Eva, author of Bake-Street , brings us some delicious whole grain bars. You will see how easy they are to make at home and they will only require a bit of patience, nothing more; and the wait will be compensated, because you are going to love this seed bread!

One of the most popular varieties of bread at home are the bars or baguettes . As they have an individual format, they are very practical for preparing sandwiches, toast for breakfast or, simply, to serve them at a meal for each diner. Today we are going to see how to make some very simple wholemeal bars with seeds .

Bread by itself is a true delicacy, but if we add seeds to it, we will not only improve its final flavor but also nutritionally enhance its benefits.

To make this bread I have used a mixture of brown and golden flax seeds, sesame, poppy, millet and sunflower seeds. Of course, you can always adapt the seeds to use to your liking.

When we work with seeds in a bread we can do it in two ways:

• Exterior: We will always use them raw
• Interior: They can be used toasted, dry or with a previous soaker

In our case we will use the seeds in both ways.

Why should I use raw foreign seeds?

Seeds from the outside of a bread should always be used raw because they will brown during baking. If we use previously roasted seeds, they will continue to roast during baking, acquiring a bitter and unpleasant taste.

What is a soaker?

The technique of soaking the seeds before they are used in a dough is called soaker .

When we apply this technique we must consider roasting the seeds beforehand to add more flavor. Of course, there is no problem using the unroasted soaker seeds, the only thing to keep in mind is that they will have less flavor.

To make a soaker with the seeds, we must take into account how to carry it out. We will use the same weight of water as the seeds that we are going to soak. That amount of water that we have used for the soaker , we must subtract it from the final hydration of the dough since it will also be present through the seeds. 

We will make these wholemeal rolls with seeds without prior soaker . This means that some of the hydration in the dough will be absorbed by those seeds. Fact to keep in mind for when you make this or other breads.

How to work with a wholemeal flour? 

Wholemeal flour is somewhat more delicate than normal wheat flour, for that reason when we knead this dough or another dough with a percentage of wholemeal flour, we must do it delicately.

It is never recommended to knead the bread abruptly, but even less so if we work with this variety of flour. 

The seeds should always be added at the end of the kneading , when we have already developed the gluten mesh. The reason is that the presence of pointed shapes does not at all favor the dough to develop properly since they will cause tears.

When you integrate the seeds, do it gently and delicately, making folds until they are distributed evenly over the entire surface of the bread.



Le Creuset jam jar , Opinel spread knife and Opinel bread knife

Ingredients (for 3 whole grain bars)

• 200gr of medium strength flour W=280
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 210gr of water
• 15gr of honey
• 30gr of toasted seeds + raw seeds for outside
• 2g of dry yeast or 6g of fresh yeast + 5g of water
• 6.3g of sea salt

Elaboration 

We prepare the dough for our wholemeal bars

1. In a large bowl add the two types of flour and mix with the help of a silicone spatula .
2. Add the water and mix until both ingredients are completely integrated, there should be no remains of dry flour.
3. To mix it we can do it manually or in a Kitchen Aid type mixer and using the hook. We will always mix at the lowest speed for 2 minutes maximum.
4. We cover the mass with a cotton cloth and let it autolyse for 30 minutes .
5. After this resting time, add the yeast. We dissolve the yeast in the 5g of water and pour it over the dough to homogenize it completely.
6. Add the honey along with the salt and proceed to knead again until integrated.
7. Once we have the dough with a developed gluten, we add the seeds.
8. We will knead carefully to avoid breaking the gluten mesh. We must make soft folds until they are distributed evenly throughout the dough.

We do the first fermentation and/or in block

1. Put the dough in an airtight container or bowl previously greased with olive oil. We cover with its corresponding lid or film, to prevent the dough from encrusting, and let it do a first fermentation of 3 hours in a block at room temperature.
2. The dough will grow 2/3 of its volume . At that time we refrigerate the dough until the next day.

We preform and shape the baguettes

1. We temper the dough 2 hours or 2 and 1/2 hours before working with the dough.
2. Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out.
3. We divide into three equal portions, they will be around 190gr each, and we preform.
4. Cover the pieces with a cotton cloth and let them rest for 15-20 minutes . After this time, we proceed to form our baguettes.
5. We will have prepared a linen couche or, failing that, a very large linen or cotton tablecloth, generously floured. We booked.
6. To form the bars we will do it in the same way that we form the olive baguettes . You can see it illustrated in that post and read it in detail in the baguettes de tradition post.
7. Once it is formed, we spray it with water and cover the entire exterior with seeds.
8. We place the integral bar on the couche . Repeat this step with the other two pieces.
9. Cover and let rise for about 60-90 minutes . You must observe that they almost double their volume.

We bake the baguettes

1. When there are 45 minutes left to bake the baguettes, we will preheat the Emile Henry oven .
2. We introduce the ceramic oven, base and lid, on the grid located in the lowest part of the oven and preheat to 250ºC .
3. We uncover the baguettes and proceed to make the cuts before passing them to the oven . We will do it with a slightly moistened blade or lick to prevent it from sticking to the dough and tearing it.
4. The cuts should not be inclined, they are practically straight. We will make 2 cuts in the baguette with a quick and safe movement, we must not hesitate or cut again on a cut. It will be somewhat laborious due to the presence of seeds outside.
5. Once we have mixed the three bars, we spray a little water on them and put them in the oven:
6. With some oven mitts we remove the lid of the ceramic oven and leave it on a surface that cannot be damaged, the ceramic hob for example. We pass the bars, as quickly as possible, to the Emile Henry oven, and leave them on the holes.
7. We cover again with the lid of the ceramic oven, close our oven and bake for 10 minutes at 250ºC .
8. After this time we lower the temperature to 240ºC and bake for 10 more minutes .
9. Finally, we remove the lid from the ceramic oven, always with the help of gloves, and bake for around 5-8 minutes with air at 220ºC .
10. Remove and let cool on a rack.

CONSERVATION: This bread has a short shelf life, the ideal is to consume it the same day it is made.

Ceramic oven for baguettes Emile Henry

Important notes

• This time I show you how to make the bars in 2 days . That way we can share the work and make it more bearable. In addition to improving the flavors of the bread after a period of rest. But, if you want to do the whole process in a row, just let it rise until it doubles in the first fermentation and then follow the process as I detail it in the recipe.
• If we make bread with sourdough, we must be much more careful with fermentation. Wholemeal flour greatly speeds up the rising process and we run the risk of over-fermenting if we get lost.
• The seeds that I mention are optional , you can always adjust them to your liking.
• If we don't have a shovel to transport the bars from the couche to the oven , we can do the following. We place a strip of baking paper on the couche and on these we will place the baguette, so that once it has risen it will allow us to move it to the oven without having to manipulate it with our hands, since we run the risk of spoiling it.
• We do not have to let the bars rise in the Emile Henry oven , as specified in the manual, because we need to preheat it well before using it in order to obtain good results after baking. Otherwise they would be soft or rubbery.
• The cuts or grenado of the bars must be done just before baking . We cannot grill them for a few minutes before putting them in the oven.
• The final baking must be with air because it favors that we obtain a nice uniform golden brown, in addition to removing excess moisture that allows us to obtain a thin and very crispy crust.

We hope that you will cheer up very soon with these wholemeal bars with seeds . As you can see, different varieties of bread can be baked in the Emile Henry ceramic oven , not only baguettes but also this smaller format.

It could be a fantastic option to prepare individual rolls for the next festive dates that await you. Do not you think?