Making your own bread with whole grains with this step-by-step recipe. Turning flour, yeast, salt, water and nutrition-dense seeds into a scrumptious loaf of crusty goodness makes the time you spend on the bread worth every second. Yes, it takes some time, but most of the time you’re just watching your bread grow and transform as it progresses through the stages of becoming bread. Like anything worthwhile, it takes a bit of learning and attention to the process, but it’s all good and not hard at all. I prefer to make a starter the day before I want to make bread; but even if you don’t, the bread still comes out fine.
Don’t NOT make bread because you didn’t make a starter, although I think it has a better chance to become a more aromatic and tender loaf if you incorporate a starter into your dough. Here’s what starter looks like when it’s ready to be used:
Make your dough in a very large bowl, mixing the water, yeast, and seeds and letting the mixture rest and absorb the water for about 10 minutes.
Add the whole wheat flour and stir to mix. Add the starter and mix it in well.
Add the white flour and continue to mix until the dough holds together in a shaggy mass.
Flour a smooth surface that you can knead the bread on.
Scrape the dough onto the kneading surface, making sure the dough is not sticking. Gently lift the dough and sprinkle flour anywhere the dough might be sticking.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, adding flour as needed and as the dough becomes sticky. When the dough holds together and has a smooth surface that springs back when you gently prod it, it is ready to be set aside to rise.
Put the dough into a large lightly oiled bowl and cover. Let it rise for about 3 hours or until nearly doubled in size.
Gently push the dough down into about half of its size. At this point you can either make it into a large round loaf or divide it in half and bake it in 2 loaf pans. You can also make about 10 rolls or buns; it’s your dough to shape as you like!
If you bake it in a loaf pan, your bread will be more evenly shaped as shown:
Baking it as one large loaf yields a round, crusty loaf like the ones you see in France. And yes, it tastes as fabulous!
Try these other delicious bread recipes:
Whole Wheat Rustic Bread with Chia & Flaxseed
Prep
Cook
Total
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups whole wheat flour divided into 1 cup each
- 4 cups white bread flour (estimated)
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup fine semolina flour (if not baking the bread in a loaf pan)
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds (optional)
- 2 teaspoons olive or grapeseed oil (for oiling the rising bowl)
Instructions
If you are making the starter, at least 10 hours before you want to make the bread, combine in a medium mixing bowl: 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tablespoon active dry yeast, and 1 1/2 cups water. Mix well with a fork until the mixture is smooth. The mixture should be slightly runny, so add water by teaspoons until this occurs. The mixture will expand quite a bit so make sure the bowl is at least twice the size of the mixture. Cover tightly and set aside for at least 10 hours. It is ready to use when it is covered with bubbles and smells slightly sour.
When you are ready to make the bread, in a very large mixing bowl, add the water and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of yeast over the water. Let it rest for about 5 minutes until the yeast dissolves. Add the ground flaxseeds, the chia seeds and 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Mix very well until all the ingredients are incorporated. Add the starter (if you are using it) and stir very well. Begin to add the white flour one cup at a time, stirring the dough until the white flour is incorporated and the dough has a shaggy appearance yet holds together.
Sprinkle white flour over the surface on which you will be kneading the bread. Keep the flour container handy with a large spoon in it for adding additional flour during the kneading process. Knead the bread, drawing the dough towards you, then folding it back on itself, adding flour to both the board and the dough as it becomes sticky. Continue kneading for about 5 minutes until the dough holds together in a smooth ball and resumes it shape after being gently prodded with a finger.
Add the oil to the rising bowl, using your hands to spread it over the entire inside surface of the bowl. This will allow the bread to rise easily. Add the dough ball to the bowl and roll it around in the bowl a few times to coat the dough lightly with oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or a tight fitting lid and set aside for at least 4 hours or until nearly doubled in size.
If you will be making the bread in a loaf pan, lightly oil the interior surface of the loaf pan. Scrape the dough into the loaf pan, and let it rise in the loaf pan, covered with a light dish towel or cloth napkin for another hour. Heat your oven to 450 degrees F. Just before putting the bread in the oven, lightly spray the surface with a mister. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Let it cool in the pan before slicing.
If you will be making the bread into a round rustic style loaf, pre-heat a baking stone in the oven at the highest your oven will accommodate, usually 500 degrees F or higher. While the oven is heating, sprinkle the semolina flour on a wooden pizza peel (see notes). Shape the loaf into a round shape, dusting the semolina flour wherever the dough is sticky on the bottom. This will allow you to slide the dough off the peel onto the baking stone. Make sure you can slide the dough around loosely on the peel. Make 3 broad slashes in the surface of the bread with a very sharp knife. Sprinkle the fennel seeds across the surface. When the oven has reached the hottest temperature, slide the bread off the peel directly onto the baking stone and quickly spray 3-4 sprays from the water mister (see notes).
Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and bake the loaf for 35 minutes, turning it once to reverse it front to back, and giving it another few sprays, keeping the oven open for a little time as possible. The bread is done when the entire surface has browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. If you like a crisper crust, bake the loaf for another 10 minutes. Remove the loaf from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
Notes
3 items are essential if you will be making the round loaf. A baking stone and a wooden pizza (or baker's) peel, and a water mister. I use an inexpensive ($9.99!) wooden peel I found at a kitchen supply outlet store, a plant mister from a hardware store for the misting, and a baking stone that is easy to find at any kitchen supply. I use the plant mister exclusively for my baking, and I keep it empty and dry when not in use so no mold can develop.
Courses Bread
20
Leave a Reply