this morning – you’re right, it’s not crumbly at all!!
I used a baking pan and let it stay in the oven for 5 more minutes.
I skipped molasses and the brown sugar — but regretted it cos the bread turns out slightly bitter (or rather, a “baking soda” aftertaste). wonder if it’s only the lack of sugar, or some other reason.
Still, i like it’s texture!