I’ve been searching for a whole grain loaf that is wholesome, tastes great and is relatively easy to make. Essentially, a loaf that behaves like white but is better for you. The Davinator has eaten a lot of experimental bread over the last couple of months but I’ve finally settled on this recipe. It has a manageable number of ingredients, a reasonable number of process steps and doesn’t result in carnage in the kitchen. It about 60% whole wheat, 40% white and that’s a good balance between health and taste.

You can eliminate the sunflower seeds and the rolled oats and still get a very good loaf. Use your sweetener of choice, ordinary brown sugar will do if you don’t have maple syrup or honey. Use a vegan friendly sweetener and you have a vegan loaf. Let’s bake.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 360 mls warm water (40-42C), just warmer than body temperature like a baby’s bath
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 30 grams of sweetener (molasses, maple syrup, agave, honey, brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 10 grams flaxseed or linseed meal
• 300 grams whole wheat flour (the finest grind you can find, often call ‘whole wheat pastry flour’)
• 240 grams white flour (bread flour or all purpose flour) plus extra for binding the dough
• 15 grams sunflower seeds, raw or roasted
• 12 grams rolled oat

Instructions

1. Combine warm water, yeast, maple syrup. Whisk and leave for five minutes to give the yeast a start.
2. Put salt, flours, flaxseed in the bowl of your mixer. Add in the yeast mixture and combine to form a shaggy dough.
3. Put the dough hook on, beat for a minute. If you don’t have a stand mixer with a dough hook, knead the dough in the bowl until well combined.
4. Take a look at the dough, if it’s pulling away from the sides, stop. If not, add more flour and give the dough a few turns until it is pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Transfer the dough to lightly greased bowl, turn it to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Let it rise at room temperature for two hours – it should be close to doubled in size. If you’ve got time and the inclination, throw it in the fridge for another hour or two. It develops the flavour but it is not necessary and I’ve forgotten this step more times than I’ve done it.
6. Prepare your loaf pan (I’m a fan of lining pans, not greasing them but choose your method).
7. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Make a hole in the dough – pour in the oats and sunflower seeds. Give the dough 20 turns on the work surface, it will give you a better quality crumb and distribute the add in through the dough. Make a loaf shape, place seam side down in your prepared pan. Cover with a shower cap or a tea towel. Let it rise at room temperature for an hour.
8. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Place a metal roasting pan on the bottom rack of the oven and have a cup of warm water ready.
9. When the dough and the oven are ready, slash the top two or three times (I cut mine with kitchen shears). Put the dough in the oven, throw the water in the heated pan (creates steam and gives you a good crust). Bake for about 30 minutes, should be 90C inside with a firm top crust. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then tip out to finish cooling. Cool completely for best results before slicing.

We have found this the perfect every day whole grain loaf good for toast and sandwiches.

Thank you for reading the blog, baking the recipes and commenting. Happy baking.