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I am so pleased to be able to bring you English Granary-Style Bread today, a recipe we first published in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (2007). Frustrated! Two kinds of malted grain provide a slightly sweet flavor, even beery (?) flavor…
Granary-Style Bread is a classic English brown bread– made with a mixture of whole wheat and white flours, with cracked grains of malted barley and wheat. Since malted barley grains are nearly impossible to find in the US, we use barley malt powder andmalted wheat flakes.
This bread was once considered to be a very rustic English specialty– little did elite society know that country folk were eating the most flavorful bread. It is hearty and delicious, full of flavor and with a slight crunch.
It’s a perfect dinner bread, but I also enjoy a slice in the afternoon, dunked in some olive oil or eaten with a nice, sharp cheddar. Or maybe toasted with some marmalade (see Laura’s Three-Citrus Marmalade on page 96 of ABin5 for an easy recipe). It also goes perfectly well with a little Jane Austen, and whether you are a fan of her books or the movie adaptations, I can imagine Elizabeth Bennett insisting that Mr. Darcy serve this at his table, despite his wealth.
English Granary Style Bread
Makes 4 loaves, slightly less than one pound pound each. Can easily be doubled or halved (store and use extra dough in the fridge for up to 10 days)
3 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon granulated yeast (or one packet)
1 tablespoon coarse salt (recipes tested with Morton’s Kosher)
1/4 cup malt powder
1 cup malted wheat flakes
1 cup whole wheat flour
5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
cornmeal or parchment for the pizza peel
Cornstarch wash (blend 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch with a small amount of water using a fork; add 1/2 cup water and microwave or simmer till mixture appears glassy)
1 tablespoon cracked wheat, for sprinkling [optional]
Mix, store, and shape the dough according to the Master Recipe Instructions, but include the malt powder with the water, yeast and salt, then add all the flours and malted wheat flakes. If you want a more open hole structure, consider the longer rest after shaping.
Place a metal broiler tray (no glass) near the bottom of the oven, and a baking stone near the center– and preheat to 400 degrees (about 20 to 30 minutes). Just before the loaf goes into the oven, brush with cornstarch wash and sprinkle with the cracked wheat if you’re using it. Slash a cross or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top. Slide the dough onto the pizza stone, pour 1 cup hot tap water into the broiler tray, and bake for about 35 minutes. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking times (see Zoe’s post on making a 2 pound loaf here).
Malted barley grains are available at any homebrew store. You can choose from several ‘roasts,” from ‘black’ to ‘crystal.’
We make beer and I use some of the spent barley in a whole grain bread. Most stores will crack/crush the grains for you for a small fee (or free). I put them in a heavy plastic bag and crack with with a rolling pin.
We homebrew as well. I’d love to see some recipes for bread using spent grain. I tried it once, and it was okay ,but would love some expert advice on a good spent grain beer. Thanks.
Yes yes yes yes yes!!! You have just made my day!! I ordered some malted wheat flakes from KAF specifically for making a Granary-style loaf. I have been busy moving into my new home so making bread has taken a backseat for now but this has just revived my desire for this loaf! I must find time to make this this weekend! Thank you so much Jeff!!
I love making these breads. I have a question. I just saw on Pinterest the idea of making bread in the crockpot to cut down on heating the oven in the summer. Any thoughts on this, do you think it would work with your recipes?
Hi Vicki,
We’ve never tried it, but know some of our readers are doing it with great results. One of these days I will give it a try and post about it.
Thanks, Zoë
I’d managed to find dark malted barley powder but no luck finding any malted wheat. Will still try this recipe, perhaps with coarse whole meal, rolled oats or oat bran in place of the cracked malted wheat flakes.
Cheers!
Aldrin
Aldrin– guessing that will work. Probably won’t be able to fine malted wheat flakes outside of KAF.
So, I tried making something like English Granary-Style Bread with bread flour, dark malted barley powder, Quaker oatmeal (instead of malted wheat flakes), whole meal (instead of whole wheat flour) and a bit of added VWG to improve the internal hole structure … the results looked way different from the lovely picture you have at the top of this post (the linked page has photos of the dough & bread I’d made).
I was really eager to try making the bread, so I did not chill the dough first after the initial rise. Thus, it was not easy to handle and it had spread out a lot while resting … ended up looking like a giant chocolate cookie!
But surprisingly, it still tasted great, nonetheless.
Cheers!
Aldrin
Hi Aldrin,
The dough may handle and bake up differently now that it is chilled. Try baking another one and let us know. If it comes out cookie shaped again, I would slice it in half along the length and make a giant sandwich.
Enjoy, Zoë
Hi, Zoë, so, I made a second loaf from the chilled dough I’d made based your English Granary-Style Bread, this time using a silicone loaf pan to limit its spread while resting … I’m calling it my Dark Malt Oat Meal Granary-Style Bread.
You can see a photo of the resulting loaf in the web page linked above.
Cheers!
Aldrin
Sounds great, Aldrin!
I was clicking on your site tonight to see if I could find out whether to use diastatic or non-diastatic malt powder for this very recipe – thanks for posting about this and including the link to non-diastatic!
The instructions for the wash call for 1/2 cornstarch – is that 1/2 cup cornstarch to 1/2 cup water?
So sorry Michelle, should have said 1/2 teaspoon! I will fix.
Hi Jeff and Zoe,
Northern Brewer (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/grain-malts) has malted barley and wheat and you can order it cracked. They were very helpful and sent me this:
“For baking purposes you’d be best advised to stick with base, toasted & light crystal malts. The flavor descriptors we list for brewing will translate somewhat evenly into the realm of bread making. Base malts such as Vienna, Munich & Rye malts make for great light-flavored breads with subtle complexity. The addition of crystal malts will add caramel-like sweetness to the bread’s flavor & toasted malts will add robust flavor accents. I’d advise against the roasted grain because the heavy kilning of these malts will lend an acrid flavor to your flour. We also have flaked barley, oats & rye available to use in conjunction with the crushed malts for extra texture in your bread.
My recommendation for matching our offerings to your recipes would be to go by the intended flavor of each recipe. Some experimentation is likely necessary, but most possible combinations of the aforementioned grains are unlikely to produce an inedible bread – just perhaps a bit different than what the recipe had intended. You should also see if your brother might be able to provide you with some of his ‘spent’ grain – that is, the grain he uses in his brewing. This article on the topic is worth a read.” the article webpage is
http://byo.com/stories/article/indices/32-food-recipes/500-cooking-with-spent-grain
Hi Mary Ann,
Thank you for sharing this information!
Enjoy the bread, Zoë
Great. I am ordering them from KAF. I have a devil of a time with wheat berries and these sound delicious. I will invent my own English rolled wheat bread instead of cracked wheat!
NC: Probably could use rolled oats too, would be different but also nice.
I kinda can’t follow a receipe..have to mess with it! I used 4 cups whole wheat, 3 cups white (all KA), 1/2 cup ground flax seed, 2/3 cup of wheat flakes, 1/4 cup VWG, 1/2 cup of really good local honey, 2 packets of yeast and 4 cups of water. I figured the moisture in the honey would counter the flax seed,wheat flakes,VWG. turned out GREAT! if I do say so myself!!!!
Hi NC Baker,
Your bread sounds just great! Glad it all worked out for you!!!
Thanks, Zoë
in the days b4 I found abin5 I used to use beer (1 can) and reduce the water by the amt of beer. I thought maybe the english granary would be good with beer also. (I only use what I drink and I’m a dark amber hoppy beer lover. )Thoughts?
Hi NC Baker,
Sounds like a great combination. Maybe start with a 1/2 batch and let us know what you think when you try it.
Thanks, Zoë
Are there any recipes for Squaw Bread in the books? I have the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and have not come across Squaw.
Haven’t done one…
I was linked to this recipe when I did a search on your site for White Whole Wheat Flour…I am wondering if I can substitute equally for either white all purpose flour or for regular whole wheat flour. How does one use this product?
Hi Dianne,
You can use it instead of regular whole wheat flour in our recipes.
Thanks, Zoë
Thanks – can’t wait to use it!
I’m a little confused about the malt powder in the recipe list. The link sends me to KAF “Non-Diastatic Malt Powder” which indicates it’s used in bagels where as their diastatic malt powder also lists uses for bread baking. Help?
Thomas: In our recipes, not crucial which. Diastatic can cause shaping problems (can make the dough loose) so not a great choice in bagels, but I’m not sure I can tell the difference.
I’m just getting into baking bread, for better health, and have just learned that einkorn, spelt, and kamut are better on the digestive system. Have you ever baked with a combination of spelt and kamut flours?
Have used spelt yes, but not kamut. My guess is that either can be used in place of whole wheat in our recipes where there’s also a lot of white flour. Both are low in gluten, so you’ll probably need vital wheat gluten for good results (especially if you plan to store the dough as we do). Do you have our second book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (on amazon at http://bit.ly/3wYSSN)?
I am intrigued by this recipe. We have a fantastic home brew supply shop near our house, and I imagine I could get the malted barley from them. If so, how would that change the recipe?