How to Make Seeded Oat Bread

You know those gorgeous seed-encrusted loaves of bread you see in bakery windows? The kind you see and think, that must take ages to make! Well, I’m about to change your mind about how challenging it is to make a beautiful loaf of homemade seeded oat bread. There’s no mixer, no kneading, and no special shaping required.

If you’re nervous to try homemade bread, this recipe is a great introduction. Even though the recipe is easy, the bread does NOT skimp on flavor. The trick is giving the risen dough a long rest time in the refrigerator. The cool air slows the fermentation process and helps develop better flavor.

The dough doesn’t require much, but make sure you’re using bread flour. All-purpose flour works in a pinch, but bread flour produces a stronger, chewier bread. I always use Platinum Yeast by Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers that strengthen your dough. This is a good thing!

Bring the dough ingredients together as instructed in the recipe. It will look dry and shaggy at first. Keep mixing until all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Cover the dough and let it rise at room temperature for about 3 hours. Notice that the dough rises OUT more than it rises UP. That’s ok.

You can move on to shaping and baking the dough, but for best flavor, I strongly recommend refrigerating the risen dough, even if it’s just for a couple hours. I usually refrigerate it for 12 hours.

After the dough rises and rests in the refrigerator, use generously floured hands to shape the dough into a round boule or ball-like shape. Add seeds and oats to the exterior of the dough (I usually press them on), then score the dough using a bread lame or sharp knife before baking.

The bread is unbelievable when it’s fresh from the oven—warm, crispy, crusty, soft, and loaded with texture inside and out. Once you discover how easy it is to make homemade seeded oat bread, you’ll be buying up oats and seeds in bulk!

No Knead Seeded Oat Bread video tutorial

No Knead Seeded Oat Bread

This easy no knead seeded oat bread is crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside, and has the most delicious crunch in every bite. Watch the video tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

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Ingredients

Dough

• 3 cups bread flour, plus more as needed for shaping and pan
• 2 teaspoons (6g) Platinum Yeast (slightly less than 1 packet)
• 1 cup whole rolled oats
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons flax seeds
• 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (about 95°F (35°C))

Topping

• 1 tablespoon whole rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 teaspoon flax seeds

Instructions

• Make the dough: In a large ungreased mixing bowl, whisk the flour and yeast together. Add the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and salt and whisk to combine. Mix the honey and water together, and then pour over the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently mix together. The dough will seem dry and shaggy, but keep working it until all the flour is moistened. The dough will be sticky. Shape into a ball in the bowl as best you can.
• Keeping the dough in the bowl, cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and set on the counter at room temperature. Allow to rise for 3 hours. The dough will mostly expand out, stick to the sides of the bowl, and have a lot of air bubbles.
• Place covered dough in the refrigerator for 12 hours to 3 days. (Note: You can continue with step 5 immediately, but for the absolute best flavor and texture, I strongly recommend letting this risen dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days. )
• Lightly dust a large nonstick baking sheet with a little flour and/or cornmeal. Using generously floured hands and gentle pressure so as to not deflate the dough too much, shape the risen dough into a ball. Dough is very sticky.
• Transfer ball to prepared baking sheet. Mix topping ingredients together. Sprinkle on top of dough, and if the seeds aren't sticking, press them into the dough as best you can. Loosely cover and allow dough to rest for 45 minutes. You will bake the dough on this prepared baking sheet. (See notes below for instructions to bake in a Dutch oven.)
• During this 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
• When ready to bake, using a very sharp knife or bread lame, score the dough with a slash or X about 1/2 inch deep. If the shaped loaf flattened out during the 45 minutes, gently use floured hands to reshape.
• Optional for a slightly crispier crust: After the oven is preheated and bread is scored, place a shallow metal or cast iron baking pan or skillet (I usually use a metal 9×13-inch baking pan) on the bottom oven rack. Carefully and quickly pour 3–4 cups of boiling water into the shallow pan. Place the scored dough/baking pan on the center rack. Quickly shut the oven to trap as much steam inside. The steam helps create a crispier crust.
• Place the shaped and scored dough (on the flour/cornmeal-dusted pan) in the preheated oven on the center rack. Bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and an instant read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195°F (90°C). If you noticing the exterior browning too quickly, tent the bread with aluminum foil.
• Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10–20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes

1. Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The dough can sit in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (step 4), so this is a wonderful recipe to begin ahead of time. You can also bake the bread, allow it to cool, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. You can also freeze the dough. Complete the recipe through step 5. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-friendly container. Freeze up to 3 months. To bake, allow dough to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or for 2–3 hours at room temperature. Continue with step 6, including allowing dough to rest for 45 minutes before baking. Keep in mind that the bread tastes a little heavier after freezing/thawing the dough and then baking it.
2. Flour: For absolute best flavor and chewy texture, I strongly recommend using bread flour. You can use a 1:1 substitution of all-purpose flour in a pinch with no other changes to the recipe. I recommend avoiding whole wheat flour in this dough, however if necessary, you can replace up to 1 cup (about 130g) of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. The bread will taste a bit heavy.
3. Yeast: I always use Platinum Yeast from Red Star, an instant yeast. You can use any instant yeast in this dough. If using active dry yeast, the 1st rise time is usually slightly longer, about 3.5-4 hours. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
4. Salt: Use a coarse salt, such as coarse sea salt, in this bread. I find the flavor slightly lacking when using regular table fine salt. If you only have fine salt, reduce to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons.
5. Seeds: Feel free to use more/less of a particular seed you love, or skip any seeds if you wish. Around 1/2 cup of larger seeds and 2 Tablespoons of smaller seeds is ideal. I usually use unsalted pepitas and salted sunflower seeds. Salted or unsalted are fine, but I don’t recommend 1/2 cup of salted seeds, so if you want to use salted, use 1/4 cup of salted and 1/4 cup unsalted. If you want to add poppy seeds, replace 1 Tablespoon of flax seeds/sesame seeds with poppy seeds. Or just use 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds and skip the flax/sesame.
6. Using a Dutch Oven: You need a 6-quart or larger Dutch oven or any large oven-safe pot with a lid (lid is crucial—baking the bread with the lid on traps steam inside the pot, creating that perfect crust. A lid is KEY to this bread recipe’s success!). Prepare dough recipe above through step 4, including refrigerating the risen dough for at least 2 hours. After refrigerating, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using lightly floured hands, shape into a ball as best you can. Doesn’t have to be perfect. Transfer dough to a large piece of parchment paper. (Large enough to fit inside your pot and one that is safe under such high heat. I use this parchment and it’s never been an issue.) Lift the parchment paper and dough up and place it all into a large mixing bowl. Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap and leave alone for 30 minutes. During this 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Place your Dutch oven (with the lid) inside for 30 minutes so that it’s extremely hot before the dough is placed inside. After 30 minutes, sprinkle seed topping all over dough. And using a bread lame, gently score a 1/2-inch-deep slash or X into the top. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and carefully place the dough inside by lifting it up with the parchment paper and placing it all—parchment paper included—inside the pot. Cover with the lid. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on. Carefully remove the lid and continue baking for 10 more minutes or until the bread is golden brown. You can test for doneness exactly how you would in step 10 above. Remove pot from the oven, carefully remove the bread from the pot, and allow to cool on a wire rack for 10–20 minutes before slicing/serving.
7. No Nonstick Pan?: If you don’t have a nonstick baking sheet, line it with parchment paper instead. Coat with a dusting of flour and/or cornmeal before placing the dough on top. Parchment paper can burn, so it’s best to check the box to see how much heat yours can tolerate. Lower your oven heat if necessary, and bake the bread for longer until it’s golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

 

Recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction.

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Sally McKenney is a professional food photographer, cookbook author, and baker. She has written, photographed, and published more than 1,000 from-scratch recipes and written three cookbooks. Her thorough step-by-step tutorials give millions of followers the knowledge and confidence to bake from scratch.