Making homemade granary bread is so much easier than you think! This Super Simple Granary Bread recipe uses just 5 ingredients, takes only 20 minutes hands on time, and does not require any special equipment – but it delivers delicious results every time!
Making bread is easier than you think!
I grew up making bread from a very early age. When I was little, bread was always homemade by my mum, and I loved to help her. By the time I was at school, I was able to make bread pretty much all by myself (with a little adult oven supervision, of course!)
I grew up assuming everyone made their own bread… It was not until I was older that I discovered most people bought their bread!
Making bread at home is often seen as difficult or technical – but actually it’s much easier than most people think. (Hey, if 5-year-old me can make bread, anyone can!)
I’ll admit the process of making bread, from start to finish, is not the quickest… but this Super Simple Granary Bread only involves 20 minutes actual hands-on time and is most definitely easy peasy!
UPF-free bread
One of the best things about homemade bread is it’s UPF-free. (Shop bought bread is nearly always Ultra Processed.)
If you are looking to reduce your consumption of Ultra Processed Foods, then making your own bread from scratch will really help.
READ MORE >>> 20+ Easy UPF-Free Dinners
READ MORE >>> UPF-Free Homemade Bread Recipes
What is granary bread?
In case you are wondering, granary bread is bread made with granary flour. And granary flour is simply wholemeal flour with added malted wheat grains. Malted wheat is made by soaking wheat grains in water so they start to germinate. The germination process is then halted by drying the wheat grains with hot air.
The term ‘granary bread’ was first coined by Hovis and is actually their registered trademark, meaning that, technically, it’s only granary bread if it’s made with Hovis Granary Flour. (Although, other brands of malted wheat flour are available.)
To keep things authentic, my Easy Granary Soda Bread is made with Hovis Granary Flour!
How to make homemade granary bread – the easy peasy way!
This really is a very easy recipe and only involves 5 basic ingredients.
All you need to do is mix up granary bread flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and water. Then, knead the bread for 10 minutes, before leaving it to rise for 60 minutes. Next knock the air out of the bread, shape into an oval and leave to prove for another 60 minutes. Finally, slash a few slits in the top and bake for 30 minutes.
Hardly any work… and your reward is the smell of fresh bread wafting through your house and the delicious taste of homemade granary bread, still warm from the oven.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
Only basic equipment required!
This easy peasy granary bread recipe requires no special equipment. All you need is a large bowl, a wooden spoon, a baking tray and a knife.
Because this granary loaf is shaped as a bloomer, you don’t need any special bread tins either – any kind of baking sheet / baking tray will do!
What to serve with homemade granary bread?
This delicious granary loaf is utterly delicious served straight from the oven, on its own or just with a bit of butter.
Alternatively, slather it with your favourite spreads… or turn it into a delicious sandwich with all your favourite sandwich fillings!
However, hands down my favourite way to serve homemade granary bread is with a delicious homemade soup, such as:
- Easy Carrot and Parsnip Soup
- Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup
- Easy Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup
- Immune System Booster Soup
- 5 A Day Soup
(Shown here with Carrot and Potato Soup.)
Super Simple Granary Bread with Carrot and Potato Soup
How to store homemade granary bread
To keep it fresh, once cold, store the bread in an airtight container.
How long will homemade granary bread keep for?
Homemade bread typically does not last as long as shop-bought bread (because there are no additives!). Properly stored, homemade granary bread should keep for up to 4 days. Though it’s at its best in the first 2 days.
Can you freeze homemade granary bread?
Absolutely. This homemade granary bread freezes beautifully. Once cold, put the whole loaf into a sealed plastic freezer bag and place in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature.
Alternatively, you can slice the loaf of bread first and defrost an individual slice or two at a time – this makes the defrosting much quicker and means you only need to defrost as much as you need each time, meaning less food waste. You can either defrost individual slices at room temperature or use your toaster to speed things up. (And this Super Simple Granary Bread makes AWESOME toast!)
(Funny story… growing up Mum would almost always freeze the fresh bread straight away. It became a running joke in our family that, even though Mum made fresh bread 2-3 times per week, we only ever got to eat bread from the freezer!)
If you like this recipe…
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Super Simple Granary Bread
Equipment
- 1 large bowl
- 1 Wooden spoon
- 1 baking tray
- 1 knife
Ingredients
- 500 g granary bread flour AKA malted grain bread flour (see Note 1)
- 7 g fast action dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste – see Note 2
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 300 ml lukewarm water
Instructions
- Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together thoroughly. Add the olive oil and mix again. Slowly add the water, stirring constantly. Mix until you have a dough. It will be a bit wet and sticky but it will get much smoother and less sticky after kneading.
- Knead for 10 minutes: put the dough on a floured surface and stretch it away from you with the heel of your hand, fold it over, rotate 90 degrees and repeat. Kneading can look complicated, but basically it is just all about stretching the gluten in the dough, so just make sure you do lots of stretching and it will be good enough to make a nice loaf of bread.
- Shape the dough into a ball and put it back in the bowl you used for mixing. Leave it to rise for 60 minutes at room temperature, covered lightly with a piece of oiled clingfilm.
- After 60 minutes, take the dough out of the bowl, knock the air out of it and shape into an oval loaf shape. Put it on an oiled baking sheet and cover lightly with the same oiled clingfilm. Leave for another 60 minutes to prove.
- After 45 minutes, preheat your oven to 210C / 190C fan and continue to prove for the remaining for 15 minutes.
- After the full 60 minutes proving time is up, slash the top of the loaf a few times with a very sharp knife and sprinkle it with flour. Cook the bread in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the loaf from the oven and check it's done by carefully turning it over (wearing oven gloves!) and tapping the bottom. If it's done, it will sound hollow. If it's not done, pop the loaf back in the oven for 5 more minutes and check again.
- When it's done, place the cooked loaf onto a wire cooling rack (use your grill rack, if you don't have one!)
Notes
- Make sure you use granary flour designed for making bread. This is usually sold as ‘granary bread flour’ or ‘malted grain bread flour’.
- Salt is a very personal thing. Typically for a loaf this size you would use between 1 and 2 teaspoons (5-10g).
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Tricia says
This looks like just the recipe I need. And a good start to eating SPF-Free Bread. Thank you Eb. I’m looking forward to baking ( and eating) it!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, that’s so great to hear 😀 Let me know how you get on!