Name: Multigrain Sourdough Bread
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 d 1 h 5 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 50g sourdough starter; 50 all-purpose flour; 50g water; 120g multi-grain cereal mix*; 570g boiling water; 675g strong all-purpose flour or bread flour; All the sourdough starter (approx 130g); 12g salt; 25g brown sugar or maple syrup; 45g unsalted butter, room temperature

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This multigrain sourdough bread is hearty and delicious and makes a great bread for sandwiches. It’s soft, and moist for days, and without commercial yeast. The whole grains add a great texture and flavor and nutritional benefits.

You can use a five or 7-grain cereal mix for this recipe, or make your own. The choice depends on your preference for the complexity of flavor and texture. Just ensure that your mix includes a base of rolled oats, and whole grains for the best health benefits.

A cereal mix is unsweetened and unflavored with just pure grains. It’s usually made of rolled oats, barley, triticale, rye and other grains. If you make your own multigrain blend, use rolled or old-fashioned oats as the base (not steel cut oats), then add different grains and seeds as you like.

The bread dough

The dough for this bread has fairly high hydration, but the oats and grains will soak up a lot of it. They will soak in boiled water for about 20 minutes before the rest of the ingredients are added, which hydrate and plumps them up. Once the rest of the ingredients are added, it makes a sticky but thick dough. You can knead it by hand or in the stand mixer.

The ingredients

Find the ingredient amounts for this multigrain bread recipe in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a rundown of what you will need.

An active sourdough starter.
5 or 7-grain multigrain cereal mix (not sweetened or flavored)
Hot water
All-purpose flour or bread flour – with a protein level of at least 11%.
Butter – a little for flavor
Soft brown sugar or maple syrup
Salt
Seeds (optional) – Pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, poppy seeds, or sunflower seeds can add extra texture.

Learn to make a homemade sourdough starter.

Equipment

You’ll need the following:

Two 8.5×4.5 loaf pans lined with parchment paper
Kitchen scale
Large bowl

Baker’s schedule

Here’s an example of two baker’s schedule for this bread. Feel free to tweak it to suit your own timing. With a bit of planning, you can have bread when you want it!

The fridge proof can also be extended overnight so the bread can be shaped and risen the following day. It can also be skipped according to your preference. The starter for this recipe is fed at 1:1:1 (starter:flour: water), so it will rise within 4-5 hours. If you want to feed the starter the night before, feed it at a higher ratio like 1:3:3, to slow the rising.

Option 1 – Overnight Cold Proof

8 am – Feed the starter
12:30 pm – Soak the seeds
1:00 pm – Mix and knead the dough.
1:15 pm – First rise
5:30 pm – Cover and refrigerate overnight
8 am the following day – Shape and rise until doubled in size
1 pm – Bake

Option 2 – Same Day Bake (not including starter feeding)

9 pm – Feed the starter
8:30 am – Soak the seeds
9:00 am – Mix and knead the dough.
9:15 am – First rise
1:30 pm – Shape and rise again until doubled
5:30 pm– Bake

Method

Combine the starter, flour, and water in a small bowl. Mix until smooth, then tip into a clean jar, loosely cover and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled and bubbly.

When the starter has about finished doubling, add the cereal mix to a large bowl and pour over the boiling water. Let them sit and soak until the water has cooled to room temperature.

Once cooled, add in the flour, doubled sourdough starter, sugar and salt and combine into a thick and sticky dough.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work space and knead in the room temperature butter.

Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes until it becomes stretchy and strong. This can also be done in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Bulk fermentation time

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large bowl and cover it with a damp towel. Let it bulk ferment in a warm spot until it has bulked out by around 40-50%. The rise time will depend on the temperature. I place mine in a turned-off oven next to a dish of boiled water.

Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate until ready to shape. This can be between up to 24 hours or skipped, depending on personal preference. See the baker’s schedule above.

Shaping

Line two 8.5×4.5 inch loaf pans with parchment paper.

Pull the cold dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape it into a ball, then cut it into two equal pieces.

Stretch one piece of dough into a rectangle, then roll it up like a Swiss roll.

Place it into a bread pan, then repeat with the second piece. Let the dough rise until double in size.

Baking

Brush the top of the dough with a bit of milk and sprinkle with some grains.

Bake the loaves at 375°F/190°C for around 45 minutes until deeply golden brown. Remove the bread loaves from the pans and let them cool to room temperature on a wire rack before slicing.

Storing

Leftover bread can store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days. As this recipe makes two loaves, I like to freeze a loaf of bread for the following week.

Looking for more sourdough recipes? Try sourdough baguettes or sourdough burger buns!