Fall

Hearty Harvest Bread

October 30, 2011
4.8
4 Ratings
  • Makes 2 generous loaves
Author Notes

There are few grains and seeds that didn't ultimately find their way into this bread. Each batch yielded better and better results, so we kept going until we were finally happy with everything about it: its protein and fiber contents, its size and appearance, and its taste. Toast it and top it with some goat cheese, a poached egg, a generous drizzle of olive oil and some snips of fresh chives. Call it breakfast; call it dinner; call it good. —boulangere

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Ingredients
  • 1 cup toasted 7-grain cereal
  • 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
  • 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
  • 4 3/4 cups bread flour
  • 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup flax seed meal
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
  • 1 tablespoon sea or kosher salt
  • 11 ounces warm tap water
  • 11 ounces milk warmed in the microwave
  • 1 glug honey, a good tablespoon
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 ounces soft butter
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Measure onto it the 7-grain cereal, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and wheat germ. Toast them in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool while you assemble the rest of your ingredients.
  2. To the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the bread flour, whole wheat flour, flax seed meal, salt, instant yeast, and all the toasted grains and seeds. Swish the dough hook through the ingredients to disperse the yeast.
  3. Next, add the water, the milk, honey, eggs, and butter.
  4. Mix with the hook just until all ingredients are well blended. Turn off mixer, cover bowl with plastic, and allow to autolyse for 20 minutes. The autolyse is a rest period which permits all the large particles in the various ingredients to be come fully hydrated. The gluten strands also take up more water and form a windowpane more quickly than they would if continuously kneaded.
  5. After the autolyse, turn on the mixer and let bread knead for a five minutes. It should come together and leave the sides and bottom of the bowl and look noticeably different from the first mixing. If it doesn’t, add some bread flour by tablespoons until it does. Stop mixer and test for a windowpane by pulling off a walnut-size piece of dough, and gently stretch it over your fingertips. You want to get the center as thin as possible without it tearing. This tells you if you've adequately developed the gluten, and you bread should for a perfect, beautiful dome when you bake it. If at first it doesn't windowpane, continue kneading in 2-minute increments until it does reach a good, strong windowpane.
  6. Stop mixer, remove hook, and turn the dough out for a moment. Oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to it, turning the dough over once. Cover bowl with a piece of plastic. Allow to proof until doubled, an hour to an hour-and-a-half.
  7. Line a baking sheet with parchment or pan-spray 2 bread pans. Turn dough out onto your work surface. Divide it in half. Shape it as hearth loaves, or to bake in conventional bread pans. Dust the tops of the loaves with bread flour, drape with your piece of plastic, and allow to proof until doubled, about an hour, maybe 45 minutes, depending on how warm your kitchen is. My kitchen faces south, so In the fall and winter, when the sun is lower on the horizon, I have sun all day long. Bread tends to move along more quickly.
  8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Just before placing your loaves in the oven, slash them 3 or 4 times with a serrated knife, a good 1/2" deep. A note on the bake time. In the Comments, you'll see that lapadia and drbabs experienced shorter bake times. I'm known to refer to my oven as Barbie and Ken's oven, in which I baked this for 50 minutes, rotating loaves halfway through the bake time. Bread is done when it reaches an internal temp of 185. It's a good idea to get a temp on it at 30-35 minutes and add time accordingly. Clearly I need to join the 21st century of ovens.
  9. Remove it from the oven and immediately turn it out of bread pans if you've used them. Cool on a rack until you can handle the loaves comfortably. At that point, cut a slice and admire your good work.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

60 Reviews

Joe April 30, 2017
This recipe ill-advisedly calls for ‘warm tap water’.

In the United States, hot water drawn directly from the tap generally is not potable. From one city's department of health to another, one will learn that heat-friendly bacteria may grow in the boilers that heat the water, and these bacteria may make one ill, sometimes seriously ill.

Hence, municipal departments of health generally advise using cold tap water for drinking and eating which is then heated over the stove or in the oven to the desired temperature.

Please correct this recipe and the many others on this site that advise the use of substances that are known to make one ill and caution readers to avoid this danger.
boulangere March 20, 2012
So glad that a tempest has brought views to a good bread.
drbabs March 21, 2012
Ah, the glug has been defined. Let's hope that #glugate will come to an end.
susan G. November 2, 2011
Suddenly, with your detailed instructions (and some new yeast), I can bake again! You get all my thumbs up and mouth full on this delicious and beautiful bread. Mine have a sprinkle of cornmeal on top and bottom, baked on my pizza stone, one round and one elongated. Love the crunch from the 7 grains, and the seeds. Next time I'll use loaf pans for a better sandwich size, and next time will have to be soon!
boulangere November 3, 2011
Oh, susan g, welcome to the fold! So good to hear you've come back to baking. I love the cornmeal idea!
lapadia November 4, 2011
Woo-hoo, susan g...I wondered how long it was going to be, before you made this bread. thumbs up:)
drbabs November 1, 2011
Can't figure out how to upload a photo...thoughts?
boulangere November 1, 2011
Lapadia had the same problem yesterday, drbabs. I'm not sure the function is enabled yet to allow this. But maybe post it on the Hotline page and see who bites. I'd LOVE to see your photo, and am so glad you jumped into the pool.
lapadia November 1, 2011
Yes, would LOVE to see you photo, drbabs! Thought about the Hotline, too, but my food site link worked out perfect.
lapadia November 1, 2011
Hi Boulangere, I posted this recipe (a couple of my little tweaks) and photo on my foodie website, would be happy if you get some time to check it out! PS-I made this bread yesterday & today...love it.
http://lapadia.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/boulangere%e2%80%99s-hearty-harvest-bread/
Thanks for such a great recipe!
boulangere November 1, 2011
I had no idea you had a blog! Your photos and story are beautiful and so kind. I love the sunflower seeds. AND I subscribed to your lovely blog. Thank you so much for your assiduous testing and notes.
lapadia November 1, 2011
Hi again, well yes, I have a foodie site, but I don't really do the "blog" thing like everybody else does, so I don't have it linked from here on F52...it basically started out because I had SO much on my harddrive (wrote that in my site profile). Then I discovered Food52 and quickly learned how the rest of the world blogs. That was never my mission, for using wordpress, but it is fun. Thank YOU!
boulangere November 1, 2011
Foodie, blog, tomayto, tomahto . . . .
TheWimpyVegetarian November 2, 2011
I can see the water is warm and I need to jump in the pool too. And I just subscribed to your blog too, lapadia!! I love it.
boulangere November 2, 2011
Very warm!
lapadia November 2, 2011
I saw that CS, I will be checking yours, too!
boulangere November 3, 2011
She's done a beautiful job. Be sure to check out her Panty tab.
boulangere November 3, 2011
Please, please, please give us an Edit function!!!!!!! Be sure to check out her for crying out loud PANTRY tab!
lapadia November 3, 2011
:) :) Thanks for the laugh, B! :) Yes we need an Edit function, think it should go hand in hand with any section that involves comments and interaction!!!!!! HAND & HAND FUNCTIONS, INDEED.
boulangere November 3, 2011
OMG! I screamed out loud when I realized what was posting before my very eyes and I could do nothing to (a) stop it or (b) edit it! I only hope ChezSuzanne is amused as we've been. Sheesh! And hopefully responses and edits will post one heck of a lot more quickly. Again, sheesh!
hardlikearmour November 4, 2011
Y'all are a riot! This thread is cracking me up! The bread looks and sounds fabulous, too.
lapadia November 4, 2011
Well hello, HLA! Join in the fun...bake some bread, this recipe is delicious and fun :) @ boulangere, I bet CS will be amused. You should have heard me LOL when I first saw your posting. The bad part is that if you didn't re-comment, I might not have caught it for a while.
boulangere November 4, 2011
OMG, I caught it the second I hit the ADD button. Seriously, I shrieked out loud about it. But, hla, please do try the bread, panties or pantries aside. Sheesh.
boulangere November 4, 2011
24 hours later, I still can't believe my typo. Susan's pantRy tab gets better by the day. By all means check it out. As I'm going to be checking out my typing from now on. Seriously, this was my worst gaffe ever. Susan, I'm so sorry. I hope you are able to see the humor as others did. Sheesh.
boulangere November 4, 2011
Seriously, the cats and dogs all jumped to attention. The birds set up a conversation that lasted a good 20 minutes. Edit function, please oh please!
TheWimpyVegetarian November 6, 2011
I am running late to a function, but was trying to quickly catch up on my gmail emails from Food52. This caught my eye and honestly I burst out laughing!!! STILL laughing. My husband thinks I'm crazy now. This has happened to all of us, but maybe not with so much humor :-) Love all of you!
boulangere November 6, 2011
You can't imagine how relieved I am. I was starting to think you'd seen the thread and were taking your own sweet time preparing a scathing response. Not really, but I'm glad we all got a good laugh. I've jumped the gun on new year's resolutions: pay attention to my fingers!
TheWimpyVegetarian November 8, 2011
I am STILL laughing about this. So funny!!! I actually don't want you to pay attention to your fingers - this is much more entertaining!!!
boulangere November 8, 2011
I'm still chuckling over it too!
hardlikearmour November 8, 2011
Maybe instead of the defunct "eat your words" article they should add a "hilarious typos" article!
TheWimpyVegetarian November 8, 2011
Oh yes!!! This one would get my nomination.
lapadia November 8, 2011
LOL....I LOVE it!
boulangere November 8, 2011
I second the motion, hla and CS. Surely I'm not the only one who makes gaffes like this. But I am still chuckling over it, lapadia.
TheWimpyVegetarian October 31, 2011
Love the photo!! I can't wait to try this!
boulangere November 1, 2011
Thank you so much! Please let us know how you like it.
susan G. October 31, 2011
This sounds fantastic! My bread baking skills are failing me lately, but I keep trying. Right now I'm smelling just popped corn and remembering how baking bread smells -- wonderful! (Sign me up for a class!)
boulangere October 31, 2011
Ok, susan g, there is a plan afoot for food52'ers to come to Montana next summer! I don't know exactly what shape the time will take, but I have a feeling there will be some heavy baking going on. I have bedrooms and beds and tents and sleeping bags. I'll accommodate as many cooks/bakers as want to come to Big Sky Country. And it will be far from all work and not play, as Yellowstone Park is a half day's drive from my back yard. This summer in Montana, next summer in Provence. Come January I'll be asking for people's ideas for a week's time when they'd like to come on out. If you want me to put you on the list, just say the word.
boulangere October 31, 2011
AAArgh! Sometimes the Reply button works, and sometimes it doesn't. At least I finally got a photo posted. But you just gave me an idea that I hope is a great one. When I give decorative bottles of your Kahlua for Christmas presents, would you mind if I also included your recipe printed right off food52? Sort of the gift that keeps giving idea.
lapadia October 31, 2011
Yes, linking the recipe would be a wonderful idea! PS - I have trouble with the reply button now and then, right now it is working for me.
boulangere October 31, 2011
Thank you, lapadia! I suspect that there will be much continuous giving from your lovely recipe.
boulangere October 31, 2011
The Reply button doesn't seem to be working at the moment, Lapadia. I've been trying to post a photo too, as well as post a couple of edits. Patience in all things. Hang onto your photo, and I'll look forward to seeing it whenever you can get it posted. Love the cast-iron idea!
lapadia October 31, 2011
If you don't mind, I would like to post your recipe on my recipe site to share with family and friends not on F52?
boulangere October 31, 2011
Please do! Food is for sharing generously!
lapadia October 31, 2011
Hi Boulangere, This is a beautiful loaf of bread to make, hearty indeed and what a wonderful earthy taste; love your informational instructions. I baked mine in a cast iron pan lined with parchment. I only had KA white wheat flour so went with that. Thanks for sharing! Posted a photo…
lapadia October 31, 2011
OOPS...well I have a good photo of this recipe, looks like I can't post it, though. Where can I sent it to...message me, if you would like. Thanks.
TheWimpyVegetarian October 31, 2011
I've got a bunch of 7-grain that is pleading to be used in this recipe! Making it this week!!! Love it!
boulangere October 31, 2011
Oddly, it was an abundance of both pumpkin seeds and 7-grain that gave rise, pun very much intended, to this!
lapadia October 30, 2011
Love this, I have everything except for the 7-grain...I think. For that do you mean like the dry general mills type? I do have multi grain oats on hand? I even have a "glug" of honey :)
boulangere October 30, 2011
Your multi-grain oats will be perfect. Hail to the "glug!"
boulangere October 30, 2011
I SO want you to see photos!
lapadia October 31, 2011
Cool! I hope to do the bread tomorrow...if not Tue., will post a photo, for sure. Recipe sounds delicious and yes, "hail" to the glug!
lapadia October 31, 2011
In the middle of making a half recipe of this bread, just finished resting for the first 20 minutes. Noticed the ingredients list doesn't show the wheat germ. I used a tablespoon.
boulangere October 31, 2011
It should show 1/4 cup. If I can, I'll add it. Thanks for catching that!
boulangere October 30, 2011
LOL! Thanks for point out an important omission, drbabs. Yes, it should read, "Dust the tops of the loaves with bread FLOUR." Haven't had much luck with the edit function this afternoon, but I'll fix it when I can. Also, the bake time should read 50 minutes, not 30. I know you can do this!
lapadia November 1, 2011
Question about the bake time = I made this recipe twice, the first time it only took 40 minutes (in a cast iron), today, the second time on a baking sheet it was done at 33 minutes. Thinking the difference in ovens? Also maybe just start checking around 30 minutes?
drbabs November 1, 2011
lapadia, I'm so happy you posted this. I had 2 loaves in the oven at the time --for about 40 minutes. They were close to 200 degrees when I took them out--I'm hoping they're OK--they're GORGEOUS!! Boulangere, I sent you a desperate message when I couldn't get the dough to window pane, but it seems to have worked out. I can't wait till they're cool enough to eat. I'll upload a photo.
boulangere November 1, 2011
I know, I know, I need to trade up from Barbie and Ken's oven to something more reliable. I'm so grateful you're all checking so assiduously. I'm sure they'll be absolutely fine, drbabs.
drbabs November 1, 2011
They are absolutely wonderful. I have to take them to work tomorrow or I will eat two loaves of bread.
boulangere November 1, 2011
I hear you.
drbabs October 30, 2011
I swear I'm going to learn to make bread this winter--I love this recipe! I have a couple of questions: why don't you test the yeast first? (I ask this because I went to make bread last week and my yeast didn't bubble at all.) Also, in step 7, do you mean dust the tops of the loaves with flour? Or something else?