Recipe for Hearty Seed Bread

Low-knead hearty bread

If there was an invention you wish were real, what would it be?

I didn’t come up with this question—it was recently posed to a science fiction writer in a interview. But it's an intriguing one, don't  you think? For me, having a gizmo that instantly weeds my garden sounds pretty fantastic. 

But my answer is the same as this writer’s: she’d like an invention that will let her summon any dish she craves at any time.

Happily for me, the dishes I like best are the ones I make myself! And one I’m particularly fond of is my own organic whole grain bread.

I know, home-baked bread is so 2020. But this is an easy recipe, and so very delicious.

Also, if you prefer specialty breads (as opposed to bread from a factory) this one is more affordable! One of our indulgences is whole grain bread at a local artisanal bakery--but I discovered today that the price of our favorite bread just went up $1 per loaf. So I know that a) with homemade bread, we are definitely saving money, and b) I'll be making this bread far more often!

I got the idea for this recipe from one a friend shared for no-knead, rise-in-the-fridge bread. The orginal recipe indicated you could substitute 1/3 of the flour with whole wheat and it would work fine.

Well, I'm not so sure. I don’t really care for white bread, so I used more of a flour ratio of  2/3 whole wheat to 1/3 white flour. The organic whole wheat bread flour our local Co-op carries is very coarse, so it makes a fairly heavy dough. Plus for this experimental loaf I added seeds, which added even more weight to the dough.

What I learned was that breads with lots of whole grain flour need at least minimal kneading.

So I came up with my own take: Hearty “Low-Knead” Seed Bread.

Ingredient list:  

1 ½ cup very warm water

1 teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon honey (local if you can get it)

1 heaping cup organic white flour

2 Tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup additional honey (again, local if possible)

½ heaping cup organic white flour

½ cup organic whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups organic whole wheat bread flour

¼ cup organic stone-ground cornmeal

1 teaspoon sea salt

(Plus more flour for kneading)

2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

3-4 Tablespoons organic sunflower seeds 

Yep, it’s a lot of honey, and honey can be expensive. A friend gave us a giant jar of honey from his own hives, so I can be lavish until it’s gone! Otherwise, I might use just a few spoonfuls of honey, plus some organic sugar. Keep in mind that skimping on sweetening, this bread will be a little too tangy.

Okay, on to the process:

Combine the water, yeast and the 1 teaspoon of honey and stir until the yeast dissolves.

Let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes until you get bubbles forming. Then add the heaping cup organic white flour and mix until most of the lumps of flour have dissolved.

Sponge is ready!

I cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it sit on the kitchen counter for at least a couple of hours.

This creates what’s called a “sponge,” an idea I got from the book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart. 

As I understand it, instead of mixing all your wet and dry ingredients together in one fell swoop, this step of proofing the yeast gets the gluten developing, and gives a running start to the rising process.

Great bread-baking tips

Also, I’d read that adding salt to the yeast at the same time can inhibit the rising, so I add salt later.

Okay, once your sponge is nice and bubbly, stir in the olive oil and the additional honey.  

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and combine thoroughly: flours, salt, and seeds. Add to the liquid ingredients in stages and mix well. Add more flour as needed so the dough isn’t too sticky for kneading. 

Sprinkle more flour on the countertop (white or whole wheat, your choice), remove the dough from the bowl and start kneading!

Add more flour as you knead, to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.

I have been known to knead bread dough for upwards of 20 minutes. But this recipe, I knead for about 7 minutes, until the dough starts to feel somewhat pliable.  Then I grease the bowl with more olive oil and plop the dough back in.

I cover the bowl with the same cloth, put it in a reasonably clean plastic bag and stick it in into the fridge.

You can let the dough do its slow rise overnight, or if the next day will be a busy one, it won’t hurt the dough at all to sit in the fridge 2 nights. More time will only increase the flavor!

Baking day, remove the dough from the fridge and let sit at room temperature at least 3 hours. (Our house is sort of chilly so the dough needs more like 4 or 5 hours).

When the dough has warmed to room temperature, give it another quick kneading, then form your loaf, and place in a buttered bread pan. (I use glass.)

Let your loaf rise in a warm location: this will take at least 2 ½ to 3 hours—like I said, all the whole grain flour and seeds add a lot of weight. When the loaf has risen to your liking, place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees on the lower-middle rack (so the top doesn’t brown too much).

I bake the bread for 20 minutes, then turn the pan around for even browning and bake for another 15 minutes. By now, the top is browned but the loaf inside the pan is still pretty light.

I loosely cover the top with a strip of aluminum foil, then bake the bread for another 10 minutes or so.

When it’s nicely browned and looks ready, out comes the pan and I set it on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes. Then I remove the loaf and let it cool directly on the rack. It can take a couple of hours until the bread is ready for slicing—but keep in mind, the longer you wait, the more the flavors develop.

There you have it: this hearty bread takes a bit of patience--but keep in mind, all the stages of making the sponge, fridge time, warming the dough, and rising time means you can space out the time needed for prep. It goes without saying that this bread is scrumptious! It also freezes well!