Whole Grain Artisan Bread Recipe

It's easy to add this and that to this healthy bread recipe. I've made it with flax seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, and even sesame seeds.

While this recipe works just fine with any whole grain flour, rye flour, or bread flour, I have also tried it with two different gluten-free flours, but it was awful! It is quite good with regular all purpose flour though, making a tasty old-fashioned white bread loaf.

Serve this homemade bread make in a dutch oven with any of your favorite soups and stews. We love it with homemade venison stew, big batch chili, ptarmigan stew, or rabbit stew.

It's a nice change from my sweet roll recipe. And by the way, if you are looking for a sandwich-style bread loaf, check out my recipe for homemade sandwich bread.

And if you're really ambitious, you could try making homemade sourdough starter without yeast - just like the early settlers did.

Here's what you'll need.

• 1 pack of rapid rise yeast
• 3 ½ c whole wheat flour
• 1 cup of old fashioned oats
• ¼ c of honey
• 1 pinch of salt
• ¼ c melted butter
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 ½ cups lukewarm water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Dissolve ¼ c of room temperature honey into the warm water in a large bowl.

You want your water to be warm but not hot. A good way to judge the temperature is to aim for the temperature you might serve a baby bottle or no warmer than 110 degrees.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil and stir with a wooden spoon.

Add the yeast, and allow the mixture to bloom for at least five minutes. For the best results, 15-25 minutes is better, or until foamy.

Add the oatmeal.

Add the salt and flour gradually.

Mix in the bowl, or knead bread on a clean work surface. (I usually use my favorite wooden cutting board. However, a clean counter, piece of parchment paper, pizza stone, or even a pizza peel can work.)

The dough will be sticky and shaggy. This is completely normal.

When all of the ingredients are mixed together, and the dough is shaggy, give it a drizzle of olive oil and cover the top of the dough with a towel (you can use plastic wrap in a pinch.)

Leave the wet dough to rest and rise in a warm area, like right beside the oven.

After about an hour, check the bread dough. When it has doubled in size and the surface of the dough is smooth it is ready to bake.

Prepare your dutch oven by popping it in the hot oven and allowing it to heat up while you shape your loaf.

Lightly flour your work area.

Pull the dough out of the bowl and lightly shape it into a loaf form.

Using a serrated knife, score the bread a few times.

Sprinkle a tablespoon of oatmeal over the top if you like.

Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven.

Using caution, as the dutch oven will be HOT, place dough into the dutch oven and place the lid on it.

Bake for 30 minutes on the middle rack of your oven.

Combine the melted butter and two tablespoons of honey; at the 30-minute mark, take the lid off of the dutch oven and drizzle the honey and butter over the top of the loaf.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes before removing from the dutch oven.

Allow the bread to cool out of the dutch oven for about 10-20 minutes before slicing, if you can! The bread can be enjoyed fresh out of the oven if you cannot resist, but it slices beautifully if given a chance to rest before slicing.

When slicing this bread, a tip is to flip it over and slice from the bottom of the loaf to keep the top crust intact, as it is so delicious and should be eaten with pleasure!

If you don't have olive oil, go ahead and use another oil. I find that olive oil gives me the best crusty bread our family loves.

Remember to add the flour gradually, mixing well with wet hands or a spoon. Otherwise, you could end up with a dry loaf of bread. Or one with floury bits in the middle!