Four words. Homemade. Sunflower. Seed. Bread. Now this was a huge accomplishment for me as it was my very first time baking bread! I have made dinner rolls before, but never a whole loaf of bread. Even though I was kind of nervous about it, it actually turned out pretty amazing. So, come jump on the bandwagon with me and learn how to make bread at home with me! Plus, guess what? NO BREADMAKER REQUIRED!
It's so much more fun to make your own bread at home. Especially when you end up with a delicious, golden brown loaf of bread topped with sunflower seeds. The crust came out with just the right crunchiness. The texture on the inside is delightful, soft and fluffy. The aroma that wafted through the kitchen as it bakes, also didn't hurt. Not one bit. It's what I like to call pure joy. I seriously cannot get over how it turned out. Proud home baker right here!
What is in Homemade Sunflower Seed Bread?
To bake homemade sunflower seed bread, you will need to gather some pantry staples together. Here is what you will need:
- active dry yeast
- warm water
- sugar
- salt
- sunflower oil
- all-purpose flour
- wholemeal spelt flour
- sunflower seeds
How to Make Homemade Bread
Here's what do you need to do to get started at making your very own homemade bread today!
- Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, sunflower oil, all-purpose flour, and wholemeal spelt flour, and form into a dough.
- Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in a bowl, cover with a cloth and let it rise in until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Knead sunflower seeds into the dough, and transfer into a 5x9-inch loaf pan. Cover and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
- Drizzle the top of the dough with extra sunflower oil and sunflower seeds. Bake for 60 mins, until well risen and golden.
Tips for Baking Bread with Yeast
What terrified me most about baking bread was yeast – I don't know why I had this misconception in my head that yeast was going to be so difficult to work with. Thankfully, I was very wrong. Yeast is not that scary at all, it's just another ingredient.
The main to things to keep in mind when working with yeast is:
- make sure you're using good, high-quality yeast.
- store dry active yeast in a cool, dark place - If yeast is stored in a warm place, the temperature could kill the yeast even before the expiration date. Dissolving yeast in hot water will do this too, so make sure you use warm water.
- allow dough to rise in a warm place - When setting your dough to rise, make sure the room is not too cold. The low temperature will prevent the dough from rising as well. Ideally, you want the temperature to be slightly above room temperature (at least 75-80ºF or 24-26ºC). Alternatively, you can even rise your dough in a preheated oven set at 100-120ºF (around 40-45ºC).
So go ahead and take the plunge and try to bake your own loaf of homemade sunflower seed bread. You will be pleasantly surprised and ever so proud of yourself. And remember, there are not too many things better than the smell and taste of freshly baked bread enjoyed in the comfort of your own home. You can do this!
More Bread Recipes
Since this post, I have definitely honed my bread-baking skills. Check out some of my favourite recipes below, or browse all my bread recipes.
- Small Batch No-Knead Bread
- Quick and Easy Pita Bread
- Easy Homemade Everything Bagels
- Dinner Rolls with Green Onions
- Easy Small Batch Ciabatta Rolls
- Homemade No Knead French Baguettes
Did you make this recipe? I would greatly appreciate a comment and rating below, letting me know what you thought of the recipe. You can also snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @aheadofthyme or share it on the Pinterest pin so that I can follow along.
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Homemade Sunflower Seed Bread
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Learn how to make a delicious, golden brown loaf of homemade sunflower seed bread today! It is soft and fluffy on the inside, and crispy on the outside.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil, divided
- 1 cup all-purpose flour + some more for dusting
- ¾ cup wholemeal spelt flour
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, 2 tablespoons sunflower oil, all-purpose flour, and wholemeal spelt flour. Bring it all together to make a soft dough – you can use your hands or a wooden spoon.
- Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead, dusting with flour as needed. Knead for around 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic (be patient and use the full 10 minutes as this will pay off with light and airy bread).
- Once kneaded, place dough in a bowl, cover with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Ideally, you want the temperature to be slightly above room temperature.
- Add sunflower seeds to the dough (reserving 1 tablespoon for the crust) and knead it in.
- Push the dough firmly into a 5x9-inch loaf pan, pushing out the air. Cover and let it rise again, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Drizzle the top of the dough with the remaining tablespoon of sunflower oil and remaining tablespoon of sunflower seeds. Bake for 60 mins, until well risen and golden.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes (+ 1 hour wait time)
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Bread
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: how to bake bread, sunflower bread, sandwich bread, bread, toast bread, seeded bread, loaf bread
Gita Ghantasala says
This was my first time baking bread. I was concerned when the dough didn’t come out as soft as I had expected (used1 1/4 cup all purpose + 1/2 cup spelt since I had only that much spelt flour in my shelf). But the bread came out great 😀. Soft inside with good crust! so much better than I thought given my first attempt at making bread. By the way, I baked for 48min. Thanks for the recipe! This definitely encouraged me to bake bread again!
Sam Hu | Ahead of Thyme says
Thank you so much Gita! So happy to help you feel confident baking bread!
JuliaV says
But I have a question. How do you handle the dough when you double or triple the recipe.
When I made a single recipe, it rose beautifully. When I doubled the recipe, I cut the dough ball in half after kneeding in the seeds, and let rise in separate bread pans. However, one of the loaves only rose slightly and the other became lopsided. (Oh, I must be honest... one of my pans is dark metal and the other is white pyrex. So... after reading about the difference in such pans, I took another's advice and lowered the temp to 350 after about 5 minutes. UGH! That was probably my undoing). PS: I just doubled another recipe, but this time I divided the dough right after kneeding for 10 minutes and it is still busy doing it's 1st rise. This time I will bake as directed. That said, I'd still like to know how others handle doubling this recipe? TY
★★★★★
shapelessjourneys says
I do the same as usual: combine yeast and water and let it sit for 10 minutes before adding everything else.
What an awesome recipe! I loved how fluffy the bread was because of that 10min. of kneading! Will definitely be making again.
I did not have spelt flour so used a bit more then 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. Also, I took it out of the oven after 40minutes.
10/10 recommend!
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Thank you so much! So happy you like the recipe! It's a good one 🙂
Tami Price says
I love all things bread! Was eager to try this recipe and was not disappointed! Thanks so much for sharing!
★★★★★
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
So happy to hear that, Tami! 🙂
Linda says
I love the smell of baking bread and this bread was no exception. I couldn't wait for it to come out of the oven! I'd never baked with spelt flour before so that was new to me but I would bake with it again. The sunflower oil and seeds was great since finding basic oil in the store was difficult. What a great addition to our dinner last night. Hot with a spread of butter alongside our shrimp was just perfect.
★★★★★
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Oh that makes me smile! I am so happy you enjoyed the recipe with your dinner last night 🙂
Al Tamman says
First time I made this the loaves collapsed, about 2" high. Salt is required for dough to form a good cohesive structure. You have to add the salt just after the sugar so it can work during the first rising of the dough. Just made another loaf this way and it's perfect . The recipe says to stir in the salt and sunflower seeds after the dough ball has risen. That can't be done because you can't stir a dough ball. So knead the sunflower seeds into the risen dough ball. It works really well.
★★★★
Sam | Ahead of Thyme says
Sorry for the typo!! You are absolutely right, the salt should have been added with the sugar. I have updated the recipe. Thank you for catching that!!
Julia Vona says
Agreed. Seems there is a typo in the text of this posting. I just noticed that if you elect to "print" the recipe, you will see it says to add the salt with the sugar, etc. and then knead in the seeds later on.