This incredibly light and fluffy multigrain bread is the best of both worlds – light and fluffy bread, perfect for sandwiches or toast, but with the added goodness of whole grains and a crunchy, seedy topping.
Today I’m sharing my latest daily bread of choice. It’s a light and fluffy multigrain bread, filled and topped with lots of grains. It’s a “best of both worlds” bread, with a light and fluffy texture, combined with some whole grain goodness. And did I mention the lovely, crispy, toasted seed crust?
You’ll love the great flavour and texture of this bread, together with the added goodness of whole grains. It makes great sandwich bread and is lovely toasted, as well. It’s also a fast-riser, so you’ll be enjoying it in no time!
- Key Ingredients
- Video Tutorial
- How to make your own multigrain cereal mix
- Step by step photos
- Baker’s Notes
- Add-ins for your loaf
- Storing and Freezing this bread
- Variations: Multigrain Rolls, Buns or Freeform Loaf
- Overnight Refrigerator Rise Option
- Freezing Unbaked Dough
- Get the Recipe: Light and Fluffy Seeded Multigrain Bread
- More bread recipes you might also like …
- Save or share this recipe
Key Ingredients
Cereal Mix – This loaf uses multigrain cereal mix, which is a mix that is generally used to make a hot cereal when combined with hot water or milk. This kind of mix is the most efficient way to get a variety of whole grains together. Do note though, that these mixes are 100% whole grains, with no added sweeteners etc, so steer away from the commercial flavoured oatmeal mixes etc.
The most common is a “7-grain” cereal mix. If you are in Canada, Bulk Barn sells both a 7-grain (Hard red wheat, barley, rye, steel cut oats, brown flaxseed, millet, buckwheat) and a 12-grain (Cracked wheat, cracked rye, cracked triticale, oat flakes, millet, cracked oats, barley flakes, sunflower seeds, natural sesame seeds, buckwheat grits, brown flaxseeds, yellow flaxseeds) cereal mix. Either of those will work fine. Bob’s Red Mill also has a 7-grain mix.
If you can’t find any of those mixes, look for something like a porridge mix. Rogers makes a couple of Porridge mixes – Porridge Oats and Healthy Grains (oat flakes, oat bran, wheat bran and flaxseed) or Porridge Oats and Ancient Grains (Oat, rye, barley, spelt and khorasan flakes, oat bran, millet, flaxseed, quinoa flakes). Quaker makes a mix called Quaker Super Grains Hot Cereal, that is a mix of whole grain oats, flaxseed, and quinoa.
My best advice is to browse the hot cereal/oatmeal section at the grocery store or the natural foods section and see what you can find. If you really can’t find something, see below for a homemade multigrain cereal mix.
All Purpose Flour – for the lightest loaf, use all purpose flour. I prefer unbleached all purpose flour. You can also use bread flour, though you may need a little less than specified. If you want to add some whole wheat flour to the loaf, you can replace up to 1 cup of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, though your loaf will not be as light as fluffy as the original with this change.
Vegetable Oil – Using oil in yeast breads helps create the soft and light texture. It is also good for anyone wanting a vegan yeast bread. That said, you can certainly replace the oil with an equal amount of melted and cooled butter.
Video Tutorial
Watch as I make this light and fluffy multigrain bread.
How to make your own multigrain cereal mix
If you can’t find a pre-mixed multigrain cereal mix, you can mix up your own with a combination of any of the following whole grains:
Rolled oats, quick oats, steel cut oats, quinoa, flaxseed meal, flaxseed, sesame seeds, oat flakes, rye flakes, barley flakes, cracked wheat, wheat bran, oat bran, millet, buckwheat.
Step by step photos
Since this dough can start with any number of multigrain cereal mixes, it may absorb the water differently. You may find you have less water in the bowl than shown here after it sits for 20 minutes. That’s ok :)
Be sure your cereal mix has cooled to just lukewarm before adding the yeast or you could kill the yeast before you get started. Test with an instant read thermometer if you have one and make sure it’s about 105F. Otherwise, test with your finger. It should be lukewarm and not feel hot at all.
I like to add a couple of tablespoons of small seeds to my bread. Here I’ve added some poppy and sesame seeds, together with a little flaxseed meal. It’s totally optional though.
Thee secret to a light and fluffy loaf is to not add too much flour! In the photo above, you’ll see that the dough with the 4 cups of flour added is loose and wet. Yours may be a little less loose, depending on the cereal mix that you used, but it should be very moist at this point. That’s what we want. You may be tempted to add more flour, but resist the urge to add it at this stage.
Once we rest the dough for 15-minutes, the grains will continue to absorb the moisture in the dough and be a lot less loose. After that, simply remove to a floured work surface and add a bit more flour, as needed, if the dough is still a little sticky.
This bread is a FAST RISER! Don’t wander far and keep a good eye on it. This 1st rise shown here was only about 40 minutes. Be sure you just allow the dough to rise to doubled and no more.
The rise in the pan is just as quick as the 1st rise. You’ll find it will be risen and ready for the oven in 25-30 minutes (and maybe less). In a 9×5-inch pan, it should crest the pan by about 1 1/2-inches in the centre.
This bread tends to brown quickly, so be sure to cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil after about 18-20 minutes of baking, to keep the top from over-browning. Baking the loaf in the lower third of the oven (one rack position down from centre) helps to slow the browning a bit.
The early browning can also make the loaf look done before it is. A large 9×5-inch loaf like this will need a total of 40-45 minutes in the oven to bake through. An instant read thermometer is invaluable here to test the loaf for doneness. Bake until the internal temperature is 195-205F (I aim for about 200F).
Baker’s Notes
- As noted above, after you have added the 4 cups of flour, your dough may be quite loose and wet. The grains in the bread will hold a lot of moisture, so this isn’t a dough that will come together like a normal dough. Loose and wet is ok at this point. Once it rests for 15-minutes, it will become less loose and less wet. If needed, we can add a bit more flour on the bench, as needed. That said, depending on your grain mix, you dough may be less wet and loose and that’s ok, too. That just means you’ll need little more flour on the bench.
- While I love the seed topping on this bread, you can easily skip it if you prefer. Leave it plain or do the egg wash and use some rolled oats on top instead.
- This bread will be Vegan, if made with brown sugar (instead of honey) and using water on top instead of the egg wash.
- You can make this bread as one large 9×5 loaf, as two shorter, smaller 8×4 loaves. Note that baking time will be less for the 8×4 loaves. Refer to the Recipe Card below for some guidance there.
- If you go the big 9×5 loaf route, be warned that it does take time to bake through, but will look quite done before it actually is. I covered mine with foil after about 20 minutes and then baked pretty much a full 45 minutes. If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take out the guesswork. You’ll want your loaf to be at least 195F before you take it out. I aim for about 200F.
- Be careful with doubling this recipe. While it can be done, the dough is bulky and doubling may put too big a strain on a stand mixer.
Add-ins for your loaf
Additional add-ins are completely optional. They are just suggestions if you want to change up your basic loaf a bit. Feel free to leave out and just enjoy the basic multigrain bread. My favourite add-in is to add a couple of tablespoons of the small seed mix. It adds a little extra flavour and texture to the loaf. Other options are pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sunflower seeds, raisins, nuts, dried cranberries or other dried fruit. Be sure not to exceed the recommended amount, for best results
Storing and Freezing this bread
You can store this bread for several days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container.
This bread will also freeze well, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months.
Variations: Multigrain Rolls, Buns or Freeform Loaf
If you like, you can use this dough to make multigrain rolls. Simply divide the dough into 8-16 even sized pieces, depending on the size of rolls or buns you want. Form the dough pieces into balls, rise and bake on a baking sheet. The baking time will be greatly reduced. Watch carefully and check often, as they will likely be ready in as little as 15-minutes, depending on the size.
Finally, you can make a free-form loaf from this dough. Simply shape into a boule (round) or oval and bake on a baking sheet or in something like a cast-iron skillet.
Overnight Refrigerator Rise Option
You can prepare the bread through to shaping and placing in the loaf pan, then immediately cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 12 hours. In the morning, simply remove from the fridge and allow to rise on the counter for 1 hour before baking.
Freezing Unbaked Dough
You can also freeze the shaped loaf right after placing it in the loaf pan (before the 2nd rise). I like to freeze in the loaf pan, then once solid, wrap the frozen dough log tightly and store only the dough in the freezer up to 3 months. When ready to bake, remove the frozen dough log, unwrap, place in a greased loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap and thaw at room temperature for 4-5 hours, or until thawed and risen. Bake as usual.
Get the Recipe: Light and Fluffy Seeded Multigrain Bread
Ingredients
Basic Multigrain Bread Dough:
- 1/2 cup (113 ml) multi-grain cereal, such as 7, 10 or 12-grain cereal *see Note 1
- 2 cups (454 ml) boiling water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (7 g) active dry or instant yeast, (not rapid or quick rise yeast)
- 4 cups (480 g) unbleached all-purpose flour , spooned and levelled *see Note 2
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil, or other neutral tasting cooking oil, or melted and cooled butter
- 1 Tablespoon (15 g) honey, or light or dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) fine sea salt
OPTIONAL Add-ins *See Note 3 below
- 1/3 cup raisins or dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds, chopped
- 1/4 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts etc), chopped
- 2 Tablespoon mixed small seeds, poppy, sesame and/or flax seeds
Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg, mixed with 1 Tbsp water (or alternately, just water, for a vegan loaf, though seeds may not stick as well).
Topping Seed Mixture:
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) sesame seeds
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) flax seeds
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) poppy seeds
- Raw pumpkin and or sunflower seeds, optional
Instructions
- Place multigrain cereal in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a kneading hook. Pour boiling water over, then let stand until mixture cools to between 105°F. and 115°F. for active dry yeast or to about 120F for Instant yeast, about 20 minutes. *Don't rush it. If your mixture is too hot, it may kill your yeast. A thermometer is handy here to make sure of the temperature before adding the yeast.
- Sprinkle yeast over cereal mixture. Add 1 cup flour, the oil, honey (or brown sugar) and salt and stir until smooth. Gradually mix in the remaining flour, incorporating and additional add-ins during the mixing. Once all the flour is added, you'll have a moist dough, that may also seem a bit loose. Resist the urge to add more flour at this point. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest 15 minutes. The grains will absorb more of the moisture during the rest period.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead a few minutes, until smooth and elastic, adding more flour, as needed, if it's sticking to your hands or the work surface.
- Oil a large bowl or measuring cup. Add the dough to bowl, then flip over the ball of dough so the oiled side is up. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in warm spot until doubled in size. **Don't wander far. This bread is a quick riser and may double in as little as 35-40 minutes. It may take longer. The important thing is to make sure it rises only until doubled, no matter how long that is.
- Prepare the Seed Mixture by stirring together all the seeds in a small bowl. Set aside.
- When dough has doubled in size, remove to a work surface and gently deflate dough by pressing down the dough.
- Grease one 9x5-inch loaf pan or two 8x4-inch loaf pans. Sprinkle a bit of the seed mixture into the pan (or divide between two pans), if you like. For 8x4-inch loaves, divide the dough into two equal sized pieces. For 9x5-inch loaf, leave as one piece. Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 10 inches wide and 18-inches long. for a 9x5 loaf, or 9x16-inch rectangles each of the two 8x4 loaves. Roll up jelly rolls style, starting with the short side, then pinch seams together. Place rolls seam side down into prepared loaf pan(s).
- Cover the loaves with a clean kitchen towel or greased/sprayed plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 25- 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425F. (regular bake/non convection), with rack positioned just below centre (a little lower rack position, one down from centre, will help to keep the top of the bread from browning as quickly).
- Before baking, brush top of loaves with the egg wash and sprinkle the top with remaining seed mixture.
- Bake in preheated 425F oven for 18-20 minutes, then cover the top loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil to prevent over-browning. Bake a further 20-25 minutes for a 9x5 loaf or 10-15 minutes for 8x4 loaves, or until golden and crusty and have an internal temperature of 195-205F when tested with an instant read thermometer. *Bread will look done, even when it isn't cooked through. The large 9x5 loaf will need the full 40-45 minutes in the oven to be cooked through.
- Remove from oven. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and immediately remove to a cooling rack to cool. Allow to cool completely (or almost completely) before slicing, to avoid a gummy bread.
- Store bread well wrapped at room temperature for a couple of days, or freeze for longer storage. This bread will freeze well up to 2-3 months or more.
Notes
- Refer to the Ingredient Notes above this Recipe Card for some guidance and suggestions for different multigrain cereal blends you can use here, as well as how to make your own multigrain mix.
- You can replace up to 1 cup of the unbleached all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, if you like, though the resulting bread will not be as light as it would be with all purpose flour. I don't recommend adding more than 1 cup of whole wheat flour, as it will alter the hydration of the dough significantly.
- The Optional add-ins are things you can add in to the dough - one, all or none of them, if you like, to change up the bread a bit. That said, don't exceed about 1/2 cup of total add-ins.
- If you find the bread gets too dark for your liking, even after tenting it with foil for the last part of baking, try baking it at 400F instead and baking it a little longer.
More bread recipes you might also like …
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
I live at 6500 feet and I’m having a hard time finding a bread recipe that doesn’t fall apart when I slice it. I want to try this recipe but what changes, if any, should I make.
Hi Dawn, I live at 800ft, so I have absolutely no experience baking at altitude. I did find this online that might be helpful if you haven’t discovered it yet – https://www.wheatmontana.com/content/high-altitude-baking-how-make-your-recipes-work-mountains
Great information. Thank you so much. I’m going to give it another try.
Hi Jennifer,
I love your recipe! Simple and not sweet. I just made it but it ended up a bit on the heavy side. The bottom is almost burned and the top hasn’t even browned yet. I’m using an 8×4 inch loaf pan. My oven can’t reach 425F (220C). Can you help me?
Hi Mel, on the “heavy side” is almost always under-risen, meaning you didn’t let it rise enough. In some cases, it can be over-risen, to the point where the yeast is spent and it collapses. In either case, you need to look at the rise. As for the oven, I’m not sure how to help with that. It sounds like your oven may have an issue.
Ive been making plain white bread for the last few weeks as I’m new to break making. I found this recipe and made it today and it turned out fab! I couldn’t find 7 grain cereal so I used a low sugar muesli with seeds and nuts in it, added extra linseed and poppy seed too, as well as a cup of wholemeal flour. My gosh, it was fab!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Charlotte :) Thanks!
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for the lovely recipe, first time it came out wonderful. The top crust is chewy and hard, what should I take care next time please. It is cooked well inside.
Glad you enjoyed it! For a softer top crust, brush with milk instead of water before adding the seeds and baking. Also, while baking, cover top loosely with a sheet of foil as soon as the top is lightly golden. That should help :)
Made this bread last week. The recipe made 2 fluffy tasty loaves. We love it. I have been looking for a “tasty” multi-grain bread recipe for a long time that excluded whole wheat flour. This bread is delicious.
I love multigrain breads but loath, and I mean loath, the taste whole wheat with a passion, to me it smells musty and tasty disgusting, haha.
I am making this bread again today.
Thank you for this recipe Jennifer. Have a wonderful day.
Darlene
NOVA SCOTIA
Hi Darlene! I am right there with you on the taste and smell of whole wheat bread :) I know I should eat it. I just can’t. That’s how this bread came to be. So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!
This is easily my favorite bread recipe ever to be written! In comparison to other grain breads this is much simpler and easy to follow. I used honey as suggested which was great. I also mixed sunflower seeds into the seed mixture which was fabulous.
The actual mixing process was quite simple and made kneading almost unnecessary. In total I added about 3 cups of flour. It also slices incredible well. I had 4 slices last night.. this is dangerous! Thank you so much for the recipe it is now a staple in my house.
So glad you are enjoying it, Tyler :) It is a staple here, as well. It just hits all the right notes for me for an everyday bread. Thanks!
The greatest loaf ever! It is now “on the menu”in my home.
So glad to hear, Elissa! Thanks :)
Hi, i’m from Indonesia and i dont know what to use to subtitute for the 7 grains cereal, could you help and give me subtitutes for the 7 grains cereal? Thank you so much ??
Hi Deasy, 7 grains cereal is just a mixture of grains, intended to be eaten as cereal with boiling water. You could just search out the usual ingredients (grains) in these cereals and make your own mixture of some or all of them. That is probably the easiest route.
Just made your bread this weekend – it turned out perfectly! I doubled the recipe and have never had a sandwich bread dough proof so well, and the hot cereal makes it light and springy but still maintains a lovely crispy crust. Will definitely be making again.
So glad to hear, Maggie! Thanks :)
Love this bread! I’ve been making it every weekend for several weeks now and it’s the perfect breakfast bread. I’ve substituted up to half of the flour with whole wheat flour, although I do find the texture of the bread isn’t as nice as with the all-purpose flour. I have found that I’ve had to extend the bake time somewhat as the first couple loaves were slightly underdone at the centre – I make the 9×5 loaf and I now bake for 30 minutes uncovered and another 20-25 minutes covered and it comes out perfectly.
So glad you are enjoying this bread Rachel! Thanks :)
My dough was elastic but very sticky and didn’t hold shape enough to roll into a cylinder. Should I have added more flour? I’m using a bread machine but I do check the dough ball. But I’m new at this so I have a hard time determining if it’s right or whether it needs more flour or more water! Thanks!
Hi Kelly and yes, if your dough won’t hold it’s shape and is very sticky, it definitely needs more flour. When it comes to bread, I always treat the flour amount as “approximate”. It will never be exact, as it can vary by humidity, type of flour etc. So never hesitate to add more than the recipe says, until your dough is moist, soft and elastic, but not sticky or crumbly. I always tell people to form into a ball and run your hand over it. It should feel like a baby’s bottom. Hope that helps :)
This bread is AWESOME. I made a goal for myself to start baking my own bread and started with this one and am so glad that I did, it turned out SUPER well. Glad I decided to double the recipe! Super awesome instructions and easy to follow recipe. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it, Lizzie :) Thanks!
Could I use fresh yeast ?
Hi Debbie and yes you could. Beyond that, I have no advice, as I have never used fresh yeast myself. As I understand it though, you just need to adjust (increase) the amount of yeast. The amount you would use for a standard single loaf would work.
Thanks so much for the quick reply…I decided to stick with your recipe and went and got the instant yeast. It’s in the oven baking right now and so far it looks amazing.
Enjoy!
The bread tasted great but didn’t seem as fluffy as yours and the middle pulled back away from the crust from all sides when cutting…. any tips?
Hi Domiinique, A couple of things can cause this. First, it may have been under-kneaded and lacked the structure to stay together. Or if you feel you kneaded it really well, it could have been over-proofed (left too long to rise). Don’t give up. Try again with attention to those two things and see if that helps :)
Can you substitute 12 gain flour for the 7 grain cereal. If so how much would you put in?
Hi Julie, not exactly. The 7 grain cereal is just grains. No flour. That said, you could use the 12 grain flour, but you would need to decrease the flour portion of the recipe somewhat accordingly. Hope that makes sense :)
This bread is delicious!!! This was the i rat loaf of bread I ever tried to make and it came out okay but not perfect! I just made a second batch and am in love!! They look beautiful and taste amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe and having such knowledgeable information available for newbies!!
So glad to hear, Sophia :) Thanks!
Hi! I’ve never actually replied or left a comment online like this before but, I’m excited to do so. I’m living in Nicaragua and new to this bread making thing. I couldn’t find poppy seeds or pumpkin seeds but went ahead and so glad I did! I’ve made it three times now and the second and third time added in the dried cranberries. Absolutely delicious! I love this recipe and the whole idea of making bread. I added a little rolled oats along with the sesame and flax seeds to the top of the loaf before baking to give it that multigrain look. Thanks for sharing this recipe! I look forward to enjoying this again and again and will look for more from you as well. Thanks again! Spence
So glad to hear, Spencer! And yes, this bread is very adaptable and always seems to come out nicely. Thanks!