I felt like a real baker the other day. I was up at 4:00 am because I couldn’t sleep so I decided to make the best of it and start the pre-ferment for this Five-Grain Bread. This multigrain bread utilizes a Pâte Fermentée (pre-ferment) that takes 12 – 16 hours to do it’s thing so starting it at 4:00 am gave me just enough time to get the bread made in one day.
I really enjoy working with bread dough made with pre-ferments, particularly, Pâte Fermentée. It makes the dough more pliable and adds a wonderful flavor and texture. I agree with Jeffrey Hamelman in his assessment of this bread, “…this multigrain bread is a pleasure to make, a pleasure to look at…and a pleasure to eat!”
This is one of the breads the Mellow Bakers have been working on in May. I’ve been really mellow about baking with this group for the past several weeks so I was excited to find time to make this wonderful bread.
Five-Grain Bread with Sunflower Seeds
This is my adapted version of the Five-Grain Bread with Pâte Fermentée from Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread.
Yield: 3 Medium Loaves
Ingredients:
Pâte Fermentée
- 2 1/4 cups bread flour
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon, instant dry yeast
Soaker:
- 2 1/8 cups Bob’s Red Mill 5-Grain Hot Cereal Mix *
- 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
- 1 1/2 cups water
* Contains whole grain oats,wheat, rye, barley, triticale and flaxseed.
Final Dough:
- 5 cups bread flour
- 1 1/8 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- Soaker 1 lb (all of the above)
- Pâte Fermentée 1 lb (all of the above)
Directions:
Pâte Fermentée
. Add the yeast to the water, then add the flour and salt and mix until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand for 12 to 16 hours.
Soaker. Add the grain mix to a mixing bowl and pour the water over the grains. Mix to incorporate, then let it soak for at least 4 hours before mixing the final dough so the grains have time to absorb the water.
Final Dough. Place all of the ingredients, except the Pâte Fermentée, in the mixing bowl. Using a heavy duty stand mixer, mix on first speed for 3 minutes to incorporate the ingredients, then add the Pâte Fermentée in chunks and finish mixing on second speed for another 3 minutes. Add flour or water as necessary to correct the hydration of the dough. The dough will be somewhat loose, but the gluten development should be strong.
Bulk Fermentation. Let the dough bulk ferment for 2 hours. After 1 hour, remove the dough from the bowl and fold it by stretching and folding it over itself from the left, then right, top and bottom. Form it into a round and place it back in the bowl to rise for one more hour.
Alternately, place the dough in the refrigerator and let it retard overnight. I let the dough bulk ferment for 2 1/2 hours in the bowl because I went out to dinner. Then I folded it, placed it back in the bowl, covered and placed it in the refrigerator overnight. 
Dividing and Shaping. After the 2 hour bulk ferment on the counter or the next day if you retarded the dough in the refrigerator, remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into three 1.5 pound pieces. Preshape lightly into rounds and place on a lightly floured surface, seams up. Cover the rounds with plastic.
Final Shaping. When the dough has relaxed sufficiently (10 to 20 minutes), shape into tight round or oval loaves and place them in floured bannetons and cover with plastic. I used one oval-shaped and one round-shaped banneton and made a regular loaf out of the third ball of dough..
Final Fermentation. Let the loaves rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Baking. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. with a baking stone and a steam pan underneath. Place the loaves on parchment paper and score them as desired.
After the oven has preheated sufficiently, place the loaves (on the parchment paper) on the preheated baking stone, then add 1 cup of hot water to the steam pan. Close the oven door and bake the loaves. Lower the oven temperature by 10 to 20 degrees if the loaves color too strongly. The loaves should bake in approximately 40 minutes.
Thanks for joining me in the bread baking blog. This bread has been YeastSpotted.
The Mellow Bakers group was started by Paul at Yumarama. We’re baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.
I get up at 4 a.m. to go to work. I like your reason a LOT better!
Great breads, these look delish and hearty.
I just found the Mellow group not too long ago and just got the book. So little time. 🙂
Your bread looks so very tasty. 🙂
Susie
Cathy can you help me out here. I like this bread and would like to bake it too. But, I don’t understand the list of ingredients. I see the ingredients for the Pâte Fermentée and for the soaker. But, where are the ingredients for the final dough. Or it says: Pâte Fermentée and the ingredients for the final dough. Than my question is: what do I put in the Pâte Fermentée?
Hi Connie! No wonder you’re confused. I left off the ingredients for the final dough. Don’t know where my head was when I posted this bread. I just added the rest of ingredients. Hopefully, this version will make more sense.
Happy Baking! 🙂
Thanks Cathy, this helps. You see the result at BYOB of july. enjoy your day
In the list of ingredients for the Pate Fermentee, the third one just says 1 teaspoon. One teaspoon of what? Can I used whole wheat flour for this, as I love the whole wheat taste?
CherryCola,Thank you so much for catching that omission. It’s supposed to be 1 tsp of salt – a pretty important ingredient.
If you’re asking if you can use whole wheat instead of the bread flour, I would say yes if you want a dense bread. Another option would be to sift out some of the bran from the whole wheat flour using a strainer. You will still get the whole wheat flavor, but the sifted flour would rise a little better.
If you do try it with whole wheat, let me know how it goes.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
I am interested in trying these artisan breads. However, wondering how the recipe will work with other flours such as rye or chick pea or barley?
If you are referring to this bread, you could probably use any of those flours in the soaker, but chick pea is gluten-free so it couldn’t be substituted for the bread flour.
You could substitute rye one-for-one for some of the bread flour. Or barley for some of the bread flour in the ratio of one-to-five, meaning one cup of barley for every five cups of bread flour. You’ll also need to reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees if you use barley to make sure it bakes evenly.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Another question: Why do you need the ‘soaker’ mix? Can you use just flours instead?
Your use of Bob’s Mills is a problem as I don’t have it on hand and many of their products are not certified organic.
The soaker mix is used to add flavor, texture and additional grains to the bread. Feel free to use any mixture of grains/seeds you prefer for the soaker. The original recipe called for rye chops, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds and oats. I just used what I had on hand. The total amount used should equal 9.6 oz (2 1/8 cups).
Can I finish the bread after the bulk fermentation without putting in frig?
Yes, you can finish it after the bulk fermentation. Or, you can place it in the refrigerator overnight. Either way works.
Just finished making this bread, haven’t baked in a while and it turned out great. I baked two of the loaves in a preheated cast iron skillet and they wound up with a wonderful crust. I did have to add a lot more water to my recipe though!
Thanks for sharing your results. So glad it turned out well for you. Your flour or grains probably absorbed more water.
Hi Cathy,
I’m giving your bread recipe a try for the first time… but I’m a little confused. I’m at the point now when I bulk ferment, but the timings of this process are unclear.
Here’s what I think I should do:
Bulk fermet for an hour:
Punch down, fold dough into rounds, let rise another hour;
Divide into 3 and place on board – let rest for 10-15 mins
Shape as desired; let rise for another 1-1 1/2 hours
Bake as indicated.
Did I miss anything? Many thanks for your help,
Lynn
Hi Lynn, sorry for any confusion. I rewrote the bulk ferment instructions. Hopefully, they make sense now. The dough should bulk ferment for 2 hours and after the first hour, fold the dough onto itself and place it back in the bowl and let it rise for an additional hour. Then preshape the rounds and let them rest for 15 mins. Then shape as desired and let the loaves rise for an additional 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Thanks you Cathy! I did as you suggested… the bread was an immediate hit, it tasted fantastic… and there goes the diet again) Living in Canada, I wasn’t able to find the 5-grain cereal as named above, so I just added pumpkin seed, flax seed, sesame seed, wheat bran, oat bran – in fact any seed I had in the house, to oatmeal and came up with my own version!! Wow – what wonderful bread… and my family and guests have loved it… so much so that I’m going to package the ingredients into large mason jars, add the instructions, decorate the jar and hand them out as hostess gifts over Christmas. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us!! Merry Christmas!
Lynn, What a fabulous idea! The gift that keeps on giving! Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas to you too!
I love this bread! I couldn’t find the 5 grain mix so I used oatmeal, Buckwheat, hemp hearts, and flax seed it turned out great! My husband is very picky and let’s you know when he is not a fan but even he liked it. I will defiantly be saving this recipe. Thank you
Hi Niki, I love the combination of grains/seeds you used. Your loaf sounds wonderful! So glad you and your husband liked it. Happy Baking!
Hi Cathy,
In my search for a practical whole grain bread, I came across your post. Tried it this weekend and the loafs came out gorgeous. I actually used whole wheat flower in the Pate Fermentée and added a little bit more water to the grain mixture to compensate.
I think the real fun part of this recipe is the option to create your own grain mixture.
Most of my breads come from Peter Reinhart books, but his multigrain required cooked rice, which requires extra planning. Yours is a great version for a wonderful weekend lunch
Hi Gertjan,
Thank you for sharing your experience with this bread. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I love using mixed grain soakers in bread. Great idea to add whole wheat in the pate fermentee.
Happy Baking!
Cathy