A stunning seeded loaf packed with sunflower seeds, sesame, and linseeds inside and out. The seeds add crunch, flavour, and texture, while practising the batard shape takes your technique up a notch.
Ingredients
- 420g bread flour
- 30g rye flour
- 325g water (72% hydration)
- 90g active starter
- 9g salt
- 70g mixed seeds (sunflower, sesame, linseed, poppy) — plus 30g for coating
Method
- Soak seeds: Cover seeds with boiling water and soak 1 hour. Drain well before using.
- Autolyse: Mix flours with 300g water. Rest 40 minutes.
- Build the dough: Add starter, salt, and remaining water. Squeeze to combine. During the first set of folds, work in the soaked seeds a handful at a time.
- Bulk ferment: 5 hours at 22°C with 5 sets of stretch and folds over the first 2.5 hours.
- Shape: Pre-shape into a round, rest 20 minutes, then shape into a tight batard (torpedo shape). Roll the surface in the reserved seeds before placing seam-side up in a floured banneton.
- Cold proof: Refrigerate 10–16 hours.
- Bake: From the fridge, into a preheated Dutch oven. 250°C covered 20 min, 230°C uncovered 20–25 min. The seeds on the crust will toast — watch toward the end.
Allergens: contains wheat (gluten), rye (gluten) and sesame. Check the label on your seed mix — many are packed on lines that also handle nuts.
Why the seeds are soaked first
It is the step most people skip and the one that decides whether this loaf works. Dry seeds are thirsty. Stirred in as they are, they spend the whole bulk ferment drawing water out of the dough around them, so a mix that started at 72% hydration behaves like a much stiffer one by the time you come to shape it, and the seeds themselves stay hard in the finished crumb. An hour under boiling water hydrates and softens them so they take nothing from the dough.
Drain them properly. Water still clinging to the seeds is water you did not count, and it goes straight into the dough as extra hydration you did not plan for. Tip them into a sieve, shake, and leave them a few minutes while you get on with the autolyse.
Getting the seed crust to stick
Seeds fall off a dry loaf in the oven. After the final shape, roll the surface of the batard across a damp tea towel, then straight through the reserved 30g of dry seeds spread on a tray. The damp surface holds them, and going seam-side up into the banneton keeps the coated side protected until the bake.
Storing and freezing
Cut it, then stand it cut-side down on a board rather than bagging it. The seeds hold moisture, so this loaf stays good for three days where a plain white one would be past its best in two. For longer, slice the whole batard once completely cool, freeze the slices flat and toast from frozen — the seeds toast beautifully and the crumb never dries out the way a defrosted whole loaf does.
Troubleshooting
A batard that spreads flat is the common failure here, and the recipe itself is part of the reason: 30g of rye and 70g of seeds both interrupt the gluten network, so the dough is genuinely weaker than a plain white dough at the same hydration. The fix is in the shaping, not the flour. Pre-shape tighter than feels necessary, give it the full 20 minutes of bench rest, and build real surface tension on the final shape.
Seeds burning on the crust before the loaf is done. Seeds toast faster than crust colours, and sesame and linseed faster still. Drop to 220°C for the last ten minutes of the uncovered stage, or tent loosely with foil, and judge doneness by an internal temperature of 96°C rather than by colour.
A dense, tight base usually means bulk was cut short. Five hours at 22°C is a guide, not an instruction: in a cool kitchen the same dough can want seven. Look for a 50–70% rise, a domed surface and bubbles at the edge of the bowl.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a different seed mix?
Yes, as long as the total stays at 70g in the dough plus 30g for the crust. Pumpkin seeds want roughly chopping first or they tear the crumb. Anything very oily, such as a high proportion of linseed, makes the dough slacker, so hold back 10g of the water until you see how it handles.
Can I skip the soak if I am short of time?
You can, but compensate: add about 40g more water to the dough and accept that the seeds will be firmer in the crumb. Soaking is the better loaf, and the hour overlaps with the autolyse anyway.
Why is there rye flour in a seeded loaf?
Two reasons. Rye ferments quickly and brings an earthy note that sits well against toasted seeds, and its enzyme activity gives the crumb a slightly tackier surface that helps the seeds bind rather than shedding. Thirty grams is enough to do both without weakening the dough further.
Can I bake this without a Dutch oven?
Yes. Bake on a preheated tray or stone at 250°C with a roasting tin of boiling water on the shelf below for the first 20 minutes, then remove the tin, drop to 230°C and finish for 20 to 25 minutes. Watch the seeds closely without the lid — they colour faster in open heat.
Bake this with our shelf-stable live San Francisco sourdough starter — activates in 2 hours, so you can bake your first loaf the same day.
Buy Sourdough Starter →