The inspiration for this loaf comes from Nancy Birtwhistle – winner of The Great British Bake Off, season 5. Her Wholesome Loaf was my starting point for this.

I had actually planned to make her recipe as written, but as I was gathering ingredients, I received a shipment of 5 lbs of hard red wheat I had ordered, so I milled some in a food processor and made the loaf with it, whole wheat flour, and rye flour. Food processor milling is not the easiest thing to do, so… you may want to go to Nancy’s site and check out her recipe.

It came out really good – but absolutely nothing like Nancy’s.

• 300g freshly-milled hard wheat – or 200 gr whole wheat flour and 100 gr white bread flour
• 100g rye flour
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 10g salt
• 7g active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 300 – 340ml water

Proof yeast in 1/4 of the water in mixing bowl. Mix together the flours – 500 gr total – and the salt. Add the remaining water and flours to mixing bowl. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic – 10 minutes by machine and up to 20 minutes by hand. Whole wheat is heavy, so you want lots of water. Don’t be afraid to add more.

[As a side note, I started out with my KitchenAid mixer but it just wouldn’t come together right, so I ended up working it by hand.]

Gather dough and form into a tight ball. Grease a large bowl, add the dough, cover, and allow to double – about an hour in a warm room.

Punch down dough, knead a minute, and form into a tight round loaf.

Place dough onto floured parchment paper and allow to proof, again, until doubled – about an hour.

Meanwhile, place baking stone in oven and preheat to 425°F.

When dough has risen, make cuts on top and slide onto stone. Bake for about 30 minutes or until well browned.