Add Variety To Home-Baked Bread

October 4, 2013 8:42 AM

My bread tastes great, but Mrs. Partner is clamoring for some variety. Can you share ways that I can add flavors to my bread without much change to the basic recipe? (Which is: half and half whole wheat to white flour, salt, yeast, and a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup.) Thanks in advance!
posted by partner to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

I once made a bread with a basic recipe like yours, but added green pitless olives and almonds. Nice with cold butter
posted by mumimor at 8:47 AM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Stuff you can add:

- chopped olives
- sunflower/sesame/other seeds
- chopped dried cherries/raisins/other dried fruit
- chopped sundried tomatoes

combine the above for super bonuses. chopped dried apricot and walnut bread is pretty great. shavings of dark chocolate plus chopped sour cherries is amazing.

Also, change up your flour now and again. Try using granary, rye, spelt in with your white base.
posted by greenish at 8:50 AM on October 4, 2013

Rosemary is good.
posted by kindall at 8:51 AM on October 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

All kinds of herbs (but not all at once). My mom used to make dill bread that was omg, so good. Also rosemary goes great in bread.
posted by dawkins_7 at 8:52 AM on October 4, 2013

I keep a wild yeast sourdough (technique from Sandor Katz's book) in the refrigerator and add a dollop to basic white and rye loaves.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:53 AM on October 4, 2013

We bake all our bread at home, so 4-5 loaves per week. We have one basic recipe that works, then just mix up the flours etc for different flavours. The recipe I use is for two loaves and has 7 cups of flour, I'll replace up to four cups with a different flour or replace 1-1.5 cups with some kind of flake or bran or whatever. You may need to add a little more water when using heavier ingredients, but that's easy to adjust during the initial mix and knead.

Things I've added in place of some of the white flour, either singly or in combinations:

- oat flakes - this is my favourite, they kind of disappear into the grain adding flavour, just use standard porridge ones
- pinhead oatmeal/nibbed oats (little hard nuggets, goes well with a few oat flakes too)
- rye flakes
- spelt flakes
- oat or wheat bran
- rye flour (change up your maple syrup to molasses for extra interest)
- spelt flour (makes a softer dough)
- a little bit of cornmeal to add grittiness
- whatever other wholemeal flours you can find and feel like trying (maybe being a little bit aware of the gluten free ones)
- bulgar wheat - soak first
- kibbled wheat
- add some butter or olive oil to the mix for different texture
- use milk in place of some of the water for a softer crust
- use beer in place of water for a different flavour

Your local hippy whole foods type place is your friend, just go and buy whatever dry things are in their flour section and give it a go. I bake way too much bread to be hidebound by recipes or strict measures and it pretty much all works in the end as long as the dough feels reasonable when I knead it. After a year of regular baking I'm still not bored using this method.
posted by shelleycat at 8:57 AM on October 4, 2013

Saute some minced garlic in olive oil and mix it in with your wet ingredients. So easy and delicious.

Use molasses, brown rice syrup, or honey instead of maple syrup as your sweetener.

Use beer instead of water as your liquid.

Nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and brown sugar for a sweet bread.

Grated cheese (nutritional yeast if you're vegan), sundried tomatoes, and rosemary for a savory bread.

Replace some of your flour with potato flakes.

If you're using a low-protein flour, add vital wheat gluten.
posted by divined by radio at 8:58 AM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

A no-knead (well, just barely some kneading) bread that we make often around here uses beer as some of the liquid, and different beers definitely impart subtle flavors to the bread.
posted by jquinby at 8:59 AM on October 4, 2013

I love my onion bread. Before the last rising, flatten the bread and spread the top with caramelized onions seasoned with smoked paprika. Roll up jelly roll fashion, rise a second time and bake as usual.
A lovely pinwheel in every slice.
posted by francesca too at 9:15 AM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I add cooked grains - wild rice, quinoa, other stuff - to a dough. Or I'll roll it in seeds before baking it, or put the seeds right in it. Nuts, too. Fruit and vegetables can go in bread, just think of tasty combos.
posted by entropone at 9:15 AM on October 4, 2013

I have an informal barter thing with a few friends, and every week I bake a different bread. Last week I made this prosciutto bread from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible and people just freaked out.

With the maple syrup you could probably even try substituting rendered bacon for the prosciutto, but it's basically the same recipe you've been using. The recipe in the book even includes malt syrup as an option in addition to the honey and sugar listed in this link.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:17 AM on October 4, 2013

Added bonus: just a one hour rise.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:18 AM on October 4, 2013

If you like your current recipe but want a breadier flavor, I would recommend doing the last rise (or all rises) in the fridge. Slowing it down will allow the yeast to... Aw man, I forget. There's enzymes and there's alcohols, and it tastes yeastier and breadier if you rise it slowly.
posted by Phredward at 9:31 AM on October 4, 2013

I like adding millet (uncooked) to the dough. Gives the bread a nice crunch.
posted by nolnacs at 9:35 AM on October 4, 2013

Dried peppers and cheese! Jalapeno-cheddar and hatch-cheddar are popular around here.
posted by Sullenbode at 11:38 AM on October 4, 2013

OMG OLIVES
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 12:04 PM on October 4, 2013

Rosemary and raisins/currants make an amazing combination in bread.
posted by cecic at 12:35 PM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've been experimenting with adding various things to my sourdough bread.

My sensible, tasty suggestion: whole, tinned chickpeas
My silly, tasty suggestion: mix in onions and chopped hot dogs at the end.
posted by BinaryApe at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2013

Late to the party, but I love, love love bread with olives + parmesan, or black olives + feta. I'm also very fond of rosemary and walnut--if you do that, I'd replace part of your whole wheat flour with oat flour, which you can make by whizzing bog standard oats in the blender for a few minutes.

My partner and kid love chopped pepperoni and cheddar or mozzarella in their bread.
posted by MeghanC at 3:59 PM on October 4, 2013

Chopped leaves from 2 sprigs of rosemary, grated cheese (any sort will do, but i prefer an aged cheddar) and 1 grated apple (green, tart cooking apple is best).

Also; all the seeds you can find at the supermarket (sunflower, linseed, pepitas, anything seedy) plus most importantly pistachios, chopped in a food processor until everything is at least a bit chopped, and you have at least a bit of powdery goodness to flavour the bread.

Also; white chocolate and white grapes.
posted by lrobertjones at 10:54 AM on October 5, 2013

Switch out your maple syrup with honey and try this onion filling. Good since 1977.
posted by maggieb at 2:31 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]