Oatmeal Bread for Sandwiches

There is something so satisfying about biting into a sandwich made with your own bread. Although my Mom had few choices for grocery store bought bread in the ancient days when I was young, she did try to go with bread that had some substance although white bread was still the norm. Eventually she found that she could buy Trappist Monks bread somewhere and that was good bread, although still white...not a whole grain in sight.

Eventually my Dad began making bread on the weekends so our sandwiches suddenly became worth making and toast was fabulous! He liked white bread, so mostly that's what we had, although sometimes he would add some whole wheat flour.

Not sure if it was the bread of my lack of interest in the fillings, but I spent most of my childhood not liking sandwiches (except for bacon, lettuce and tomato). I would pack soup for lunch in a thermos container, salads in Tupperware later in high school, and little containers of cottage cheese if I could convince my Mom to buy them. For a long time our sandwich wrappers were sheets of wax paper, then wax paper sandwich bags. Plastic didn't show up until I was in late high school or in college and even then it had a flap you tucked in so nothing too messy could be packed.


I still choose leftovers over sandwiches most of the time, but with a loaf of home made Oatmeal Sunflower on the counter, I took a sandwich to work this week. Due to lots of visitors I only worked the one day, but that sandwich hit the spot at lunchtime. This bread was made with cooked rolled oats and it has lots of chewiness, sunflower seeds scattered through it, and a nice crust, too, plus sourdough flavor. The oatmeal bread was first sliced from the loaf, toasted, slathered with grainy mustard, stacked with thinly sliced roast turkey, topped with lettuce and another slice of that toasted bread. Yum!

For the loaf I used the second piece of the dough that I also used for a Lemon Marmalade Braid, and the recipe can be found here. Check it out!

Sourdough Again

After over three months hibernation, the sourdough starter that I froze before we left for Ireland has been thawed, fed twice and made ready for action. The onset of ripe heirloom tomatoes led me to crave a sourdough sandwich with crisp bacon, ripe heirloom tomatoes and crunchy bacon.


Although there are dozens of regionally produced sourdough breads available to buy, without too much trouble, making my own means that I can add whatever I like to the dough and not pay a king's ransom for the results. The fact that the Straight Shooter Man recently gifted me with not one, but two...two! freshly milled flours added to the fun. He visited the Bale grist mill in Napa on a photo shoot and bought both the whole wheat bread flour and the spelt flour that they milled on site with old French mill stones.

I started with one of the first Sourdough Bread recipes I used when my starter was brand new last fall. Now that I have a better sense of how to bake bread with a starter, I only used the recipe for a general guide and quickly went down a different path.


The flour bowl contained a mixture of unbleached bread flour, 12-grain flour, whole wheat bread flour and spelt flour. For additions once the kneading was finished I lightly toasted walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. Although that looked good, I also toasted a rolled grain mixture I use for muesli. It has barley flakes, triticale flakes, wheat flakes and oat flakes.

There was no addition in this bread of a sweetener like honey or molasses or brown sugar, nor any butter or milk.

Although it might be too late for this week, I'm sending this over to the host of Yeastspotting, that weekly wonderland of inspiration for yeast lovers, hosted this week by Susan (I think). Do go by and check out all of the wonderful entries.

Sourdough Multigrain with Seeds

2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup 12 - grain flour (or use additional wheat flour)
1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups lukewarm (70 degree F) water
1 tablespoon salt
additional bread flour as needed
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/3 cup mixed grain flakes (rolled grain), toasted
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

In a large bowl mix the all purpose flour, 12 grain flour, whole wheat flour and spelt flour together to combine.(I used a whisk to whisk them until combined.)

Put the starter, water and 1 cup flour mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to make a smooth batter. Use the paddle or dough hook with mixer on a low speed to work in additional 1 1/2 cups flour mixture. If not using dough hook, change to dough hook at this point. Add rest of the flour mixture to the dough, 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on a low speed. Let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until dough is elastic, or turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead in the rest of the flour then knead for 5 minutes until the dough is elastic.

Let the dough rest 5 minutes, then push down with the palms of your hands to spread it into a rectangle approximately 10 inches by 12 inches.

Mix the seeds, grain flakes and walnuts together. Spread half on the rectangle, leaving an inch uncovered around the edges. Roll up like a jelly roll, then fold the two open ends into the center of the dough roll. Again push down into a rectangle, spread the other half of the seed mixture over it, leaving an inch uncovered on all sides, roll in jelly roll fashion, fold in the ends and knead a minute or two to distribute the seed mixture even more.

Lightly coat a 4-quart mixing bowl with oil and transfer the dough to the oiled bowl. Turn the dough over once so that the top of the dough is lightly coated with oil. Cover the mixing bowl with a loosely applied layer of plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature, until it has doubled in bulk, at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Press the air out of the risen dough and gently knead it until it is springy again, The dough will have a smooth, flexible 'skin', although some seeds may poke through.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into 2 balls, tucking the cut edges of the dough into the center of the balls, and stretching the 'skin' over the surface of the dough balls. Try to do that without tearing the 'skin'. This is hard to do with all the seeds. If a few pop through, don't worry about it.

Put the balls of dough on a baking sheet lined with a silicone pan liner or bakers' parchment. Loosely cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let them rise until they are doubled in size, about 4 hours.

Put a baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven and put a second rack one position above it. Pour a 1/2 inch layer of water into the baking sheet on the bottom shelf. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Just before putting the loaves in the oven, use a box cutter or a very sharp knife to cut shallow slashes in a cross over the surface of the loaves, about 1/8 inch deep. Bake the loaves until they are well browned and sound hollow when tapped, about 35 minutes. An instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a loaf will register 200 degrees F.

Transfer the baked loaves to a cooling rack and let them cool to room temperature before slicing.

Bakers dog news: Xam had stitches removed on Friday and he is like a young dog again, running around and even chasing his tail! Still has the grey muzzle and eyebrows to let us know the truth, but he has a spring to his step when we take walks that hasn't been there for months. Yay! Thanks for all your good wishes...I know it helped. Hugs, Elle

Going Seedy

Spring has sprung and my sunspace is full of seedlings for summer veggies. They are mostly in seed trays and have grown from seeds that I pre-sprouted in damp paper towels, then planted individually in the trays.





They again had a day in the sun and wind to harden them off for planting out in the garden, but the soil really isn't warm enough, so they may grow ever larger in the sunspace for a while.

All of those seedlings had me thinking of seeds when I was deciding what kind of sandwich bread to make this week. Although I've made some bread with seeds, I decided to see if I could pack a nice whole wheat and oatmeal loaf with lots of sunflower seeds and see how that worked.

It turned out great! The flavors are nice and earthy, there is a good chewiness and, when toasted, an nice crunch to each bite.

We took a picnic with friends on Wednesday and brought the boule. It went well with cheeses and salad. This recipe is based on the Oatmeal Bread I made not that long ago. I really like oatmeal...can you tell?...and Sweetie loves molasses, so I threw some of both in with the seediness. The bread baker's dog really enjoyed it toasted...I think he liked that crunchiness, too.

This is my entry for this week to the wonderland for yeast lovers, Susan's weekly round-up on Yeastspotting over at Wild Yeast. Check it out and be prepared to drool.

Sunflower Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread
Makes two (2) loaves

1 cup cooked steel cut oats (not quick cooking)
1/3 cup lukewarm water
¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1 cup whole wheat sourdough starter
1 tsp salt
¼ cup molasses
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread flour
1 ½ - 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sunflower seeds (plain, not roasted or salted)

Cook oats per instructions, remove from heat and allow to cool completely and absorb any excess water. You want a big "glob" of cooked oats.

Proof yeast in lukewarm water and pinch of sugar. Allow to sit for 5 - 10 minutes until foamy.

In bowl for stand mixer or large bowl, break up cooled oatmeal into medium chunks, and using the dough hook (if using stand mixer), stir in sourdough starter or proofed yeast, salt, and oatmeal until cooked oatmeal is completely broken up. Add the molasses and stir to combine with oatmeal-yeast mixture.

Whisk to combine the oats, the whole wheat flour, the bread flour and 1 cup of the all=purpose flour in a bowl or large measuring cup.

Add in about a cup of flour mixture and stir until wet dough formed. Add in another 1 ½ cups flour mixture until shaggy dough ball is formed. Add in remaining flour 1/2 cup a time until soft dough ball that cleans bowl if formed. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes to absorb excess flour. If using stand mixer, hand knead for 5 or 10 quick turns.

Dough should be soft and very slightly tacky. If clumps of dough stick to hand, knead in additional AP flour one palmful at time.

On lightly floured surface, spread the dough into a rectangle roughly 10 inches by 10 inches. Sprinkle evenly with ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Roll up like a jelly roll, seal ends, then fold ends to middle. Push down to again spread the dough and sprinkle with another ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Again roll up and fold ends to middle. Knead 5 – 10 times, turning ¼ turn after each knead.

Again push dough into rectangle and sprinkle with ¼ cup sunflower seeds. Roll up, fold in ends and knead some more. If you see a section that seems low on seeds, sprinkle on some more…about a tablespoon…and keep kneading. In the end you should have kneaded in the remaining ¼ cup seeds and the dough should look pretty seedy.

Place dough in greased bowl, cover and let rise until double (about 2 - 2 1/2 hours). Punch down, form 2 loaves, place in 8 1/2 x 5 greased loaf pans, lightly grease top of loaves, loosely cover, and allow to rise until dough is about 1/4" above edge of loaf pans. (I made on half into a boule this time).

Slash top of loaves down center if desired.

Place loaves in preheated 375 degree F. oven and bake 30 - 35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 190 degrees.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.