Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread
If you crave the delicious dark wheat bread they serve at Outback Steakhouse as much as I do, then you’ll love this recipe. My Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread is an almost exact copycat of theirs. Slather on some lovely soft 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 large steakhouse chains that we 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 sweetness. Spread it with some fresh butter and my, oh my, I could make my whole meal from that bread and a salad.
I really wanted to be able to enjoy that bread any time, so I set out to make an Outback bread copycat recipe at home. After a lot of research and trial and error, I came up with this copycat recipe that is pretty darned close to the original! BeeBop says it’s even better and I kinda agree.
❤️ Why We Love This Recipe
- Inexpensive to make
- Tastes wonderful
- No preservatives
- Outback steakhouse bread any time you want
🛒 Ingredient Notes
This post contains affiliate links. Lana’s Cooking is reader-supported and earns a tiny commission at no extra cost to you when you shop from our links.
- Sugar — needed to activate the yeast.
- Yeast — I typically use Fleischmann’s active dry yeast.
- Bread flour – King Arthur brand bread flour is my favorite.
- Whole wheat flour – Use any brand you like.
- Cocoa powder – adds both flavor and color to the bread.
- Instant coffee — any brand you like; I keep a box of the individual cup-sized packets on hand for baking.
- Butter
- Honey – the honey and molasses give the bread a natural, subtle sweetness.
- Molasses
- Cornmeal (for dusting the loaves)
You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.
🔪 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.
- 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.
👉 PRO TIP: The easiest way for me to measure the water temperature 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.
👉 PRO TIP: Be sure to 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?
First Rise
- 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 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 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 completely before serving.
- Serve with plenty of butter.
⚠️ Recipe Tips
- Because this recipe has instant coffee granules in the dough, there is going to be a faint smell of burnt coffee while it bakes. Don’t worry! The bread is not burning. It’s just the coffee interacting with the hot baking sheet.
- 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 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of red, one teaspoon of yellow, and one 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.
❓Questions about Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread
Of course, you’ll want to serve this bread with your next big steak dinner. But, it’s great with absolutely anything. Serve it for lunch or dinner or even make sandwiches or toast with it. You can even make smaller portions and serve as rolls.
Wrap any leftovers in plastic wrap or pop them in a ziptop bag and store them in the fridge. Homemade bread typically needs to be refrigerated to keep longer because it doesn’t contain the preservatives that commercial bread does.
🧾 More Recipes You’ll Like
More Questions? I’m happy to help!
If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
📖 Recipe
Steakhouse Honey Wheat Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups warm water 105-110 degrees
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 pkg active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp bulk yeast)
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- ¼ cup 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
- Because this bread has instant coffee granules in the dough, there may be a faint smell of burnt coffee while it bakes. That’s just the coffee granules interacting with the hot baking sheet.
- Wrap any leftovers in plastic wrap or pop them in a ziptop bag and store in the fridge.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on July 23, 2013. It has been updated with additional information.
do you have a recipe for cowboy cookies
No, I don’t have that recipe.
can you put rolled oats on the top of the mini loafs
It’s okay with me.
Can I reduce the sugar or leave out the honey/molasses for a savory (not sweet) loaf?
I haven’t tested this recipe with no sugar. Remember you must have some amount of sugar or honey for the yeast to become active. The finished loaf is definitely not a sweet bread. It has only a mildly sweet background flavor.
Recipe is perfect! Taste is right on. I used Kitchen Aid mixer ( speed 4 for 7 minutes this is a heavy dough usually use up to speed 6 for other doughs) and an instant yeast from King Arthur site. Put everything in mixer at once. Instant yeast and mixer saves loads of work. That was all the kneading I did. Dough took full time in recipe to rise with water temperature 107 and light on in oven.
Thanks for letting me know you liked the recipe!
Just wanted to drop a note to say that I tried this recipe in my bread machine and it worked really well! I did all wet ingredients and sugar in with the yeast first, then flour and dry ingredients with salt on the very top as most bread machine recipes suggest. I set my machine to the following settings: Basic, light, 2 lb loaf size for 3 hours. Bread machines sometimes need a bit more water to process well so I added a couple of tablespoons of water to loosen up the mixture a few minutes into kneading.
That’s great to know! Thank you very much.
Thank you for the bread machine tips! I do wanted to try this recipe. Now I can!
My pleasure! Enjoy the recipe!
Is the temp 350°F or 350°C?
It’s 350 Fahrenheit. (350C would be 662 Fahrenheit!)
For the Outback bread recipe can you hold in refrigerator overnight after first rise and use the next day?
Hi Benita – I have not tested this recipe that way. However, many bread recipes can be held overnight in the refrigerator to prevent additional rising. This one would probably work but I can’t guarantee that.
Benita,
Yes, it works just fine if you refrigerate overnight. I let is warm up and rise in the pan for 1 to 2 hrs prior to baking.