Just the smell that fills the house when you bake this seed bread with oat flakes is fantastic. Because anyway, the smell of fresh bread, just out of the oven, is one of the best ever for me. To prepare this seed bread you don’t need a stand mixer, you can easily knead everything by hand, or if you prefer you can just mix the ingredients in a bowl. Simple ingredients, because bread is also good like this, without much fuss. Give it an extra touch with the seeds you prefer, I chose pumpkin, sunflower, and flax seeds, but of course you can replace them with other seeds of your choice.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 1 loaf
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsps instant dry yeast
- 1 cup oat flakes
- 3 tbsps pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 1/2 tbsps flax seeds
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 1/2 cups water (warm)
- 1 tsp salt
- to taste sunflower seeds
- to taste flax seeds
Steps
To prepare the seed bread with oat flakes, in a large bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, instant dry yeast, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds. Dissolve the honey in the warm water and add to the flour and seed mix. Briefly mix everything with one hand, then add the salt.
Now work everything with your hands until no visible traces of flour remain. The dough will be very soft and sticky, but don’t worry, that’s fine. Form a ball with the dough and let it rest covered for an hour.
After the first hour of rest, transfer the dough to a floured surface and with floured hands, without pressing it too much to avoid letting out all the air, make two folds. Put the dough back in the bowl and let it rise for another hour, covered. Then, make another two folds, put it back in the bowl and let it rise for another hour. After the third hour of rest, proceed with the folds as before, form a ball and place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper, with the folds side down.
Cover the formed loaf with the overturned bowl and let it rise for another hour.
While the dough is rising for this last hour, preheat the oven to 445°F (static) placing a cast iron pot with its lid (approx. 9.5 inches diameter) inside. If you don’t have a cast iron pot with a lid, preheat the oven with a baking tray inside.
Once the resting time is over, make 2-3 cuts on the surface with a baker’s blade or a sharp knife, then moisten the dough surface and sprinkle with sunflower seeds and flax seeds as desired.
Then take the pot from the oven (with gloves, please!) and transfer the loaf into the pot, along with the parchment paper. Put the lid on the pot and bake at 445°F for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes, still at 445°F. If it gets too dark, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. If you don’t have a cast iron pot with a lid, transfer the bread along with the parchment paper onto the preheated baking tray and bake it like that.
Take your seed bread out of the oven and let it cool on a rack before enjoying it sliced.
Suggestions
If you have leftover bread, you can also freeze it. In this case, I recommend freezing it directly sliced, so it thaws faster, and you can take only the slices you need from the freezer.
