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Jul 12, 2016

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. 

English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

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.


English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

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.

English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

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. 

Here are the rest of the breads!
BreadBakers
#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.

English Granary-Style No Knead Bread

Would you like to comment?

  1. This bread is one of my favorites, so flavorful. I even ordered granary flour from Hovis (and bought an official vintage Hovis bread pan off UK eBay—what can I say, it's a sickness) and thought this bread was way better. Yours is gorgeous, as always!

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    1. I am intimately familiar with that sickness Robin. Thanks so much for the sweet words.

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  2. Such a wonderful bread using wheat flour and barley malt syrup. Loved the pictures of the perfect crumb you got there!

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  3. What a beautiful bread that is. I've been looking for malted wheat flakes in stores, so now I know where to find them. KAF is such a great source 😊

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    1. Thanks Pavani! I'm pretty sure there are bread geeks out there who will sprout their own wheat, dry it, and roll it, but that's not me. Thank goodness for KAF!

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  4. Thanks for posting this, it looks so good and the crumb with the malted wheat flakes looks gorgeous! I bet it tastes amazing and you have proven that you don't even need any fruit or natural sweetener in the more traditional sense to produce a sweet-tasting loaf of bread. Pam - The Bread She Bakes

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    1. Thanks Pam! I thought this would be perfect for this challenge!

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  5. I have never heard of malted wheat flakes until now but I am very intrigued and can't wait to try it.

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    1. Thank you Wendy! I've never met a bread ingredient I didn't want to buy =)

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  6. This bread looks absolutely perfect and sounds delicious!

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  7. Hello Karen, What a pretty bread! Would love to try it out here if I am able to get all the ingredients. Can imagine the heavenly aroma while it is baking!

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    1. The wheat flakes do require some patience in finding for sure! Thanks so much.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Looks perfect! Is the barley malt syrup used just as a sweetener?

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    1. Yes, it is meos. You could probably use honey, or non diastic malt powder instead.

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  9. I can only hope that it was faintly sweet.... ;-)

    very interesting ingredient these flakes... I am tempted...

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    1. I resisted forever... and then finally gave in!

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  10. You always come up with a beautiful loaf of bread Karen :)

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  11. I love the Hovis Granary Bread. Yours looks so so so tempting and beautiful. A great bake Karen, as always.

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    1. Thanks Mayuri! Love that you know this bread!

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  12. I originally read this as "granny" lol. This grammy needs to try granary bread soon! (And get new glasses) ha!

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  13. I've never noticed that type of flour in the UK grocery stores but now I have a new ingredient to try on my next trip to my in-laws' house. Your bread is as gorgeous as always!

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    1. I had no idea either! Let me know if you try it.

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  14. Hi Karen, cinnamon and cardamom? this bread sounds fabulous you are the best when it comes to baking bread!!

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  15. Never heard of this flour but love the flavor and crust of the bread.

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  16. you do know you can buy the flour online??

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