This whole wheat bread with nuts and seeds is so good that I may not want to buy sandwich bread anymore. It’s addicting – addicting! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Let’s make this whole wheat bread!
You need a few basic ingredients. Whole wheat flour, walnuts, sunflower seeds, flax seed (optional for a nuttier flavor), honey, olive oil, salt and yeast.
For this recipe, you have to chop the walnuts and sunflower seeds into small pieces. A food processor is best, but if you don’t have one, you can use a rolling pin instead. Place the sunflower seeds and walnuts between two pieces of wax or parchment paper and roll the rolling pin over the top, pressing down firmly to ensure you are breaking the nuts and seeds.
Combine the nuts, seeds, flour and remaining ingredients in a large bowl and then add the warm water.
Form the mixture into a shaggy dough ball and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Knead it again to bring the dough together and cover it loosely in the bowl with plastic wrap or a dish towel. Let it rise for two hours.
Once the dough has risen, form it into a log and place it in a lightly greased bread pan. Cover it again loosely with a piece of plastic wrap or dish towel and let it rise again for another two hours.
After two hours, the dough should have crowned about 1” to 2” over the top of the pan.
Time to place this baby into the oven! Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until golden brown on top.
Allow to cool completely and then slice and enjoy!
This whole wheat bread is packed with fiber and healthy goodness! It's delicious for breakfast or thinly sliced for sandwiches.
- 4 cups Whole Wheat Flour (16 ounces)
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, chopped (1.25 ounces)
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (1 ounce)
- 2 Tablespoons flaxseed (optional)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil (1.25 ounces)
- 5 Tablespoons honey or maple syrup (3.75 ounces)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant rapid rise yeast
- 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
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In a medium bowl combine all ingredients. Mix until you have a fairly shaggy dough. Let it rest for 20 minutes, covered. Then, knead the dough until it is fairly smooth. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for two hours, until it is nearly doubled in bulk.
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Gently deflate the dough (I just pressed down on it with my fingertips about ten times). Shape it into a log and place it into a lightly greased 8 1/2” x 4 1/2” bread pan. Cover the pan with a clear shower cap (or lightly greased plastic wrap) and let it rise for another 2 hours, until the dough has crowned 1” to 2” over the rim of the bread pan.
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Bake the bread in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. (Mine was done at about 35 minutes, so make sure not to over bake). Place a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pan for the final 20 minutes of baking to make sure the top crust doesn’t burn.
*Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
Susan
Hi I was wondering if this bread can be made in a bread machine?
Rachel (littlechefbigappetite)
Hi Susan, I personally have never made it in a bread machine, but you are welcome to try it! I’d love to know how it turns out.
Randy Cook
I made this in my bread machine, and it was FANTASTIC!!! I had to cut back to 3.5 cups of flour and 1.25 cups of water, due to machine recommendations of 4.25 cup limitation of dry ingredients. I Repeat, FANTASTIC bread!!!
Rachel (littlechefbigappetite)
Hi Randy, that makes me SO HAPPY to hear!!! Thank you for letting me know!
Beth
Looks delicious — just what I was hoping for with my SEARCH! We are trying to eliminate sugar around here’s (BOO😢), so can I reduce the amount of honey; if so, how little “will do?” Thanks much for your help and for posting such detailed directions! Happy Monday…
Rachel (littlechefbigappetite)
Thanks for asking Beth. I haven’t made this recipe any other way, so I can’t guarantee the results, but why not try cutting the honey in half to 2.5 Tablespoons. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out!
Kim
Hi, Beth. I have a recipe for 100% whole wheat sandwich bread I found somewhere that originally called for 1/4 cup honey, which was too much, IMO. I played around with it and reduced the amount of sweetener to 2 teaspoons (yes-teaspoons) of real maple syrup, and no honey at all. Both my husband and I actually love the change, and the bread tastes a lot better. My husband even commented after tasting it for the first time that this was real bread! I’m going to try Rachel’s nut bread recipe as written, except for the honey-which I will change to maple syrup, and will drop the amount down to two teaspoons and see what happens. I also use only white whole wheat flour which I grind as needed, as we much prefer it’s flavor to red wheat berries. I will also do the dough in my bread machine, then transfer to a bread pan for a final rise and bake. Thanks for sharing, Rachel!
Kelly
I’ve never made bread before and I tried this one. It was delicious and super easy to make. Thanks so much for the great recipe!
Rachel (littlechefbigappetite)
I’m so glad you liked it!!
Sally
A question
In the beginning it says leave the shaggy dough to rise for two hours but the full recipe below says to leave it for twenty minutes then knead u til smooth and then let rest for two hours.
Which one should I follow ?
Rachel (littlechefbigappetite)
Hi Sally, you let the dough rest for 20 minutes, then knead it until smooth and let it RISE for 2 hours. Follow the directions in the recipe card 🙂 Thanks for trying this recipe!
Emma
Question! I followed the measurements to a T (though I didn’t use flaxseed) and I ended up with a very dense, stiff dough that tore the whole time I was trying to knead it. I’m sure I did something wrong, I’m just not sure what? Anyone have any tips?