Soaked Whole Grain Bread

Brace yourselves, bakers: homemade soaked whole grain bread will be a long labor of love!

On top of an extended soaking period of at least 12 hours, you’ll need a good chunk of the next day to dedicate to mixing, kneading, proofing, shaping, baking, and cooling.

So, why even bother, you ask?

For the love of the craft! For the pride of baking something wholesome and healthy! For living out your best existence as an artisan home baker!

I bake, therefore I am.

Whole grain bread has earned its notoriety as being a difficult dough – its texture can be unreasonably tough to work with, and it doesn’t always yield the most pleasing final product, especially when things go wrong.

Failing to create the right mix of ingredients, or improper proofing, can lead to loaves that are excessively dense and doughy.

For the best success when baking with whole grains, it’s all about achieving the right combination of baking techniques and ingredients to get a whole grain bread that is delicious.

And not dense, hard as a rock, and ultimately inedible.

With the addition of some all-purpose flour, it still has enough fluff to make it a great loaf to enjoy for your daily meals. It’s a similar technique we use in our other whole grain bread with seeds and oats recipe, which uses a strategic combo of spelt, whole wheat, and bread flour.

And soaking the majority of the dry ingredients in water, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar for 12 to 24 hours also improves the final texture and rise.

Soaking the dry ingredients helps to hydrate and soften them, allowing the proteins and starches in the flour and oats to absorb the liquid ingredients. This helps with the kneading process, making the dough easier to handle.

And here’s another bonus to this process:

As explained by Foodal contributor and registered dietitian Kelli McGrane, the phytic acid present in oats and whole grains can be difficult to digest and can block absorption of minerals. Soaking with a fermented acidic liquid (like buttermilk, kefir, yogurt, or apple cider vinegar) breaks down the phytic acid, helping your body be able to digest and absorb the nutrients.

The soaking process is just one area where patience is required for this recipe. Continue holding on to that virtue, because you’ll still need it throughout the recipe!

If you aren’t patient, you won’t get anywhere near the desired results.

Take all the necessary time with the fermentation process, both when you’re proofing the bulk dough and when you are proofing the shaped loaves or rolls.

It can take double (if not triple) the amount of time to let the dough double in size, compared to other doughs.

Again, it’s just the nature of the ingredients, in addition to the temperature/humidity levels of your home. The bran tends to “cut” the development of the gluten network, slowing the proofing process.

But it will rise! And you will get a stellar final product! Follow our recipe, and be rewarded (eventually) with beautiful bread loaves you can share and enjoy.

A labor of love is always worth it, in the end.

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Cooking by the Numbers…

Step 1 – Prep

Before you do anything – make sure you have allotted the correct amount of time needed to make the bread! Do you have enough time to soak the dough? Are you ready for up to 4 hours or so of proofing the next day?

You also want to check the expiration date on your activated yeast. If it is expired, chances are the yeast will be dead or not strong enough to become activated.

If all is well with your timing and yeast, carry on!

Measure out the ingredients needed for soaking the dough: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, old-fashioned oats, room temperature water, buttermilk, honey, and olive oil.

Step 2 – Make the Soaked Flour Mixture

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together. Combine all of the liquid ingredients in a smaller separate bowl and whisk together until the honey completely dissolves.

Separately combining the dry ingredients and wet ingredients will help to create a dough whose ingredients are more thoroughly incorporated. This way, you can be assured that you won’t get unmixed clumps of food like oats or honey!

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and combine with a sturdy spoon, a plastic bench scraper, or your hands. The mixture should yield a very dense, thick, and slightly sticky dough.

If there is still a lot of flour at the bottom of the bowl that is not incorporated into the dough, add a tablespoon or two of water at a time as you stir.

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store at room temperature. Let the dry ingredients absorb the liquids for at least 12 hours, but no more than 24 hours – we don’t want any excess fermentation to happen, or else the bread will taste too acidic and tangy.

There won’t be a visual difference between the start and finish of the absorption process.

Choose a spot that doesn’t have any direct sunlight and away from any heat sources like your oven.

If your home is particularly warm, or if you have a busy schedule, you may want to consider soaking in the refrigerator. The colder storage temperature will reduce fermentation activity, and will inhibit any potential harmful bacterial growth.

A cold fermentation is particularly important if you decide to use a dairy product for your fermented liquid like buttermilk, kefir, or yogurt. Considering that these types of products are more sensitive to spoilage at room temperature, you should store your soak in the refrigerator with these ingredients.

If using cold fermentation, you’ll need a longer soak time – at least 24 hours to 30 hours.

Step 3 – Activate the Yeast

Pour the 1/4 cup of warm water into a small or medium bowl.

The water should be warmed to 110 to 115°F in order to activate the yeast. If it is any colder, the yeast will be activated at too slow of a pace. If it is any hotter, the heat may kill the yeast, eliminating any opportunity for growth.

Whisk in the honey until it’s dissolved – the honey helps to feed the yeast.

Evenly sprinkle the yeast over the water and whisk to blend together. Yeast tends to clump if it is sprinkled all at once in one spot, so it is best to spread the yeast around the entire surface of the water before whisking.

Let the mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes. You will know the yeast is alive and activated when the mixture looks frothy. Like a smelly little cloud.

Step 4 – Add Remaining Ingredients to the Soaked Grains

Before getting your hands dirty, lightly flour a clean work surface for the next step!

Add the activated yeast mixture, about 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour to start, and the salt to the bowl with the soaked dough.

Mix and fold by hand to combine, at least until the water from the yeast mixture gets absorbed.

Step 5 – Knead

Once combined, transfer the dough to the prepared work surface. Knead for approximately 8 to 10 minutes (maybe up to 15 minutes if you have weak arms like me!) by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic. Not shaggy!

Does the dough seem way too sticky? If it is sticking to your hands a lot, you’ll need to add more flour. Continue adding the remaining flour as needed to take the dough from sticky to smooth and elastic. Knead in about 1/8 cup of flour at a time.

You can also complete Steps 4 and 5 in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. But sometimes it’s nice to get a good upper body workout – it hurts so good!

Step 6 – First Proof

Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil.

Once you have achieved the right consistency of your dough, it’s time for the first proof!

Shape the dough into a large ball. Place the dough inside, and roll it once to coat the entire exterior. This will help to prevent the outside of the dough from drying out.

Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The dough should double in size.

Take a picture of the dough before it starts rising, so you know the starting point of the dough, and how far the rising process has gone.

If it still hasn’t reached the right size after two hours, continue allow it to rise, checking its status every thirty minutes.

Step 7 – Divide and Shape

Lightly grease two standard loaf pans with olive oil.

Punch down the dough and divide into two equal pieces, and form into flattened balls. Use a kitchen scale to get the most accurate weights, if you want the loaves to rise and bake similarly.

Work with one piece at a time, while keeping the other under a clean kitchen towel on a lightly floured work surface.

Create a log shape that will fit inside the loaf pan:

Starting at the edge furthest from you, pull up and into the center of the flattened dough. Repeat with the bottom edge, then the right and the left edges.

Returning to the starting edge, fold the dough in half and flip so that the smooth side is now facing up, and the seam is on the bottom. Gently roll the dough towards you to create a taut skin.

Roll and flatten it slightly to create a log shape.

Place seam-side down in the prepared pan. Repeat with the other piece.

You can study this technique in our article on shaping bread dough. You can also have some fun with the shapes and to try to create knots or dinner rolls! Just note that these will bake more quickly.

Step 8 – Second Proof

Once the shaped loaves are in the pans, gently cover the loaf pans with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature until doubled, for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Again, this may take more than 2 hours – have patience! The timing will vary every time you make the dough, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.

Don’t rush the process, and keep thinking of how puffy and well-risen your bread will be if you let it proof for however long it needs!

As your dough nears the end of the second proof, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Step 9 – Bake

Transfer the pans to the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the bread has risen significantly and is golden brown on the top and sides.

I suggest rotating the pans about halfway through the baking process to promote even baking.

Once baked and beautiful, remove the pans from the oven and let the bread rest in the pans, undisturbed, for 15 minutes.

Remove the bread from the pans and place them on cooling racks with a few inches of space in between them to allow for airflow.

Cool completely before cutting and serving!

But if you can’t wait and want it warm, I understand. At least give the bread a significant 45 minutes of cooling time so the interior structure has had enough time to set.