This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
I first read about baking with sprouted grains several years ago in Chad Robertson’s Tartine Book No. 3, which offers a how-to sprouting guide and explains why we would want to do this in the first place:
Sprouting grains before mixing them into dough or milling them into flour makes them not only more digestible but also more nutritious.
To paraphrase from TBNo3:
At their sprouting (or germination) point, grains begin to transform from a seed into a plant, at which point, the dormant nutrients, minerals, and vitamins stored to nourish the plant become more accessible, which makes them easier for us to absorb. When we eat sprouted grains, we are digesting something more similar to a vegetable than a grain.
This sounded like a win all around—easier on the tummy, amped up nutrition. I researched grain sprouting further and discovered even more benefits: boost in fiber, unlocked flavor, and increased sweetness.
But as I looked more earnestly into the sprouting process—soak grains in water for several days, transfer to a clean jar, cover with cheesecloth, drain and aerate and rinse twice a day—I couldn’t help but feel discouraged. I kept thinking: Couldn’t someone do this for me?
Yes! King Arthur Flour now sells Sprouted Wheat Flour. For the past month or so, I’ve been baking the sandwich bread featured here using half King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour and half King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Flour.
The loaves have been turning out beautifully, the crumb soft and light, the taste without a trace of bitterness. Most sprouted wheat flour on the market today is made from hard red wheat, which can taste bitter and behave more like a standard whole wheat flour.
King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Flour, on the other hand, is made from white whole wheat berries that, when sprouted, yield a creamier, sweeter, milder-tasting flour that can easily be used in any of your favorite recipes.
Traits of King Arthur Flour’s Sprouted Wheat Flour
- Smell: Every time I mix up a batch of this bread with the sprouted wheat flour, I’m surprised by how fresh the dough smells and how much more fragrant it is overall than other flours I’ve used.
- Taste: Sweet and nutty.
- Versatility: You can substitute King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Flour 1:1 for whole wheat flour or up to 50% for all-purpose in your favorite recipes.
- You can read more about King Arthur Flour’s patent-pending sprouting process and find more recipe inspiration in this guide on King Arthur Flour’s site.
Seedy Sandwich Bread
This is a basic sandwich bread, coated in seeds or not—I love the seeds; my children do not, so I make it both ways, and everyone is happy. The original recipe is in Bread Toast Crumbs (soon to be released!) but here I’ve replaced half of the flour with the sprouted wheat flour.
There are three recipes below: one for a single loaf pan, one for two loaf pans, and one for three loaf pans, which I have been making nearly every Sunday for the past month or so thanks to this King Arthur Flour 3-loaf pan. I’ve been keeping two loaves handy for toast and sandwiches, and slicing and freezing the third to have on hand for later in the week.
A few tips:
• You can mix the dough at night, store the bowl (covered with plastic wrap or bowl cover) in the fridge, then proceed with the recipe in the morning. The key is to be patient the following morning after you transfer the dough to the loaf pans to let it make its second rise—it may take as long as two hours due to the temperature of the dough and the temperature of your kitchen.
• Seed and grain mix: You can use anything you have on hand, from simply rolled oats to sesame seeds to every seed you have in your pantry: poppy, millet, sunflower, pumpkin, chia, flax, etc. I like to use ALL the seeds.
This post is sponsored by King Arthur Flour. Thank you for your support.
Made a how-to video on Facebook Live:
Seedy Sandwich Bread — 1 loaf
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Adapted from Bread Toast Crumbs.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (192 g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1½ cups (192 g) King Arthur Flour Sprouted Wheat Flour
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- 1½ teaspoons instant yeast
- 1½ cups lukewarm water
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil or olive oil
- softened butter for greasing
- mix of seeds: flax, millet, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia—whatever you like, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the water and oil. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel, a bowl cover, or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1½ hours, until the dough has doubled in bulk.
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 375ºF. Grease a standard loaf pan (8.5×4.5-inches) with the softened butter. Spread a generous handful of flour over a clean surface. If you are coating the loaves in seeds, spread the seeds out on a rimmed vessel such as a small sheet pan. Set a bowl with water and a pastry brush nearby. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.
- Use the forks to lift the dough onto the prepared surface—you may need to guide the dough out with your hands. Using as much flour as necessary from the surface, dust your hands and the exterior of the dough, then shape the mass as best you can into a ball and flatten into a rectangle/oval—doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Brush the surface of the dough with water (you can do this on all sides or just the top —whatever you wish). Roll in the seeds. Transfer to prepared pan. Let rise until the dough crowns the rim of the pan—be patient. Depending on how cool your kitchen is, this may take more or less time.
- Transfer the pan to the oven and bake 40 minutes, or until golden. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 20 minutes (longer is best) before slicing.
- Category: Bread
- Method: No-knead
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: no-knead, seedy, sandwich, bread
Seedy Sandwich Bread — 2 loaves
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
Description
Adapted from the soft sandwich bread recipe in Bread Toast Crumbs.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (384 g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 3 cups (384 g) King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- 1/3 cup neutral oil or olive oil
- softened butter for greasing
- mix of seeds: flax, millet, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia—whatever you like, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the water and oil. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel, a bowl cover, or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1½ hours, until the dough has doubled in bulk.
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 375ºF. Grease two standard loaf pans (8.5×4.5-inches) with the softened butter. Spread a generous handful of flour—about 1/4 cup—over a clean surface. If you are coating the loaves in seeds, spread the seeds out on a rimmed vessel such as a small sheet pan. Set a bowl with water and a pastry brush nearby. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.
- Use the forks to lift the dough onto the prepared surface. Using as much flour as necessary from the surface, dust your hands and the exterior of the dough, then shape the mass as best you can into a ball. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half. Shape each portion into a ball, then flatten into a rectangle/oval—doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Brush each portion of dough with water (you can do this on all sides or just the top —whatever you wish). Roll each in the seeds, then transfer to the prepared pans. Let rise until the dough crowns the rims of the pans—be patient. In the winter, I find this takes longer, 30 minutes or more.
- Transfer the pans to the oven and bake 40 minutes, or until golden. Remove the pans from the oven and turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 20 minutes (longer is best) before slicing.
- Category: Bread
- Method: No-Knead
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: no-knead, bread, seedy, sandwich
Seedy Sandwich Bread — 3 loaves
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 3 loaves
Description
Adapted from the soft sandwich bread recipe in Bread Toast Crumbs.
Ingredients
- 4½ cups (576 g) King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
- 4½ cups (576 g) King Arthur Sprouted Wheat Wlour
- 5 teaspoons kosher salt
- 5 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 4½ cups lukewarm water
- ½ cup neutral oil or olive oil
- softened butter for greasing
- mix of seeds: flax, millet, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia—whatever you like, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the water and oil. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel, a bowl cover, or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1½ hours or until the dough has doubled in bulk—be patient, especially in the cooler months.
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 375ºF. Grease three standard loaf pans (8.5×4.5-inches) with the softened butter. Spread a generous handful of flour—at least 1/4 cup—over a clean surface. If you are coating the loaves in seeds, spread the seeds out on a rimmed vessel such as a small sheet pan. Set a bowl with water and a pastry brush nearby. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.
- Use the forks to lift the dough onto the prepared surface—you may need to guide it out with your hands. Using as much flour as necessary from the surface, dust your hands and the exterior of the dough, then use a bench scraper to portion the dough into three equal pieces. Shape each as best you can into a ball, then flatten into a rectangle/oval shape—doesn’t have to be perfect.
- Brush each portion of dough with water (you can do this on all sides or just the top —whatever you wish). Roll each in the seeds, then transfer to the prepared pans. Let rise until the dough crowns the rims of the pans—be patient. In the winter, I find this takes longer, 30 minutes or more.
- Transfer the pans to the oven and bake 40 minutes, or until golden. Remove the pans from the oven and turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 20 minutes (longer is best) before slicing.
- Category: Bread
- Method: No-knead
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: no-knead, bread, sandwich, seedy, sprouted, wheat
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Richard Bone says
No kneading? Is that right? That would be great. I’m trying the two loaf recipes in a few days. Can’t wait. I just found the sprouted wheat at the store and had to buy it.
alexandra says
No kneading! And yay. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!
Diane says
Thank you for yet another great bread recipe and for introducing me to sprouted wheat flour- it makes a fabulous bread with wonderful flavor!
alexandra says
So happy to hear this, Diane!
Joan Long says
OMG…I love all the recipes, amazing cook.
alexandra says
🙂 🙂 🙂
Joan V Long says
Can I add the seeds directly into the bread before cooking the bread
alexandra says
Definitely!
Alexa says
Oh my your recipes are fantastic! I am a rookie bread maker and this was so easy and so delicious. I didn’t have any sprouted wheat flour, but as directed, it was fine with regular whole wheat. Will definitely become a regular in our house!
Alexa says
I couldn’t find where to star the recipe, but it would be a 5 star for sure!
alexandra says
So happy to hear this, Alexa! I can’t see where to rate it either 😂😂😂 I wonder if, because there are three recipes in the post, it’s causing a glitch … I’ll investigate, but in any case, I’m so happy you liked this one 😍😍😍
Emmett Fox says
I made the seed loaf yesterday using a local Mill, Barton Springs out in Dripping Springs, Texas. There flours worked out great, the bread was much light than I thought it would have been.
So very easy to make with all the step by step photo’s and the recipe is explain very well and easy to follow. I love it!! Thanks Alexandra Cooks
alexandra says
So nice to hear this, Emmett! Locally milled or freshly milled flours have such beautiful flavor. So glad this worked out!
Andrea says
Followed the single loaf recipe to the letter. Wouldn’t do a second rise and didn’t rise in the oven. Yeast doesn’t expire until 07/21 so fresh and should do its job. Let it rise in the warmth of the oven with the light on for the first rise. My relatively flat loaf looks great and tastes great but its certainly not a sandwich bread the way it is. any ideas?
alexandra says
Hi Andrea. What kind of yeast are you using? Instant or active dry? How long did the first rise go? What size loaf pan are you using?
Andrea says
Thanks for the replay. As you suggested, I am using Instant Dry Yeast. The first rise went OK but nothing happened after that. It was odd. I let the second rise go almost an hour if memory serves. It was on the stove, covered in the bread pan while the oven was heating up. Not too hot, just nice a warm.
alexandra says
Hi Andrea,
I’m not sure how to advise. Sometimes when people have trouble with the second rise, it’s because they’ve actually partially cooked the bread unintentionally by letting it rise in a too-warm oven … but it doesn’t sound as though that happened. Or it’s because the first rise went too long (over fermented), so the the bread loses steam for the second rise. You could try activating your yeast by sprinkling it over lukewarm water with the sugar. This might help give it a little boost. Wish I had more thoughts for you, but I’m just not sure where things went wrong.
Andrea says
thank you, I will give your suggestions a try
Deepa says
Second time I’ve made this and tasted great but curious why both times the top of the loaf collapsed slightly? Used bread flour instead of AP. Let it rise 2 hours for both rises.
alexandra says
Hi Deepa! Are you using a scale to measure the flour? Also, I think 2 hours for the second rise might be a bit too long, though I understand that you may have been waiting for the visual cue of the dough crowning the rim of the pan. What size is your loaf pan? And how many loaves are you baking at one time?
Deepa says
Yes, I’m using a scale and making one loaf (pan size 9”x5”). I do wait the two hours for the dough to rim the pan but maybe next time, just one hour?
alexandra says
Yes, I think 1-hour will be plenty!
Nancy Cook says
Hi Alexandra
I would like to try the walnut bread from your cookbook. I have read that walnut oil turns bitter when heated ? Maybe that is just true for frying or sautéing? Your thoughts please ?
Nancy
Belwood Ontario
Peggy says
My husband and I can’t stop eating this bread! We’ve already eaten half the loaf and I just baked it this afternoon. I followed the directions exactly, and it was so easy. I coated it with lots of seeds: millit, flax, sunflower, sprouted pumpkin, steel cut oats, and chia. We ate it warm spread with Irish butter, raw almond butter and a drizzle of real maple syrup. Better than dessert!
alexandra says
Oh Peggy, yay! So wonderful to hear this. Irish butter … is there anything better?
Kate says
Hi there. This sounds great. My toddler loves cinnamon raisin bread but always wants more raisins and cinnamon. And will actually atop eating the toast if he doesn’t see any raisins. So I wanted to make some. Do you think this recipe would cater to adding raisins? Thank you 🙂
alexandra says
That is so cute 🙂 🙂 🙂 And yes, absolutely! Add them right in with the flour.
Jake says
They were out of KAF Sprouted Wheat Flour at the store today 🙁
I’m going to try this with 70% KAF Special patent bread flour and 30% Castle Valley milling hard whole wheat sg bread flour.
Will report back on how it turns out. The protein content in my flours is higher, so maybe I should keep an eye out for shorter rise times? Not sure on that. If anyone has thoughts on how this modification will make for a different process, please lmk!
alexandra says
Hi Jake! Keeping an eye on the rising is a good idea, but I think the timing should be roughly the same. Hope it turns out well! Report back if you have a chance.