Here’s a great “healthy” bread that’s packed with flavour and has a very nice soft texture. It’s very versatile too, as it’s equally good with sweet items like jam or honey as well as savoury food – scrambled eggs for example.

Makes: 2 medium/smallish loaves, each giving about 10 slices

Time: 25 minutes hands-on then leave to prove. 10 – 12 minutes second “hands-on then leave for second prove. Another 5 minutes “hands-on” then bake for about 25 – 30 minutes.

Level: fairly easy

Need: Just basics: large bowl, baking tray, proving bag (bin liner) – a stand mixer with dough hook makes kneading much easier.

Ingredients

300g/10oz seeded wholemeal bread flour ¹
200g/7oz strong white flour
10g/¼ oz salt ²
10g/¼ oz instant yeast ³
About 30g/1oz extra seeds
30g/1oz melted butter
30ml/1fl oz olive oil
300ml/10fl oz buttermilk
A little milk or water, if needed

¹If you don’t have any seeded flour use 300g/10oz normal strong wholemeal + more than 30g/1oz mixed seeds

²I like plenty of salt, most people only add 7g – 8g

³Normally a 7g sachet is enough, but with the combination of seeds and wholemeal flour I find a little more yeast helps

Method

1. Mix together the flours, salt and yeast – keeping the salt and yeast well apart before mixing. Stir in the seeds.

2. Stir in the melted butter, olive oil and buttermilk. Mix well, adding any extra liquid if required to make a firm but soft dough.

3. Knead well. 10 – 15 minutes by hand, 7 – 10 in a stand mixer with a dough hook.

4. Gather into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Turn the ball over a few times, pulling and stretching it over itself then cover the bowl and leave to prove – about 1 – 2 hours depending on room temperature.

5. When it has doubled in size, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knock back – remove the air and knead it a little or fold it over a few times.

6. Divide into two pieces and shape each piece, either into a ball or a narrower shape with rounded ends. Place on a lined baking tray and put the whole tray inside a large plastic bag. (I use a kitchen bin liner.)

7. Leave to prove a second time – probably 30 – 40 minutes depending on room temperature. Towards the end of this second prove turn the oven on to 220C / Fan 200C / 425F / Gas 7. If you have a large baking stone put it in the oven now, or put in a baking tray larger than the one with the dough on, which can sit inside the heated tray.

8. Just before baking, lightly flour the loaves and cut three diagonal slashes with a sharp knife or razor blade.

9. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Tap it with your knuckles to see if it has baked – you’re listening for a hollow sound. Leave to cool on a wire rack, even though you’ll be tempted to eat some immediately.

I wish you every success with your bread making. I hope you have a go at this one and enjoy making and eating some lovely bread. If you want to see more of my bread recipes click This link.

Or have a look at my site for other recipes, sweet and savoury. If you’d like to make a comment or ask a question please do, via the contact page.

Here are some quite different breads that you might want to try:

Ridiculously easy No-knead bread