I love making bread! It is my favourite hobby. I just love kneading and working with dough. I find it relaxing and watching how basic flour, water and yeast turns into something so hearty and delicious – just blows me away every time. So I wanted to share my Five Grain Bread Loaf with you as I also really love seeds. So by combining the two together, I get the best of both worlds. Nothing beats the aroma of baking fresh bread at home and nothing beats devouring it with family and friends too!
Making your own bread at home has numerous benefits. You can experiment with different grains like oats, quinoa or barley and seeds such as black sesame, nigella, hemp or chai, ensuring unique flavours and textures. Homemade bread is often healthier for you as well as you control the ingredients, avoiding additives and preservatives commonly found in store-bought bread.
Baking your own bread at home is also very rewarding; the process itself can be therapeutic and is so so satisfying. Sharing your bread with family and friends gives a sense of connection and joy making it a wonderful experience from start to finish.
Although I mainly make sourdough at home (using wild yeast), dried yeast definitely has its place. Sourdough is a long process and sometimes I need bread done in hours, not days. So this is my go-to loaf when needing same-day bread or quick bread (when compared to sourdough). It makes the perfect toast too!
Step-by-step to making five grain bread
❄️ Storage
ROOM TEMPERATURE:
This bread is best eaten on the day it is made for the best texture but it will keep for 2 days stored in a bread tin or in a paper bag is best (plastic bread could make it sweat) and is still perfectly fine to eat. What I like to do is, any uneaten bread on the day its made, I cut into slices and freeze it. It’s the best option and stores well. Alternately, it makes excellent toast in the coming days if stored at room temperature.
FREEZE:
Homemade bread does not contain any preservatives or additives which makes bread ‘stale’ quite quickly. The best thing to do with any uneaten bread is to slice and freeze it. I like to cut into slices and store in a zip-lock bag with baking paper between the layers. This makes it easy to seperate the slices once frozen so you only get out what you need. Once placed into a zip-lock bag, label, date and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw on the counter-top or in the fridge. You can also ‘toast’ from frozen.
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Five Grain Bread Loaf
Equipment
- 24cm loaf tin or thereabouts
Ingredients
SEED MIX
- 2 tablespoons each pepitas and sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon each flaxseeds, poppy and sesame seeds
- ⅓ cup boiling water
BREAD
- 440g bread flour (strong flour)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dried instant yeast (or a 7g sachet)
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 220ml warm water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
TO SPRINKLE (OPTIONAL)
- 1 tablespoon mixed seeds (use a combination of seeds that you used in the dough)
Instructions
- Place seeds into a small bowl. Add boiling water and mix to combine. Set aside for 20 minutes.
- Stir or whisk the flour, yeast, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the warm water, olive oil and seed mixture. Using your hands, mix together to form a shaggy dough (you could also do this in a stand mixer).
- Turn the the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm place for around 1 hour or until doubled in size (Alternately, mix in a stand mixer using a dough hook for 5-7 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan forced). Lightly grease a 22cm loaf pan with cooking spray, oil or butter. Knock (punch) the dough back and turn out onto a clean work surface and knead for 1 minute. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle (about the length of the tin you are using). Roll up to form a log, turning the ends in as you go so you have a loaf shape the size of your pan. Place the dough into the tin, seam side down. Cover and allow to proof again until doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.
- Lightly spray the top of the bread with water and sprinkle with extra seeds if using. Bake the bread in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- COOKS NOTES:
Oven Temps: Oven temperatures are for conventional, if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C.
Measurements: We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 tablespoon = 20 ml & 1 cup = 250 ml.
Herbs: All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed.
Vegetables: All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified.
Eggs: We use extra-large size and eggs are 55-60 g each, unless specified. - SEED MIXTURE
You can use any variety of seeds you prefer, as long as you use 1/2 cup of mixed seeds. - YEAST & BLOOMING
Blooming yeast is a thing that many recipes call for but if you know your yeast is fresh and not expired (make sure to check the use by date) there is really no need to ‘bloom’ the yeast first. If however, you are unsure and would prefer to check the viability of your yeast, simply combine the warm water, sugar and yeast in a jug or bowl and wait 5-10 minutes or until the yeast activates and is nice and foamy. This ensures your yeast is fresh. If nothing happens, its best to discard it and buy some fresh yeast.
If using the bloom method, combine the water, sugar and yeast and allow it to activate. Then combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the bloomed yeast mixture along with the oil and continue as per the recipe. - TIN SIZE
The bread is best made in a 22cm loaf pan. I unfortunately had to use my 25cm pullman USA pan which I shouldn’t of as it was too big, but I just couldn’t find my 22cm loaf pan. But it will work ok (as you can see) if your tin is slightly bigger.
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