This bread is slightly sweet with honey and filled with rich flavors of whole wheat and pecans. It is a fine breakfast or dessert bread, muffin-like in its texture but with plenty to chew on, thanks to the nuts. If you’ve never made a loaf of bread in your entire life, you may as well start with this one — it is that easy to do!

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Spray the inside of a 5x9-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray, dust it with 3 or 4 tablespoons of flour, invert the pan, and knock out the excess flour.
2. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir thoroughly —use a large wire whisk if you have one—to make sure that the baking powder and baking soda are blended into the flour mixture well. Add pecans, mix again, and set aside.
3. Break eggs into a 4-quart or larger bowl and whisk together with buttermilk. Add melted butter and honey, and mix well. Add the flour mixture and, using an over and under “folding” motion, blend them into the liquids. Don’t overdo this; it is better to see a few lumps than to have the mixture look like a milkshake with nuts.
4. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean and dry, 55 to 65 minutes. Cool 10 to 15 minutes, run a knife all around the loaf to loosen it from the pan, and invert on a wire rack to finish cooling.