Easy whole wheat bread
A couple of months back La Motte sent me a press drop that included a few mini loaves and the recipe for this ‘Ouma se broodjie’ (Grandmother’s small bread) and I fell instantly in love with it. I can be described as a classic South African Cape seed loaf and it’s the perfect whole wheat bread recipe to play around with by adding a few extra seeds, nuts or oats.
I parked it on the back burner to make for my blog and then Covid 19 hit the world with a vengeance. Since we are now making more bread at home, I thought I would whip up a loaf to share.
It involves yeast, but no kneading and is pretty easy to do. You can make it into 6 mini loaves, 2 medium loaves or one large one. I made a medium and a smallish one and plan to slice it to freeze for the coming few weeks of lockdown.
Recipe – slightly adapted from Pierneef a’ La Motte
A few more delicious bread recipes:
No-Knead Focaccia Shallot Pissaladière
Possibly the best banana bread ever
Easy cheese & onion bread with herbs
Easy cheese & onion bread with red pepper pesto
Irish soda bread with rosemary & onion
Recipe – makes 1 large loaf or 2 smaller ones
Easy whole wheat bread recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp 30ml honey
- 1 Tbsp sunflower oil plus a little extra to brush
- 3 cups 750ml lukewarm water
- 5 cups Whole wheat flour
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 packet 10gms instant dry yeast
- 1/3 – ½ cup linseeds / flaxseeds optional
- 1/3 – ½ cup sunflower seeds optional
- 1/3 – ½ cup pumpkin seeds optional
Instructions
- Add the honey and oil to the water and stir until the honey dissolves
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, yeast and seeds (keep some seeds back for sprinkling on the loaf top).
- Stir the honey water into the flour mixture until it forms a stiff dough with no dry patches. It will have a similar consistency to a fruit cake batter. Leave the mixture to rest for an hour before stirring again and then decant into a large loaf tin or smaller tins that have been lined with baking paper.
- Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm spot for about an hour. It should more or less double in size.
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F
- Sprinkle a little water over the top and scatter the seeds. Bake for 45 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 180C / 350 F and bake for a further 30 minutes. *For smaller loaves, bake at 180C/350F for 45 minutes.
- As the bread is removed from the oven brush with oil and then allow to cool on a rack.
Notes
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Sam,
Loving this recipe but being based in the UK cup is not a measure we use so rather than guess work could you possibly give me a total weight for 5 cups wholemeal flour.
Many thanks
Debs
Hi Debs its 750 ml – so 250ml (1 cup) x 5. do you have any kind of measuring jug?
Hi Sam! Not sure of the quantity of water required? Your recipe says 250 ml (3 cups). Surely a typo ?
Cant wait to try it out…
Alison..
HI Alison yes it is a typo thank you and it is 750ml of water. I can’t seem to update my recipe right now but will keep trying.
Hi Debs – apologies – the 5 cups of flour would be 1-litre plus 250ml. I just weighed it out and it’s 690gms. I’m not too sure how you will measure the water if you don’t have a measuring jug though?
Hello Sam: I have two beautiful loaves of this bread on my cooling rack right now and they look and smell delicious. I can’t wait to try them! I have never seen instructions to brush a loaf with oil before cooling and I wondered what the origin and purpose of this step is. Thank you for any clarification you can give. Love your blog and cookbooks!
Thank you Lori and I hope you are keeping well. I didn’t bother brushing my loaves with oil and its purely to give them ashine so it’s not necessary
can one substitute the whole wheat flour for brown bread flour?
Hi Romana absolutely you can
Hi Sam! Can I substitute brown sugar for the honey?
Hi Megan, yes no problem
Hi I am happy I came across this recipe and that it can be substituted with brown bread flour. I am going to incorporate a few chopped dates and different coloured raisons. Have a good day.
Hi Dorothy, I think dried fruit would be lovely in this bread. I hope you enjoyed it
I made this recipe using brown bread flour and it turned out perfectly with a fantastic flavour. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.?
Hi Mariam, Im so glad you enjoyed this recipe. thanks for stopping by
I attempted the bread, and I was more thann happy with the result. A nice brown crust, with the crunch of the seeds on top and inside and a soft inside. I Added raisins too. This recipe is delicously superb!
Hi Christine and I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread recipe. Raisins are lovely in it too.
Sam
Hi.what kind of whole wheat flour do u use in this recipe.
Hi Martine, you can use any kind of wholewheat bread
HI Flo, the recipe is correct and it is 750ml water (3 cups). I am not sure what you did wrong on your side but this is a tried and tested recipe that has been handed down. You will see from past comments that people have ade this recipe with success.
Hi Sam
Thank you for the recipe. Can you please write the dimensions of the pans you used?
Cheers
HI and apologies I don’t have the dimensions but it makes one large loaf or 2 medium loaves.You will see when you have the dough what tin it will fit into.
Sam
750ml water is much too much water. My bread is a total flop 🙁
Hi Dineke – this is the correct recipe. 3 cups of water to 5 cups of flour. Its been tried and tested and is family recipe handed to me from La Motte. It has been made many times successfully by other readers and myself. I can only think you did not measure out the correct amount of flour.
Just took my first bite of this. It’s easily one of the most delicious home made breads I have had. I didn’t have enough seeds, so I subbed 1/4 cup plain granola. I cut the recipe in half. Next time, I’ll bake two loaves and gift the 2nd. I can’t believe how easy to make!