Wholemeal bread with mixed seeds

As I've had quite a bit of free time in my hands lately I decided to give bread-making another go. As I absolutely love my rye bread patties I wanted to give making a wholegrain loaf a go. We all know the benefits of eating wholegrain - more fibre, meaning that we'll feel fuller for longer and also fibre aids digestion. However, I've not quite found the perfect wholegrain bread here in Singapore and so as I'm on my summer holiday I just decided to give it a go. And the speed at which the first loaf disappeared I just had to make a second one few days after. I can honestly tell you that it is nearly impossible to resist fresh and warm homemade bread so it is not surprising that we finished over half of the loaf within 30 minutes of me taking it out of the oven. We had the bread with slightly salted butter and some turkey ham and I can tell you that it felt like a big pile of goodness had just melted in my mouth the moment I took the bite.

Compared to the store-bought breads this is a lot denser and has a slight nutty taste to it, which in my opinion makes it taste even better. And as to the denseness, that just means that you need to eat it less than the store-bought stuff to feel satisfied (but as said before, it didn't stop us from eating over half the loaf in one go).

Obviously this isn't proper proper bread in the sense that I still used yeast and not a started, but frankly I'm a bit impatient and when I decide to make something I want to make it now and not wait for like a week before I can finally get down to baking my bread. So call it cheating if you want to, but I promise that the moment you try the bread you couldn't care less whether it was made with starter or yeast.

I'd love to tell you for how long it keeps, but as you might have guessed already it disappears pretty fast. So far it's kept nice and soft for 2 days in a airtight container - I sliced up the bread and keep them in small batches in ziplock sandwich bags. This is obviously best enjoyed when fresh, but it is also divine toasted. Eat as a snack, make it into a filling sandwich, serve on the side of a soup or warm it up and serve with some butter - any way is delicious.

Ingredients

(Makes 1 loaf)
- 500g strong wholemeal bread flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 380ml warm water
- Mixed seeds, to sprinkle

Directions
First mix the flour, salt and dry yeast. Then add warm water and honey. Mix the dough and when its still a bit lumpy add the olive oil. Knead it well until it feels nice and smooth. Place in a bowl and cover with a tea towel and let it stand for 1,5 hours in a warm place for it to double in size.

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead once more (for around 3-5 minutes). If you wish to have seeds in your loaf then this is the place to add them. Line the bread making tray with baking parchment or just cover with a small layer of olive oil and place the dough in the tray. Sprinkle over with some mixed seeds (I used sunflower and pumpkin seeds this time) and cover the tray with a tea towel. Preheat the oven to 200C (fan) and let the bread rise for another 25 minutes. I find that this is approximately the same amount of time needed for the oven to heat up. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes.

When ready remove from the tray and place on a cutting board and cover with a towel and let it cool down a bit before cutting (just makes it easier and this way you'll avoid burning yourself as well). Enjoy!