Almost five grains bread

Almost five grains bread
Pre-prep Time: 12-16 hours (levain and seed soaker) (unverified)
Prep Time: 30 minutes (unverified)
Cook Time: 50-55 minutes (unverified)
Servings: 1 large loaf (unverified)

It happened again. In the morning I get up, open the bread box – all gone.

The base recipe (for reference) is the five seeds bread from J. Hamelman’s “Bread”.

Time Planning

  • Prepare the seeds and the levain, cover and leave for 12-16 hours
  • The dough will require two proofing sessions which together take up to 2.5 hours

Ingredients

Levain:

  • 230 g strong wheat flour
  • 290 g water
  • 50 g mature sourdough (the recipe calls for liquid one, I used what I had, somewhere between liquid and solid)

Seeds:

  • 100 g rolled oats
  • 100 g linseed
  • 100 g sunlower seeds
  • 10 g salt
  • 370 g boiling water

Final dough:

  • the levain
  • the seeds
  • 400 g strong wheat flour
  • 280 g whole wheat flour
  • 240 g water – use hand-warm water
  • 20 g salt
  • 5 g instant yeast

Instructions

  1. Mix the levain ingredients, cover with cling film and leave for 12-16 hours
  2. Mix the seeds with salt, pour boiling water over them, cover with cling film and leave for 12-16 hours. The boiling water matters more if you have very hard seeds, if you use the softer ones such as sunflower, you’re likely fine with just warm water
  3. Mix it all in a mixer or by hand in a bowl. Doing this by hand will require a lot of effort. In the mixer first mix for three minutes on a lower speed and then three minutes on a higher speed
  4. Leave covered for 60-90 minutes, depending on how warm it is. Fold the dough after 45 minutes
  5. Shape the loaves and put them in the baskets or a bowl with a dusted cloth. I usually put the basked in a plastic bag so that it the dough doesn’t dry up
  6. Leave for 60 minutes. 30 minutes in start the oven. The recipe states 240 C degrees and steam, I set mine to 210C with top and bottom heaters (know your oven) and put a baking tin with water on the bottom
  7. After 60 minutes, before you transfer the loaf onto a baking tray, ensure you have a well-dusted bottom so that it doesn’t stick (the bottom of the loaf). Flip the basked onto a baking tray, score the loaf and bake for 50-55 minutes
  8. Take the loaf out of the oven when knocking on the base gives you a nice, hollow sound. Leave on a cooling rack

Baked loaf
Baked loaf
Baked loaf

The bread opened up nicely and didn’t crack too much. The crust is thin and slightly crunchy. The crumb wasn’t baked well enough in my opinion - I’ve already corrected that in the recipe by adding 10 minutes.

The crumb
The crumb
The crumb

At first the loaf got pretty flat in the oven and I was worried it wouldn’t rise but it turned out ok in the end.

The flavour turned out rather oaty, but nice.

A sandwitch with spinach and roasted veggies
A sandwitch with spinach and roasted veggies

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