Soft and tender, this multigrain bread is so delicious, full of many different grains that is perfect for sandwiches and toast.
This multigrain bread has so many different grains and two different flours, honey and butter, so it has extra flavor and texture. The process is quite simple and results in a tender loaf, not dense at all. If you have a stand mixer, there's hardly any work involved at all.
I have my standard recipe for regular white bread, and I love it. It's so simple to make and always comes out so well. I've also wanted to find a good recipe for a whole wheat multigrain bread as well. The problem with most whole wheat recipes is that the bread is so dense and hard, and that's not what I was going for. I also didn't want to be perusing many aisles in several specialty stores looking for all the different grains that the recipe would need. As soon as I gave this recipe from American's Test Kitchen a try, my husband and I were both very pleased with the results and I've been making it for several years now. It's so rewarding to take out a warm and fragrant loaf of bread from the oven, and the smell that wafts throughout the house is amazing.
The bread has whole wheat, rye, barley, oats, triticale and flaxseed grain and additional all purpose flour to make it soft. It's perfect to enjoy with a bowl of soup and sandwiches. My favorite is to use it for all kinds of toast - simply with butter or avocado toast, smoked salmon toast, cream cheese and arugula and so much more. The options are endless.
Ingredients:
Scroll to the bottom of the page for the printable recipe with measurements or use the Jump To Recipe button at the top of the page.
- 5 or 7-grain hot cereal mix (more details about the hot cereal mix below)
- boiling water
- unbleached all-purpose flour
- whole-wheat flour
- honey
- butter
- instant dry yeast
- salt
- old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats
Hot Cereal/Oatmeal is the secret to great multigrain bread
This multigrain hot cereal mix is the perfect answer to multigrain bread. This 5 grain hot cereal mix has a combination of whole wheat, rye, barley, oats, triticale and flaxseed grain. Sometimes you can also find 7 grain hot cereal mix.
Instead of gathering many different grains and dealing with them all separately, the hot mix cereal gives us a simple solution. Here we have numerous grains and we only have to deal with them once. Isn't it genius? Plus, using the warm and hydrated "oatmeal" makes the bread so soft and tender too.
Multigrain Bread Video
How To Make Multigrain Bread
- Pour the boiling water over the hot cereal mix and set aside for about an hour, until it cools to approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
- During that time, the cereal will hydrate and soften, soaking in all that water.
- Meanwhile, in another large bowl, combine the two flours together.
- Using half the amount of whole wheat as all purpose flour, will keep the bread nice and soft.
- Once the cereal has cooled, add the honey, melted butter and yeast. Mix to combine.
- Gradually add the flour to the liquid ingredients.
- In a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix the dough on low speed, slowly adding in the mixed flours. Mix for about 2 minutes, until the dough forms a ball.
- Add the salt and knead the bread dough for about 7 minutes, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.
- If you've mixed if for 3-5 minutes and it's still sticking to the bowl, add 3 Tablespoons more flour.
- Set the dough aside, covered, to rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes.
- Coat the bowl and the dough in oil, so it's easier to get out of the bowl after it rises.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel while it's rising so it doesn't dry out.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 bread pans with oil.
- When the dough has doubled in size, cut the dough in half and roll each into a loaf. (More details instructions below.)
- Lightly spritz each loaf with water or oil and roll in the oats, just enough for the oats to adhere to the bread.
- Place the bread loaves into the loaf pans and set aside to rise until double in size, for another 40 minutes or so.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool the bread in the loaf pans for about 5 minutes before taking them out of the loaf pans and onto a cooling rack.
Shaping the Bread
- When the dough has risen and is double in size, lightly sprinkle your counter with flour, then remove the dough from the bowl.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Flatten each half into a rectangle (the width of the rectangle should be about the same size as the length of your bread pans.)
- Roll up the rectangle into a loaf, tightly.
- Lightly spritz the dough with water, oil or melted butter.
- Spread out the old fashioned or quick oats onto the counter, then roll each loaf on all sides in the oats. Pat the oats onto the bread dough so it adheres. Place the bread into the prepared baking pans to rise.
Storing and Freezing the Bread
I have a detailed blog post all about how to freeze bread, you can get a lot more info there. But, here's the quick version.
Store the bread at room temperature or in the refrigerator for longer storage.
If you have a small family, you can freeze the second loaf. Wrap it securely in a freezer ziplock bag or even vacuum seal it for longer storage. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Then simply thaw and serve; it will stay fresh perfectly. Another option is to share the second loaf with your friends or neighbors. I'm sure your thoughtfulness will be appreciated. Who wouldn't love a fresh loaf of homemade bread?
What To Serve With the Bread
- This multigrain bread is perfect to serve with a warm bowl of soup, like Chicken Noodle Soup or Borsch and make it into sandwiches.
- I love using this bread for avocado toast topped with poached eggs. So good!
- It's also wonderful to use for Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Sandwiches or Salmon Gravlax Sandwiches.
Multigrain Bread
Soft and tender, this multigrain bread is so delicious, full of many different grains that is perfect for sandwiches and toast.
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 3 hours 35 mins
- Yield: 2 loaves of bread 1x
- Category: Miscellaneous
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups 5 grain or 7-grain hot cereal mix
- 2 ½ cups boiling water
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting work surface
- 1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
- 4 Tablespoons honey
- 4 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 ½ teaspoons instant dry yeast
- 1 Tablespoon table salt or sea salt
- ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats
- additional butter or oil to coat the bread dough/bowl while rising and to grease the bread pans
Instructions
- Pour the boiling water over the cereal mix and set aside for about an hour, until it cools to approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit. During that time, the cereal will hydrate and soften, soaking in all that water.
- In another large bowl, combine the two flours together.
- Once the cereal has cooled, add the honey, melted butter and yeast. Mix to combine.
- In a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix the dough on low speed, slowly adding in the mixed flours. Mix for about 2 minutes, until the dough forms a ball.
- Add the salt and knead the bread dough for about 7 minutes, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. If you've mixed if for 3-5 minutes and it's still sticking to the bowl, add 3 Tablespoons more flour, 1 spoon at a time.
- Set aside the dough to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. (Coat the dough and the bowl lightly in oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel while it's rising.)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 bread pans with butter or oil.
- When the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough in half. Flatten each half of dough into a rectangle and then tightly roll the rectangle into a loaf.
- Spread out the oats onto the counter. Lightly spritz each loaf with water or oil and roll in the oats, just enough for the oats to adhere to the bread. Place into the loaf pans and set aside to rise until double in size, for another 40 minutes or so.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Cool the bread in the loaf pans for about 5 minutes before taking them out of the loaf pans and onto a cooling rack.
I LOVE this recipe! Made it today and it is such a nice consistency but the rolled oats fell off as I sliced the bread. I sprayed it with olive oil and then rolled it in the oats...any advice?
Thanks for the great recipe and instructions, Olga! I baked my first loaf of bread ever last night! I think I have room to improve, but the bread still tastes great, so it was a good beginner's experience 🙂
That's great, Daniel! Way to go!
Hi Olga, Can you tell me what size pans you use for this recipe?
I finally have a kitchen large enough for me to bake. My loafs are now in the final 40 minutes of rising within the loaf pan. I am experimenting by leaving one loaf on a pizza stone. If it does not work out, I hope i have success with the one in the loaf pan. I could not find any 5 or 7 grain cereals, only oats. I mixed in some wheat bran, wheat germ and rolled oats. The rest of the recipe is as you shared. In approximately 2 hrs I will be able to tell you how it turned out.
Thank you Olga
That's great, Ricky! Glad this recipe caught your eye:).
Since my first post I baked several loaves. I found multi grain cereal at Amazon.com, non found locally.
Loaf pan works better, the pizza stone loaf was too flat.
The recipe is delicious!!! Thank you for sharing
Thanks for taking the time to let me know, Ricky! We love this bread in our family.
ALL i HAVE is Bleached white and also whole wheat flour can I use this instead??
Do you have the multigrain cereal? You can use those flours that you mentioned, but I wouldn't skip the cereal, Mel.
Would I be able to substitute old fashioned oats? Would you also be able to post a good 100% whole grain bread recipe?
Blessings,
Yana
No, Yana, old fashioned oats will not work, at least in my opinion. You can give it a try if you'd like.
This is such a nicely written recipe with pictures that are so clear in every step. I just printed it out and I am soooo gonna make this soon! Will let you know how it turned out ! Thanks for sharing your recipe. Ya know something, I never even thought about using cereal like this! Smart idea . . . all in one instead of going out to buy individual seeds 🙂 THANKS
I'm so happy to hear that, Farzana. I'm thrilled that the recipe is helpful. Enjoy the bread:).
Olga, I made this twice already. I follow your recipe, but the dough is extremely sticky and won't rise much for me after I put it in the loaf pans. Your bread looks higher than how mine came out. Any suggestions?
Hi Alena! You can add a few Tablespoons of flour to the bread dough if it's still sticking to the sides of the bowl. Also, did you let it rise long enough? Was your room warm enough?
Thank you, Olga, for sharing this recipe. I just bake couple of loafs tonight and really like it. May God bless you and your wonderful family!!!
Thank you, Yelena. God bless you too.
Olga, can I use a hand mixer for this dough? I don't have a standing mixer:( Thank you!
No, Aleksandra, a hand mixer just doesn't have enough power to mix bread dough properly. You can certainly knead the bread by hand though.
Thank you for such great recipe! I have been living in the kitchen since discovering your blog. You are very talented young lady!
Thanks, Julia. How kind of you to say so. Enjoy cooking.
Hi Olga,
Just wondering how's the bread texture? Is it soft? 🙂 I really love your step by step photos by the way! So helpful!
Yes, as I mentioned in the blog post, the bread is soft. I'm glad you find the photos helpful.
Oh thank you!!! Just yesterday I was thinking that I need to find a good recipe for healthy bread instead of only baking white bread for my family, and here it is. I will be trying this and letting you know. We wives and moms have a great responsibility for what our family eats!!!!!! I'm on a mission to improve family's immune system:)
Absolutely agree, Alena! I'm also very conscious about feeding my family healthy meals. It's SO important.
Will be making this next week after I buy the multi grain hot cereal. THANK YOU once again for another great recipe.
You're welcome, Oksana. I'd love to hear what you think once you try it.
My husband and I love multigrain bread! I will be baking this bread for sure! Thank you, Olya!
That's great, Natasha! Enjoy.