Whole Wheat Artisan Bread

​There is nothing better then the smell of fresh bread filling your home in the morning, to me it is a beautiful thing. I love these kinds of breads because they have the chewy crust but are fluffy and airy in the middle. The hardest part is having to wait to 12-18 hours for it to rise and do it's thing. The reason why it takes so long is because you allow the yeast to naturally eat the sugars in the flour, versus other breads where you add a sugar to get the yeast to eat quickly and work. I love using my cast iron pot for bread it helps with the beautiful even cook on the crust.

This recipe I feel is a nice almost ancient grains recipe, you could probably add whatever seeds you like to it and play around with flavors. My husband doesn't really like the taste of flax seed so I added chia seeds instead, I think next time I will also add pumpkin seeds. This bread has an earthy hearty taste to it and man would it make a great corned beef sandwich with some mustard, pickles, cheddar cheese and sliced corned beef... mmmmm.... now I want that! Good thing Saint Patrick's Day is coming up and man do I have Irish in my blood. 

Ingredients:
2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
2 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 1/4 Cups of Water
1/3 Cup of Sunflower Seeds (Any seeds you like or a combination)
1/3 Cup Chia Seeds or Flax Seeds (not ground flax)

Directions:
In a large bowl mix your dry ingredients all together. Pour water on to the dry ingredients and using a spatula mix till it is well incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and set on your counter top for 12-18 hours. Again I always do the 18 hours.
Preheat oven with your cast iron pot inside as well to 450F.
Flour your work surface and hands really well and gently remove the dough from the bowl. Roughly shape into a ball . Remove cast iron pot from the preheated oven and remove the lid, drop the dough into the pot and place the lid back on. Then place back in the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, remove the lid and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until it is golden brown on top.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a cutting board. Enjoy with some flavored butter or as a sandwich.   

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