If you’re brand new to baking bread, you might find it a little overwhelming. Recipe developers often forget that the average person doesn’t have a standing mixer, heavy dutch oven, or proving baskets – but you don’t need any of these things. An excellent loaf of bread can be made with just your hands, a bowl, and a standard baking sheet. This rye and spelt seed bread is a good example and was created with the basics in mind. If you’re a more advanced baker, it’s nice to have as an easy recipe, too.

What we’re looking for is excellent flavour and a good texture in homemade bread, and this whole-grain, seed heavy recipe delivers. It’s very much along the lines of what you’ll find in any bakery in Germany, with oats, plenty of sunflower seeds, and a base of spelt flour. If you’re into baking with spelt or other ancient grains, take a look at all of my ancient grain bread recipes (we don’t use any conventional wheat here). Keep reading for step-by-step photos and plenty of tips so you make it perfectly the first time.

For some more spelt flour bread basics, try spelt flour buns (also German-style), spelt pizza dough, or a low-hydration easy spelt sourdough bread. If you want a sandwich loaf, try my simple spelt bread recipe with hundreds of reviews.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Spelt flour: whole grain spelt flour. I haven’t tried it but I’m sure sifted (light) spelt flour could be used, or a mix of light and whole grain.
• Rye flour: this should be whole grain rye flour but I imagine sifted would work too.
• Yeast: traditional dry yeast. If using fresh, use it in the same way as outlined, dissolving in the water first. You can use instant yeast but don’t need to bloom it in that case; it can be mixed right in with the dry ingredients.
• Seeds: I always use raw sunflower seeds because they are cheap and delicious. You can use any seed you like, as long as it doesn’t absorb a lot of water (so no flax or chia). Pumpkin and sesame seeds are both excellent.
• Oats: either quick-cook or rolled oats, I use them interchangeably for this recipe. Rolled will add a more noticeable oat texture. Steel-cut will not work.
• Honey: substitute maple syrup if you’d like a fully vegan option.
• Salt: fine-grain sea salt. Note that reducing or increasing the salt can play havoc with the yeast, and the salt amount is important in terms of a well-risen loaf.

Step by Step

Step 1: whisk the honey into the water and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let this bloom for about ten minutes.

Step 2: mix in the dry ingredients to form a shaggy dough and set aside to hydrate for a few minutes.

Step 3: knead by hand or with an electric mixer until the dough feels stretchy. It will be sticky.

Step 4: use wet hands to shape the dough into a rough ball in the bowl and set aside to rise.

Step 5: once doubled in size, punch the dough down. It will still be sticky.

Step 6: use flour to shape the dough into a log and place on a lined baking sheet.

Step 7: set aside to rise again for about half an hour.

Step 8: bake until golden and cool before slicing and serving.

If you can’t see the recipe video, please watch it here on YouTube instead.

Recipe Notes

You can, of course, use freshly milled flour for this recipe, but you must weigh it. I usually weigh the grains before milling just for the ease of it.

As with any recipe, especially baking and even more so bread, you will get the best results if you weigh the ingredients rather than using volume (cup) measurements. It is so much more accurate – and easy – you really will be so much more successful as a baker if you use a simple kitchen scale.

I have a decent hand mixer that works well for kneading dough and it’s great if you like to make bread but don’t have the space or budget for a larger mixer. You can knead this by hand but you’ll have to use the same method as for my spelt pizza dough, more of a stretch and slap than traditional kneading.

This isn’t really a great sandwich bread simply due to its shape, so I recommend using it more as a side for soup or to use for traditional open-face sandwiches. It’s a bit crusty on the outside and has lots of texture so it’s a good addition to smooth soups like roasted red pepper.

How to Store

Storage: keep in a sealed container or bread box for a couple of days at room temperature. Like most yeast breads, this is best when fresh, but will keep for several days before drying out. You can toast individual slices if it starts to get a bit dry around the edges. If your home is very warm and humid, I recommend freezing any extra as in that case it will only keep for a maximum of 2-3 days at room temperature.

Freezing: transfer the fully cooled loaf to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. You can slice before freezing if you like to toast individual slices right from the freezer.

Expert Tips

• It will be sticky: this is a relatively low-hydration dough and you’re working with lower gluten flours (rye and spelt). It won’t come together into a smooth ball when it’s kneaded and will be a little shaggy.
• Let it rest: setting the dough aside for a few minutes before starting to knead will allow the flour and oats to hydrate, making it much easier to knead. If you start mixing and the dough feels difficult, you can stop and wait five minutes before starting to knead again.
• Shape with flour: this is a sticky dough and you’ll need to be pretty generous with the flour when shaping. Flour the work surface and your hands for the best results.
• Accept some spread: this isn’t a high-gluten bread flour sourdough baked with steam, and it won’t look like it. The dough will spread a bit as it bakes and that’s normal. It’s a low profile whole grain bread.
• Keep an eye on the dough: if your home is very warm, you will need less rising time for both proving periods (in the summer, mine usually takes about 45 and 15 minutes, in that order). A cold space will require less time so look for a dough that’s doubled for the first prove and about a third for the second (see photos above).

More Ancient Grain Bread Recipes

Dark Rye Bread
Einkorn Bread
Sourdough Rye Bread
Honey Oat Bread