My Honey Oat Sourdough bread has a lot going for it. If you like crusty, thick, chewy, slightly sweet bread made with whole grains, then this is your recipe.
The crumb on this bread is surprisingly airy considering the amount of rolled oats incorporated into it. You don’t have to use only rolled oats, other rolled heirloom grains work really well. I use a combination of rolled oats, rolled barley, rolled rye, and rolled einkorn.
The addition of rolled grains gives this bread a toothy chewiness and a sweet earthy smell. You will not be disappointed!
Finding The Right Grains
I’m personally extremely partial to my local mill, they grow lots of heirloom organic grains and sell them whole, rolled, or ground into cereals and flours. The good news is, their wonderful selection can be ordered online by visiting Camas Country Mill.
My absolute favorite is the Triple 200 series. I call for this fine while grain flour in many recipes. Its similar to whole wheat pastry flour but with a very airy texture and wonderful full bodied sweet flavor.
Process
This bread is a high hydration dough. It has extra water and rolled grains added at the time of mixing. It is then left to ferment overnight at room temperature before being shaped and baked in the morning.
I like this long fermentation process because the bread has a chance to fully ferment. This allows the rolled grains to soak up extra water. It gives the lactic acid plenty of time to develop. The high lactic acid development neutralizes phytic acid in the whole grain making nutrients more bio available, and it breaks down hard to digest proteins.
Homemade sourdough is the healthiest bread available!
Start Here
If you are a sourdough beginner you might want to start out by reading my free sourdough guide, Demystifying Sourdough – Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sourdough Starter – Why It’s Better For You – And How To Start One. This guide will give you so much valuable information on my sourdough process and what I’ve learned by trial and error over the years.
I also have articles about How To Feed Your Starter For Successful Baking and How To Bake The Perfect Sourdough Boule In Your Dutch Oven with video that will show you how to mix and shape a perfect boule!
Tools Of The Trade
This Dutch oven has changed my whole baking game!
A dough whisk keeps hands clean and is great for stretch and fold mixing.
A sweet and soft sourdough bread with rolled grains and honey. This bread makes wonderful toast and is incredible as French Toast!
- 120 Grams Rolled Grains 3/4 Cup
- 200 Grams Bread Flour 1 1/2 Cup
- 200 Grams Whole Wheat Flour 1 1/2 Cup - I use a Triple 200
- 90 Grams Raw Honey 1/4 Cup - Dark honey works well here
- 12 Grams Salt 2 Teaspoons
- 400 Grams Water 1 2/3 Cup
- 250 Grams Starter 1 Cup - 100% hydration - Stirred down
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In a large glass bowl mix all ingredients into a wet and sticky dough. I use my dough whisk for this step because the dough will stick to your hands. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
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Using the dough whisk do a round of stretch and fold. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Repeat this stretch and fold process up to 5 more times.
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Cover the dough and place it in a warm area of your kitchen. Ferment the dough overnight.
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Uncover the dough and wet your hands. Do a stretch and fold in the bowl to deflate the dough and start the shaping process. Let the dough rest 5 minutes.
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Spread a handful of oats out on your work surface. Small rolled grains work well - rolled einkorn is pictured. Turn the dough out onto the oats. Make sure the dough lands seam side up on the oats. Quickly shape the dough into a round so that the oats are covering the dough. Place the dough seam side down and shape it further using your hands and the tension of the surface. Leave the dough seam side down on the work surface for a few minutes.
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Prepare your banneton with a light dusting of flour. I use sprouted flour, oat flour, or rice four as it's less sticky than wheat flour. Place the dough ball seam side up in the banneton and cover it lightly. Let the dough double at room temperature.
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Preheat you oven to 450° with your Dutch oven inside.
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Cut a square of parchment paper and turn the dough out onto it so the seam side is now down.
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Score the dough with a sharp razor blade. The oats can make it a little tricky to score so I use a nice wide cross pattern instead of something more elaborate.
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Remove the hot Dutch oven from your oven and take the lid off. Carefully pick up the dough using the corners of the parchment paper. Lower the dough into the Dutch oven and replace the lid. Place the Dutch oven back into the oven and bake covered for 25 minutes.
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After 25 minutes remove the lid and continue baking for 15 more minutes. This bread should bake for 40 minutes total.
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Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and parchment paper. Place the boule on a cooling rack and let it cool completely before slicing.
Want to learn everything about sourdough? Well, I have the free guide for you!
Demystifying Sourdough – Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Sourdough Starter – Why It’s Better For You – And How To Start One
Grace
Friday 10th of July 2020
Very tasty bread. Mine didn’t rise as much as your picture shows, but it’s very moist. I use a 70% hydration for my starter and was too lazy to convert is my guess why it came out so moist. I would definitely make it again.
Butter For All
Saturday 11th of July 2020
Hi Grace,
I'm so glad it worked despite the higher hydration starter. Maybe throw in an extra handful of oats to help absorb a little of the extra hydration. Thank you for the feedback!
Courtney
Shirley Hamblin
Sunday 5th of July 2020
The weight measurements are off.
Butter For All
Sunday 5th of July 2020
Hi Shirley,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble.
The weight measurements are always exact, the cups and spoons measurements are always approximate.
Jenifer Gallagher
Sunday 21st of June 2020
Have been working on my sourdough technique for 2 months now so not an advanced baker by any means. Have had great success with regular sourdough. This recipe sounded so good but I too had a very wet, sloppy dough. My starter is mostly fresh milled hard red wheat with some all-purpose flour (when I don’t take time to mill) at 100% hydration. As per recipe, I used: rolled oats, a mix of half home-milled soft white and hard red wheats, bread flour, and dark raw honey. The messy dough didn’t worry me through the stretch and folds - I’ve had this before with some recipes. And the rise after overnight bulk ferment was amazing! My issues began when I tried to shape it. As I put it out on the oats for shaping it kept spreading and I struggled to form a dough ball, even with a bench scraper. So much so that the oats were reincorporated into the dough as I couldn’t form a boule. I managed to get it into my homemade banneton (colander with floured towel and some extra oats on the bottom to help with sticking). Still waiting on the final doubling before baking. I imagine it’s going to taste wonderful but I just struggled with the loose dough/shaping. I live in South Florida - ambient kitchen temp averages 76° and approx. 58-60% humidity in the air (even with a/c). This could definitely have attributed to the wet dough. Just FYI for anyone who may have a similar experience. Will update after baking later on.
Butter For All
Thursday 25th of June 2020
Hi Jennifer,
I am so anxious to know how it went! I have to say, most likely, there is not much gluten development happening with all those wonderful, fresh milled whole grains. You might try subbing out up to 50% for bread flour and see what happens. Let us know!
Courtney
Barbara
Saturday 6th of June 2020
Hi! I made this last night/this morning and the dough was soooo wet. I think the issue is that I used Old Fashioned Oats, and they didn't soak up as much water as the rolled oats would have. Also, like everyone else, I can't find any bread flour. What do YOU think? The bread still tasted great, but it spread and expanded into my dutch oven and was a little dense. Thanks for the feedback! Barbara
Butter For All
Sunday 7th of June 2020
Hi Barbara,
The flour shouldn't matter too much, nor the oats, but I would follow your instinct and just add a bit more flour at the time of mixing until you get the right consistency. Is your starter 100% hydration by weight (the same weight flour and water)? That is the most common problem.
Hope this helps!
Courtney
MMR
Wednesday 27th of May 2020
Excellent bread! Thank you for sharing this recipe. My dough was very wet- almost a batter- but the final loaf was perfect.
Butter For All
Saturday 30th of May 2020
Hi MMR,
Thanks so much for the feedback! There is a little extra hydration to soften the oats and whole grains during a long ferment. I'm glad it came out perfect in any case!!!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a note,
Courtney