Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Recipes
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients:
1. 500g flour of at 11-12.7% protein content
2. 415g cold distilled water (83% of flour's weight) (simply boil the tap water to get distilled water)
3. 1.5 tsp salt (10g) (7.5% of flour weight)
4. 10-20g fresh yeast (use just 10g if you are leaving the dough in fridge overnight)
5. 100-200g sunflowers seeds as desired (optional)
6. 2 TBS flaxseeds (optional)
7. A handful of rolled oats or pumpkin seeds for sprinkling (optional)
Directions:
1. Using a spatula, combine flour, yeast, salt and cooled distilled water into a dough. Add sunflower seeds and flaxseeds and mix well. You can make your own distilled water by boiling water and letting it cool down.
2. Cover and rest for 2 hours.
3. After resting your dough for 2 hours, you can divide into two portions and bake or rest them in the fridge overnight. The longer you rest it, the more flavorful it will be. You can rest it up to 3 days.
4. Remove dough from fridge and let it sit for 30-45 mins to return back to room temperature.
5. Pre-heat oven to 250 deg C.
6. Form it into 2 equal portions (if you haven't already bake one portion the previous day already!)
7. Place it on a baking tray laid with baking paper. You can sprinkle some cornmeal before for the crunch.
8. Roughly shape it into a round dough or a bread form.
9. Score it with a few cuts on the surface (optional, for aesthetics)
10. Sprinkle some rolled oats on top for aesthetic (optional).
11. Place a thermometer into the dough (optional) and when the core temperature reaches 96-98 deg C, your bread is done.
12. Place bread in the oven middle top tray.
13. To get the golden crisp, pour a glass of water into the oven bottom tray and close the door. After 1 minute, turn down temperature to 210 deg C.
14. Bake for approx. 28-30 minutes until golden or until when the thermometer peeps and reads 98 degree C.
15. Remove your bread from the oven and let it cool down on the rack for 5-10 mins before slicing it.
References:
Organic wheat flour from Føtex Supermarket
Add 7.5g salt (1.5% of flour weight)
Add 10-20g yeast. 10g if you are resting the dough in the fridge overnight. 15-20g if you are baking it after resting at room temperature for 2 hours.
Add 400ml + 1 tablespoon water (total 415ml)
Mix well.
Place on a baking paper on a baking tray. You can sprinkle some cornmeal for a crunch below.
Cover with plastic and let it rest for 30-45 mins to get back to room temperature.
Score them a few times on the top layer.
Place them in the oven at 250 deg C, and splash a glass of water into the lower tray to generate steam that gives it a golden crust. Close the oven door.
Reduce temperature to 220 deg C and bake for 25 minutes or until the thermometer reads 96-98 deg C.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting the bread.
Ready to be served with butter, jam or cheese, or simply eat them plain :-)