It’s been a while since I’ve baked a bread with 100% whole wheat flour, and it being January, I thought it would be a good time to do so. Plain whole wheat bread can be boring, so I decided to add some extra ingredients to make it more interesting and flavourful.
Bread spice is commonly used in rye bread baking in Europe. It is a mix of toasted seeds which are ground to a powder and then added to bread dough for a fragrant flavour boost. Any type of fragrant seed can be used in bread spice, and you can customize it to your taste by using other seeds or by adjusting the ratios.
The recipe contains mashed potato which will make the bread softer, and it will make it stay softer for longer. A little bit of olive oil will extend its life also. The barley malt syrup adds a nice sweetness and works well with whole wheat flour. You can swap it for some other sweet syrup if you want to.
Ingredients
For the bread spice –
6g (0.21oz) anise seed
6g (0.21oz) coriander seed
6g (0.21oz) fennel seed
6g (0.21oz) caraway seed
6g (0.21oz) dill seed
For the dough –
425g (15oz) water
5g (0.17oz) instant dry yeast or 6g (0.21oz) active dry yeast or 15g (0.53oz) fresh yeast
10g (0.35oz) salt
15g (0.53oz) olive oil
25g (0.9oz) barley malt syrup
50g (1.75oz) mashed potato
500g (1.1lb) whole wheat bread flour
Linseeds for coating
To learn more about no-knead bread dough temperature control click here.
The flour I use has a protein content of 13%. If your flour is weaker, then you may need to lower the hydration.
If you are using active dry yeast, then you may need to let it sit in the water for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients or else it could take a lot longer to raise the dough.
Method
- Make the bread spice. Pour all the seeds in a small pan and toast them on high heat for 2 – 3 minutes until fragrant and smoky. Grind to a powder.
- Make the dough. Dissolve the salt and yeast in the water. Add the olive oil, barley malt syrup, mashed potato, and bread spice. Mix well. Add the flour and mix to a dough. *Desired dough temperature around 23C (73F).
- Cover and ferment for 15 minutes.
- Fold #1.
- Ferment for 15 minutes.
- Fold #2.
- Ferment for 15 minutes.
- Fold #3.
- Ferment for 15 minutes.
- Fold #4.
- Ferment for 15 minutes.
- Shape the loaf. Spray it with water and then coat it in linseeds.
- Place the loaf in a non-stick paper lined baking tin.
- Cover and proof for 45 – 60 minutes.
- Bake at 190C (375F) fan on or 210C (410F) fan off for 40 minutes.
- Remove the loaf from the tin and place it back into the oven for 10 more minutes.
Leave to cool down before slicing.
