English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

This granary-style no knead bread is a take on a beloved English bread made with a special blend of flours, toasted malted wheat flakes, and barley malt. 

Granary flour is a proprietary product from an English company called Hovis, not available in US stores. The formula in the bread I've made here is an attempt to recreate the multi-grain combination in the Hovis flour.

The mixture of the grains creates a very slightly sweet and malty flavor in the bread. The dark pieces that you see in these slices are the malted wheat flakes, which I ordered from King Arthur Flour. To create the flakes, wheat is allowed to sprout to sweeten it, and then it is dried and flattened. They look and behave a lot like rolled oats.

When this bread is baking, your house will be filled with a wonderful cinnamon-y cardamom-y aroma. In fact, if you're trying to sell your house, I recommend having a loaf of this bread in the oven.

This bread is wonderful sliced with butter. It's not too strong in flavor, and has some texture and crunch from the wheat flakes. It also makes delicious French toast. There is only a hint of sweetness in this bread, so it also balances well with flavorful cheeses and charcuterie.

The malted wheat flakes are pricy as they are imported from England, but as an ingredient hoarder, I just "needed" to give them a try. I'm looking forward to experimenting with them in different formulas, including substituting them in recipes that call for rolled oats.

This month, the #BreadBakers are baking breads with natural sweeteners, the theme chosen by this month's host, Mayuri of the wonderful blog, Mayuri's Jikoni. Along with the naturally sweetened wheat flakes, I also added barley malt syrup, a natural sweetener that is about as half as sweet as honey or sugar.

After the recipe, check out what the rest of the #BreadBakers baked with natural sweeteners.

English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

Makes two slightly less than one pound loaves

Ingredients

375 grams lukewarm water (about 100 degrees F)

5 grams instant yeast

12 grams kosher salt

1 tablespoon barley malt syrup

60 grams malted wheat flakes

65 grams whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)

355 grams bread flour

Instructions

1. In a four quart container or bowl, mix the dough ingredients with a spoon or your wet hands until everything is incorporated. 
2. Cover the container with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours. Place the container in the refrigerator, and let rise overnight, up to 24 hours. 
3. Remove the dough from the container and divide it into two equal pieces. Form the pieces into balls, and place them onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for about 80 minutes at room temperature. 
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F with a baking stone on the center rack. 
5. Place a broiler tray on the rack below. 
6. When the loaves are ready, slash them with a sharp serrated knife and place the baking sheet on top of the baking stone. Add one cup of boiling water to the broiler pan (cover your oven window with a towel while adding the water to the pan).  Close the oven door. Alternatively, you can bake the loaves in preheated Dutch ovens as in this recipe. 
7. Bake the loaves for about 35 minutes. They should reach an internal temperature of about 200 degrees F. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

Recipe adapted from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day

Here are the rest of the breads!

• Blackberries and Honey Bread by Kidsandchic
• Cheddar Honey Flowers by Ambrosia
• Date Sweetened Banana Bread by Herbivore Cucina
• Grape Bread by The Bread She Bakes
• Honey Almond Banana Muffins by Baking Yummies
• Honey Cider Quick Loaf by Food Lust People Love
• Honey Pineapple Pull-Apart Rolls by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Mangalore Buns by Sneha's Recipe
• Pain au Levian avec Banane by What Smells So Good?
• Tangerine Honey White Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.