Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread – a copycat recipe of the famous dark honey wheat bread served at Outback Steakhouse. Slather on the butter and enjoy!
Sometimes nothing satisfies like a steak. A nice, big, juicy steak cooked just the way you like.
There’s one of the national steakhouse chains that BeeBop and I really enjoy for a quick, casual steak dinner. It’s not fine dining by any means.
And even though the decor and menu selections try to make you feel as though you’re “down under” it’s decidedly American. I think you’ve already guessed that I’m talking about Outback, right ;-)
Well, one of the best parts of the meal at any Outback Steakhouse is the bread that comes to the table along with the salad. That bread is so dark and moist and chewy and has just the faintest hint of sweet. Spread it with some whipped butter and my, oh my, I could make my whole meal from that bread and a salad.
Well, we visited our local franchise recently and afterward, I just couldn’t get the bread off my mind. I had to find a way to make an Outback bread copycat recipe at home.
Tracking Down a Recipe
So, naturally, I started searching for recipes on the internet. After reading many, I narrowed the prospects down to two.
One from Top Secret Recipes and one from Food.com. I took those two, combined the best parts of both and this copycat Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread is the result.
It’s not precisely the same as the Outback bread, but it’s pretty darned close. As a matter of fact, BeeBop says it’s even better. I kinda agree.
Making this bread was so much fun for me. I forget from time to time how much I enjoy working with yeast doughs. There was a time that I made almost all our bread, but I got away from doing it for some reason. Too busy, I imagine. But after making this gorgeous Outback copycat bread last weekend, I’m all set to do more!
Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread - a copycat recipe of the famous dark honey wheat bread served at Outback Steakhouse. Slather on the butter and enjoy! Click To Tweet
How to Make Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread
Proof the Yeast
The first step in making any yeast bread is to proof the yeast. That just means proving that the yeast is alive so it will be able to make the bread rise.
So, to proof the yeast, measure the warm water into a two-cup or larger bowl or measuring cup. The water should be between 105 and 110 degrees.
The easiest way for me to measure that is with an instant-read thermometer but if you don’t have one, no worries! Just use tap water that is no longer cool to the touch and feels nicely warm. Like a baby’s bath water :-)
Add the sugar and yeast. Stir to dissolve. Within 5 minutes the yeast should have begun to bubble and grow.
In the photos above, the yeast had been proofing for about 10 minutes. See how much it grew in that short time? That’s good, live yeast. Another tip – always check the yeast packet to make sure the date hasn’t expired. The yeast might still proof even if the date on the packet has passed, but it probably won’t be very lively.
Mix the Ingredients
While the yeast proofs, mix the flours, cocoa, instant coffee granules, and salt in a large bowl. Stir it all together with a whisk.
Using your fingers, mix the softened butter into the flour mixture. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add the honey, molasses, and yeast-water mixture. Stir from the middle, bringing the dry ingredients gradually into the wet. You can start out with a wooden spoon but you’ll need to use your hands to finally bring the dough together.
Knead the Dough
Turn the rough, shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Just start kneading and it will quickly come together in a nice ball. Knead for 10 minutes adding small amounts of flour to the kneading surface only if the dough starts to stick.
That’s the kneaded dough. See how nicely it came together? Doesn’t look anything like that shaggy mess it started out as, does it?
Rest the Dough
Let the dough rest for a few minutes while you wash and thoroughly dry the bowl that you used to mix it in. Spray the inside of the bowl with cooking spray.
Put the dough into the bowl top side down and then turn it over so that the top gets coated with a bit of the cooking spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise. The interior of your oven with the light on is usually just warm enough.
Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
Shape the Loaves
When the dough has doubled, turn it out and cut it into 6 portions. There’s no need to punch the dough down. Just let it deflate naturally as you remove it from the bowl. Form each portion into either a 6-inch loaf shape or a round mini-boule.
Pour a small amount of cornmeal onto your work surface. Moisten each dough portion very lightly by wetting your hands, removing most of the water and rubbing your hands over the dough. Roll the lightly moistened loaves in cornmeal to coat. Gently pat to remove any excess cornmeal.
Second Rise
Place the loaves on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for another hour or until doubled again in size.
Bake the Loaves
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the dough and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
A word of caution – because this bread has instant coffee granules in the dough, there is going to be a faint smell of burnt coffee while it bakes. I even became so concerned that I opened the oven and turned one loaf over to check while it was baking – something I almost never do. Don’t worry! The bread is not burning. It’s just that coffee interacting with the hot baking sheet.
Serve with plenty of butter.
Note: if you want your bread to be a darker color like the bread served at the steakhouse, you can optionally add food coloring to achieve that result. You’d need to add 1 1/4 teaspoons of red, 1 teaspoon of yellow, and 1 teaspoon of blue. Stir it into the yeast and water before adding it to the dough. I’m perfectly happy with the color of the bread without the added coloring.
Enjoy!
More Bread Recipes on Never Enough Thyme:
- Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
- Brown Irish Soda Bread
- Homemade Soft Pretzels
- Cheddar Dill Quick Bread
- Old Fashioned Cornbread
Homemade Yeast Bread Recipes from Other Bloggers:
- Potato Rosemary Bread from Brown Eyed Baker
- Norwich Sourdough Bread from Wild Yeast
- Banana Whole Wheat Yeast Bread from Salad in a Jar
- Pumpkin Coconut Yeast Bread with Pumpkin Butter from La Fuji Mama
- Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day from Bread in 5
- American Sandwich Bread from Brown Eyed Baker
Pin to Your Pinterest Bread Board!
Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread
A copycat recipe for the famous dark bread served at Outback Steakhouse.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups warm water (105-110 degrees)
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 pkg. (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tblsp. cocoa
- 2 tsp. instant coffee granules
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tblsp. butter, softened
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tblsp. molasses
- Yellow cornmeal for dusting
Instructions
- Proof the yeast: measure the warm water into a two-cup or larger measure. Add the sugar and yeast. Stir to dissolve. Within 5 minutes the yeast should have begun to bubble and grow.
- While the yeast proofs, mix the flours, cocoa, coffee, and salt in a large bowl. Stir together with a whisk.
- Using your fingers, mix the softened butter into the flour mixture.
- Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add the honey, molasses, and yeast-water mixture. Stir from the middle, bringing the dry ingredients gradually into the wet. You can start out with a wooden spoon but will need to use your hands to finally bring the dough together.
- Turn the rough dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes adding small amounts of flour to the kneading surface only if needed.
- Let the dough rest for a few minutes while you wash and dry the bowl that you used to mix it in. Spray the inside of the bowl with cooking spray. Put the dough into the bowl top side down and then turn it over so that the top is coated with a bit of the cooking spray.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise. The interior of an oven with the light on is usually warm enough. Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
- When the dough has doubled, cut it into 6 portions. Form each portion into either a 6-inch log shape or a round mini-boule.
- Pour a small amount of cornmeal onto your work surface. Moisten each dough portion very lightly by wetting your hands, removing most of the water and rubbing over the dough. Roll the lightly moistened loaves in cornmeal to coat. Gently pat to remove any excess cornmeal.
- Place the loaves on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for another hour or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the dough and bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serve with plenty of butter.
Notes
Note: if you want your bread to be a darker color like the bread served at the steakhouse, you can optionally add food coloring to achieve that result. You’d need to add 1 1/4 teaspoons of red, 1 teaspoon of yellow, and 1 teaspoon of blue. I’m perfectly happy with the color of the bread without the added coloring.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 385Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 236mgCarbohydrates: 86gFiber: 3gSugar: 49gProtein: 6g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritonix and may not always be perfectly accurate. Use your own judgment.
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Lana Stuart is the author, photographer, cook, and occasional traveler at Never Enough Thyme. A former IT professional, she enjoys time in the kitchen and the art studio.
Mindi says
This recipe is awesome. The bread was gone in a couple days.
Lana Stuart says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nancy says
Made this bread today to pair with a hearty smoked sausage and cabbage soup. My husband said if we had to stay home for a year and could only have one variety of bread this would be it. He loves it! A great recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Lana Stuart says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread!
Pops says
Just curious as to why the butter cant be melted and added with the other liquid ingredients?
Lana Stuart says
You can if you want to. There’s nothing saying it can’t be done.
Jessie says
I made this bread today for my family who loves Outback. They absolutely loved the bread and said it tasted exactly like their bread!! The directions were extremely helpful and made my first time making bread a great experience!!!
Lana Stuart says
Great! I’m so glad you all like it.
Deb says
Could this recipe be used in a bread machine?
Lana Stuart says
I would think it could but I have not tried it.
Rosemary Shew says
A wonderful addition to our Father’s Day Steakhouse dinner, what a big hit with our guests and the recipe now resides in my go-to files.
Lana Stuart says
I’m so glad to know that you enjoyed it!
Jessica Decker says
Can this dough be made the night before and then baked the next day? I heard that typically you can put it through the first rise and then refrigerate. What are your thoughts?
Lana Stuart says
I haven’t done that with this dough. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!
Trish says
I’m so glad I found this. I made some Cabbage and Chicken Sausage Stew for dinner tonight and it was dying for a good bread to go with it. I didn’t have some of the ingredients the recipe called for i.e. instant coffee or bread flour. But I did have pasta flour, wheat flour, and white flour…lol. Had just enough of all 3 to have the flour needed to make the bread. Don’t ask me why all those mixed together worked but they did. This was some of the lightest and flavorful bread I’ve ever made. I can’t wait to make it again and follow the recipe exactly…or maybe I’ll just keep the flour combo – it was really that good!!!
Bev says
I love Outback bread and I can’t wait to try this. If it wasn’t 90° with no air conditioning it would be in my oven right now. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Danelle says
Wondering if I can use my sourdough starter with this recipe?
Lana Stuart says
I suppose you could, but it would most definitely change the taste.
Theresa says
I made this to go with a pot of veggie/beef soup and it was so delicious! The molasses, coffee, and cocoa give it such a wonderful flavor. It was best right out of the oven, but it also made for some pretty tasty toast the next morning!
Alisa says
Has anyone tried this in a breadmaker yet? Would love to give it a try :)
Kim says
I have made it in my bread machine. The color came out like Outback’s (I did the food coloring suggestion). I didn’t have Instant Coffee, so I made a strong but not too strong cup of coffee and added it to the recipe. After it finished baking in my machine, although good flavoring, it was a little tougher towards the edges of the bread. The inner part of the bread was great.
Now I’m the one with a question: how can I make it softer around towards the edges???
Carol says
I just want to say that I made this recipe last night, and it came out fantastic. I chose to make 12 rolls, baked about 20 minutes. Did not have corn meal so I used a combination of semolina/flour. These are definitely a keeper. Thanks so much for such a great restaurant favorite.
Lana Stuart says
I’m so glad you liked it, Carol. Reminds me I need to make a loaf. We haven’t had it in a good while!
Becky says
Lana; I totally forgot to ask you this before but can I just make one big loaf or is it best to divide the dough and make the 6 individual loafs as your
recipes calls for? How long would I bake one loaf?
drew says
Can this recipe be done in a breadmaker? If so do i need to make any changes to the amount of ingedients used?
Lana Stuart says
I haven’t tried this recipe in a breadmaker.
maggie says
I just pulled my first attempt out of the oven, its wonderful! – have you ever tried freezing a loaf? If so how did it keep? Thanks for sharing the awesome recipe!
Lenoria says
This looks fantastic and makes my mouth water, I am definitely giving this a try!! Have you ever tried The Soup Kitchen’s Honey Oat bread and if so do you also have a recipe for something like it? I love “honey” bread of any type and would love to be able to try them all!
Lana Stuart says
You’ll love this bread, Lenoria. It’s really good.
I had to Google the Soup Kitchen – I was not familiar with it. Sounds like a great place!
Amanda says
This looks so good Lana! I’ve featured it on Copycat Crafts today :) http://www.copycatcrafts.com/steakhouse-honey-wheat-bread/
Lana Stuart says
Thanks so much, Amanda! I really appreciate your sharing.
Becky says
Can I knead this with my Kitchenaide mixer? Also could I use rapid raise yeast instead of the active yeast. (rapid raise is what I happen to have on hand).
Lana Stuart says
Yes, you can knead it in the mixer and you can use rapid rise yeast.
Becky says
Thanks for the fast response Lana. Do you have a suggestion for how long I should knead the bread using my mixer? I am making this right now and kneaded for 5 minutes; I figured doing it by machine would not need the entire 10 minutes as in the instructions.
I will let you know how it came out.
Lana Stuart says
That’s probably about right, Becky. I think the general guideline for machine kneading is about 5 minutes once the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Becky says
Lana, they turned out great. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Lana Stuart says
So glad to hear that, Becky! I need to make some more myself.
Amanda says
What a gorgeous loaf of bread! Wish I had a piece right now!
Lana Stuart says
Wish you lived close by, Amanda. I’d run a loaf right over to you!
Kytfox says
Thanks for the wonderful recipe. I love steakhouse bread and this looks perfect. I try to avoid coffee is there any substitute for it? Or should I just try it without it?
Lana Stuart says
Kytfox – if you can use decaf, try that. Otherwise, just leave it out and see how that works. It will change the flavor, of course, but I think it would still be delicious.
Lorraine says
Lana, looks like your research on this type of bread turned out better than mine. The loaf I tried before was too wet and a bit unstable – also a bit darker than my husband would prefer. This one looks solid but still soft and wonderful. I can hardly wait to try it. Your cooking instincts do shine, girl. Thanks for sharing!
Lana Stuart says
Thanks, Lorraine! This is a really delicious loaf with a beautiful texture. I’d love for you to try it and let me know how you like it.
Shaina says
I love the coffee and cocoa powder in this recipe. It sounds delightful.
Lana Stuart says
Thanks, Shaina. It did turn out really good. This is one recipe that I’ll make over and over.
Stella says
How much coffee granules? I am not seeing it.
Lana Stuart says
Stella – it’s 2 teaspoons. So sorry I left that out! Thanks for letting me know. I’ve corrected the recipe.
Annie says
I don’t see it in the directions, either. Am I missing it?
Also why not just use warm brewed coffee? I don’t have coffee granules but it seems like it would work the same as warm water + instant.
Lana Stuart says
Annie – the coffee granules go in with the dry ingredients. Each teaspoon of the instant creates a cup of coffee when mixed with water. You’d have to use so much coffee to get the equivalent amount of flavor that it would make the dough far too wet.
Barbara | Creative Culinary says
Wow, this sounds delish Mate! :)
Lana Stuart says
Thanks, Barb! I think you’d enjoy this one.
Neena says
Wish I had a slice of it right now. One of my favorite things. This looks amazingly delicious.
Lana Stuart says
Me, too! I love homemade bread :-)
Renee - Kudos Kitchen says
Working with yeast dough is one of my favorite things to do in my kitchen. This recipe sounds amazing Lana. Love that it has cocoa and molasses. I just printed it and will be trying it soon. Thanks for the recipe!
Lana Stuart says
You’re welcome, Renee! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Miss P says
That looks absolutely wonderful. Amazing. Fabulous. And all other superlative adjectives. Who can resist? Not me.
Miss P
Lana Stuart says
I’ve never been able to turn down warm bread straight from the oven. Doesn’t matter if it’s bread, rolls, pastries…whatever. There’s just something intoxicating about the smell of yeast breads baking!
nest of posies says
looks amazing! bread – anykind – is my love language! i’m such a carb lover!
Lana Stuart says
Carbs are my weakness, too! Especially fresh bread warm from the oven slathered with butter. Oh my! I just can’t resist.