There is nothing like homemade whole grain bread

After years in the States, I finally baked my own whole grain bread.  My Mom has been baking this for years and it’s one of the things I missed the most when I moved to the US. The biggest hurdle was finding cracked rye berries… even Whole Foods and the local Co-op sell cracked wheat, but only whole rye berries. Do you know how difficult it is to crack them yourself without a “grain mill” (which are superexpensive)?

I found a way around it: I ‘misused’ a burr coffee grinder to crack the rye. Worked like a charm (maybe a little finer than I would have liked, but what the hell! I can crack my own rye berries. Hooray!).

It’s super-easy to make. There is no kneading involved and even though it has a little yeast, you don’t have to allow the dough to rise before baking. It’s as easy as mixing the ingredients and putting it in a loaf pan for 3,5 hours (!) of baking.

For one medium size loaf you need:

250g (~9 oz) cracked rye
250g (~9 oz) cracked wheat
250 g (~9 oz) wheat flour
250 g (~9 oz) sunflower seeds
1.5 envelopes (~0.4 oz) of dry active yeast
2 tbsp salt
500 ml (~17 fl oz) buttermilk
100 ml (~3.4 fl oz) maple syrup
125 ml (~4.2 fl oz) water

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until all the dry ingredients are evenly wet.

Place in a silicon loaf pan (it’s easy to use and clean – if you use a regular loaf pan, make sure to line it with parchment paper).

Bake for 3,5 hours at 300ºF. Then let it completely cool down on an oven rack (over night). Once it’s cooled down, you can store it in the fridge wrapped in aluminium foil for up to 2 weeks.

So, this is really dense bread (J doesn’t call it a “brick” for nothing), but it’s hearty, delicious and so filling! I can have two of these small slices for lunch and it will keep me satisfied for hours! My favorite way to eat it is with a slice of gouda, a little mayo, sliced tomato, onion, pepper and salt. Please try this and thank me later! You’re welcome.