I’m coming up on almost three months of baking with fresh flour, and I have baked many loaves of bread! Many of them have been really good, but I’ve had a few that turned out so badly that I had to throw them away.
When I first started out, I had a hard time figuring out what to bake and which recipe I should follow. My web searches didn’t always point me in the right direction. In fact, some of my favorite recipes now didn’t show up in the top of my initial search results.
So, I wanted to share a few of my favorites here, as well as a few suggestions for what to bake if you’re new to freshly-milled flour. Even if you’re not new, these recipes are keepers. I will categorize them into three main areas: sandwich bread, artisan sourdough bread, and enriched bread.
Sandwich Bread
This is a good place to start, because making sandwich bread in a loaf pan is pretty simple and an easy way to get a “win” early in your journey. Both of these sandwich bread recipes call for yeast. Try these!
- “Super Soft Fresh Milled Sandwich Bread” by Lovely Bell Bakes. You can use a combination of flours, like hard white wheat or hard red wheat. I have tried this with adding in some rye as well. She suggests using vital wheat gluten and sunflower lecithin, but I have not used either of those – I’ve added an egg instead and it turns out great.
- “Overnight Emmer Bread” by Occasionally Eggs. This calls for emmer flour and spelt flour. As the name suggests, you will need to make it in the evening and let it ferment in the refrigerator overnight.
Sourdough Artisan Bread
Making sourdough is extremely rewarding, but it takes some practice and patience. I learned that my sourdough loaves wouldn’t look and feel like a sourdough loaf made with conventional flour. It won’t give you an open, airy crumb that some prefer, unless you use a blend of fresh-milled flour with conventional flour. However, the flavor and the nutrition of these breads are incredible.
- “100% Whole Spelt Sourdough Bread…” by Elly’s Everyday
- “100% Whole Emmer Sourdough Bread” – by Elly’s Everyday – Elly’s site is a goldmine of sourdough bread recipes. I didn’t find her until more recently. The loaves I have made from her site have turned out perfectly, and I can’t wait to try other recipes she has published!
- “Sourdough Bread Made with 100% Fresh Milled Flour” by Fresh-Milled Mama. She suggests using a combination of hard red and hard white, which I did, and I also used rye flour. This loaf was very tasty and had a great “oven spring!”
- “Spelt Sourdough Bread” by Occasionally Eggs. Easy and delicious!
Enriched Breads
I think one of my favorite things to make in this world is an enriched bread. Enriched, meaning that the bread includes more delicious ingredients than just your standard flour, water, salt, and oil – things like butter, milk, and maybe some fruit or other inclusions. Here are a few favorites I have made:
- “Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough Bread” by Therapy by Sourdough. I made this way back in September. This recipe actually calls for conventional flour. I have made this a couple of times using fresh-milled spelt flour. It’s insane.
- “Fresh Milled Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread” by Lovely Bell Bakes. Absolutely delicious.
- “Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns with Fresh Milled Flour” by Grains in Small Places. I made these tasty buns for hamburgers and they came together in just a few hours.