Vollkornbrot Recipe
By James Morton
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Easy
This recipe is extracted from The Big Book of Bread by James Morton (Quadrille, £30), Photography by Andy Sewell
Schwarzbrot (black bread) – like this full-grain bread – is a vast repertoire of deeply malty, Germanic loaves. These breads are high in rye, usually of sourdough fermentation and fairly dense things. If you’re after a very typical rye- and caraway-flavoured schwarzbrot, I’d suggest trying my recipe for Borodinsky, but leave out the coriander seeds.
Vollkornbrot isn’t ‘wholegrain’ but ‘full grain’ – meaning it contains whole, unmilled grains, giving it a real bite that goes very well with seeds. Whichever unmilled ‘berries’ you use will depend on what you can get: I like to combine my rye with ancient grains, but wheat, rye or others will be fine. Then, in my research for this bread, I found a variation online that contained beer, and couldn’t resist giving this a go too: evidently this could go any way depending on which beer you use, but a German dunkel or English stout is a good fit for a roasty note.
Try James' recipes for Welsh Cakes or Colomba di Pasqua
Ingredients for Vollkornbrot
- 100g whole rye, wheat, spelt, einkorn or emmer ‘berries’ (grain)
- 250g cracked or crushed wheat, rye or ancient grain berries (cracked grain)
- 300g just-boiled water
- 500g wholemeal rye flour
- 200g sunflower seeds
- 50g sesame seeds
- 2 tsp table salt
- 100g sourdough starter, fed with rye flour
- 250g water
- 500ml stout or dunkel, or another malty beer (avoid hoppy beers)
- rolled oats, for sprinkling
- butter, for greasing
How to make Vollkornbrot
- Start at least 6 hours before, when you feed your starter. If your starter has been a bit neglected, don’t worry. At the same time, place your whole and cracked berries in a bowl, and pour over your just-boiled water. Cover, and set this aside to absorb, up to a day ahead.
- When your starter is happy, weigh your flour, seeds and salt into a large bowl, and mix them together to distribute. Add your starter, water, beer and soaked berries, along with the liquid, and stir everything to combine. It will feel like a batter.
- Cover your bowl and leave it to prove for about 6–8 hours, and it should rise magnificently. At this point, I like to fridge the whole bowl, creating a more solid structure and giving me flexibility about when I want to bake. You can leave it in the fridge for 2–48 hours – the longer, the better.
- Grease and line a long loaf tin with baking parchment. Then, depending on your grains and how much they’ve absorbed, you’ll have something that’s between a batter and a dough. If it’s truly liquid, use your scraper to scrape it directly into the tin and flatten using floured hands. If it’s a dough, turn it out onto a floured surface, and gently ease it into a long shape the size of your tin. Use your scraper to lift it in.
- Sprinkle generously with rolled oats, and preheat your oven to 160ºC fan (180ºC/gas 4) for about 20 minutes as your dough rests. Bake for an hour, then turn down to 140ºC fan (160ºC/gas 4). Bake for a final 30 minutes, then remove, bash out the tin and let cool completely before slicing. Freezes excellently, sliced.
About the author
James Morton, Scottish baker, doctor, and author, gained fame as a 2012 "Great British Bake Off" finalist. He wrote award-winning books like "Brilliant Bread" and "Super Sourdough." His 2024 release, "The Big Book of Bread," explores global bread traditions, blending simple techniques with cultural insights.
