This recipe was a happy accident. Inspired by a recipe for Multi-Grain Struan in Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads, along with a recent recipe from Leila, I started to experiment. I thought what I was making would make a lovely, crusty rustic bread but instead found myself excitedly eating the softest, multi-grain bread I’d ever made. The crust was lovely, the inside was spongy, perfect for sandwiches. I made it again today, this time writing down the details, and in loaf form, and again, success! Lloyd loved this with peanut butter and bananas (his favorite sandwich at the moment) and T. loved it as a late night dinner with leftover shredded pork and homemade barbecue sauce. Yum. I was very happy to find the bread hold together much better than some sourdough sandwich breads I’ve made (which can be a little dry and falling-apart-like for little toddler hands that grip sandwiches extra tightly). We’re keeping this one on quick rotation!
makes two loaves
1-1/2 cups of cooked grain (mine is normally oatmeal*)
1 teaspoon sea salt
Mix together until it looks like a thick, wet oatmeal. When you stir it you almost want it to make a smacking sound, if that makes sense. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on your counter overnight.
2-1/2 cups of sourdough starter
Stir to combine. Add in:
Knead dough for about 5 minutes. You want it to be soft and slightly sticky. Don’t add too much flour so that it is dry.
Knead for 2 minutes more before forming into a ball and placing in a greased bowl to rise. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Dough will double in bulk, about three to four hours.
Allow to rise until almost doubled in bulk, about an hour and half.
Once loaves have risen, slash top and sprinkle heavily with sesame seeds. Place loaves in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove from oven, allow to cool briefly, then remove from baking pans to continue cooling. Wait at least an hour to cut.
*I just had a thought . . . I normally make my oatmeal with an egg mixed in so a few days worth of leftover oatmeal probably has the equivalent of at least one egg cooked in. If you find that your bread isn’t quite as soft as you’d expect (mine was soft like store bought whole wheat, if that helps give you an idea) try adding in an egg or two when you mix in the honey on baking day.
PS – Check out Yeastspotting for other bread recipes . . .
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Sarah–Have you tried making this without any or as much honey? Do you think it would be awful without?
It looks lovely, and I have so much sourdough starter right now… Thanks to your guidance, the starter is fabulous.
I am mid-recipe–the dough is rising. Mine was very sticky even after adding more than double the flour that you recommend… As in, sticking to the board and leaving about half an inch of dough there each time I pulled the dough up to knead. I was leery of adding too much flour, so that was its state when I set it in the bowl to rise. Does that sound right? I'll let you know how it turns out.
Hi Katherine!
You caught me close to the computer so hopefully I can help . . .
yes, the dough for this bread is very wet. Very – compared to a lot of yeast doughs. If you need to knead it any more I'd recommend putting water on the counter, rather than flour, and really wet hands to knead it. You'll almost pour it into the pans after shaping.
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Best,
Sarah
Hey–the bread turned out beautiful and delicious. I am making it again today; it is my everyday bread now!
Thanks!
Original comments from former blog:
The Fischer Family said…
Looks yum! I am such a wuss….sourdough frightens me. I think I need to get the hang of regular bread…but I definately want to try this!
2:02 PM
Mimi said…
Sarah,
I’ve been looking for a sourdough recipe for soft sandwich slices. Thanks for posting this. I’ll have to try it out!
Have you ever tried it with other leftovers? We currently have a ton of brown rice…I wonder what that would do to it? :0)
3:13 PM
Lenetta @ Nettacow said…
OK, things are soaking on the counter. I’m jumping in tomorrow!!
PS – I don’t know Solidea, but I have a cat that just looks like that one. :>)
10:30 PM
Susan/Wild Yeast said…
What a beautiful, versatile loaf!
7:39 AM
Sarah said…
Thank you all for your kind comments!
Mimi- leftover rice would definitely work! Let me know how it turns out!
Best,
Sarah
8:46 AM
Kitchen Stewardship said…
Printed it! I actually have random leftover oatmeal in the fridge, so this is a real possibility! The oats are already soaked, so I wonder if I should just not include them in the overnight soak, or still stick them in. ??
I tried Heavenly Homemakers sourdough w/ rye flour – rocks! Made them into croutons tonight! I sent her over here for your honey whole wheat.
Katie
PS – ok, what is UP? – my word verification is “eating”. Does the system know me? Weird.
3:01 AM
Anonymous said…
I just finished making this bread as it looked so delicious. Unfortunately mine did not turn out as lovely as yours.
I think it may have been in the interpretation of “soft and sticky” and maybe having a picture of your soft and sticky texture may have helped me.
I will try this again but have to wait for the amount of sourdough starter needed.
11:47 AM
Delete
Blogger Sarah said…
Hi All!
I know two or three people have had a little bit of trouble with this recipe so, next time I make it, I’ll take pictures and update this recipe to help make it more clear!
It really does work and taste wonderfully!
Best,
Sarah
4:11 PM
[...] especially my sourdough bakers, you might recognize this recipe as a version of my previous, multi-grain sourdough bread. When I developed the former recipe, I had lots of leftover oatmeal around and was searching for [...]
Wow,my family are so impressed with this bread!I have been baking wholemeal breads for a long time,but until I tried this recipe all my sourdoughs have been abysmal failures.This is just so good,I can’t recommend it more highly.I feel I have turned the corner with my sourdough baking.
Thank you for all your cooking knowledge-my next challenge are the lactofermented vegies
Dang, just finished this and wish I’d read the comments first! I had major sticking dough issues and I think I added a ton too much flour just to make it manageable. This is such a simple recipe and so in my rhythm with ingredients, that next time I try it I’ll be sure to use the wet hands kneading instead of more flour. As is I am sure it will work well for butter bread and peanut butter bread snacks. Thanks for all your effort!
Thank you Lea! Let me know how your second batch works!
Best,
Sarah