Breakfast is such an important meal, but doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. If an army marches on its stomach, just imagine the unproductive days up and down the country for those who fail to fill themselves up first thing.
Some people seem to think that skipping breakfast will help them to lose weight (in fact the opposite has been proven in studies time and again) while others simply don’t have time. I hope this recipe proves that it’s possible to start to the day in a speedy, healthy way without compromising on flavour.
My go-to breakfast in the working week is a bowl of Bircher muesli, prepared the night before by soaking oats with grated apple and yoghurt. However, a life-long love of bread means that sometimes only a slice of toast will do. This Bircher muesli loaf combines the best of both worlds for a breakfast treat that is wholesome, filling and full of fabulous textures and flavours.
Enjoy this toasted and spread with salty butter or a smear of homemade jam, eat as an afternoon treat or eke out any leftovers in a comforting bread and butter pudding. This loaf also freezes beautifully – simply slice and wrap in greaseproof paper – meaning you’ll always have a slice on hand to pop in the freezer for those mornings when there’s little time for anything else.
Bircher Muesli Bread
(makes one loaf)
Ingredients:
50g rolled oats
25g rye flakes, plus extra to coat
80ml Greek yoghurt
1 tsp honey
200g strong wholemeal bread flour
75g white spelt flour
1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
1 tsp salt
175 – 200ml water
2 tsp oil (I used walnut but olive would work well too)
100g dried fruit (I used unsulphured apricots, raisins & cherries)
60g nuts (I used pistachios & almonds)
2 tsp sunflower seeds
1 tsp linseed
1 small apple, grated
Method:
In a medium bowl, combine the oats, rye flakes, yoghurt and honey. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the flours, yeast and salt. Add the oat and yoghurt mixture, three quarters of the water and oil, turning with your fingers to combine. Add the remaining water until you have a soft, sticky dough. You may not need it all.
Turn the dough onto a lightly oiled work surface and knead for around 5 minutes, until silky and smooth. Return to a clean bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for an hour.
Tip the dough onto the work surface, push it out into a rough rectangle and scatter over the nuts, seeds and grated apple. Knead thoroughly to combine. The dough will be very sticky at first – if you have a stand mixer, now is the time to use it with the dough hook attached, although it is perfectly possible to knead by hand.
Shape the dough into a tight, round loaf and place on an oiled baking sheet. Moisten the loaf ever so slightly by running your hand under the tap and patting over the top, then scatter with the remaining seeds (the moisture helps them to stick). Cover with a cloth and leave to prove for 30 minutes more.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Bake your loaf for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 190 degrees C and bake for a further 25 – 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden, crusty and the base sounds hollow when tapped.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
this looks delicious. I’m looking forward to making it
Delicious! I make heaps of bread, but I love the idea of adding oats to it!
I love the look of this! I will definitely have to try this one and I’ll have to make it for my dad who loves bread but is never allowed it by mum!
Haha your Dad sounds like mine, my Mum is always trying to keep him on the straight and narrow! 🙂
Oh gosh. I could eat that right now. I’ll be making that on Friday night for Saturday’s breakfast. Thanks for this.
Muesli bread?! This sounds amazing 🙂 Yummy
What a fantastic idea! So creative, I love it! This is full of all my favourite things. As I’m sure I’ve said many times, I hate yoghurt and milk on their own, so am unfortunately barred from enjoying bircher muesli in its pure form, but I can definitely handle dairy baked into a loaf, so will definitely give this a go asap!
Thanks Elly. I promise you won’t taste the yoghurt, it just lends a lovely softness to the crumb. As does the apple, I’m completely in love with baking fruit into bread at the moment!
This looks like my kind of bread! I’ve bookmarked it for the weekend, and it looks healthy too.
Yes, yes, yes. Isn’t it amazing when several people at once are discussing the exact same thing at the exact same time? I’m talking about breakfast here! Although I’m a toasted muesli girl myself, this bircher bread sounds just perfect – yes to the freezing (now that I’m tending to a 5 month old, it’s good to have yummy, healthy baked goods handy) and yes to salted butter on this, please!
Hooray for breakfast! And hooray to toast with lots of salty butter 🙂
delicious! That would be one perfect breakfast. I love interesting bread.
I love the idea of freezing this and having a slice to hand whenever you need it – I often find myself in need of carbs first thing in the morning and this looks like a far healthier and more delicious alternative to what I usually end up getting side-tracked by!
How delicious this sounds *and* looks! I frequently freeze the rest of a batch of muffins, so I am happy to know that this bread lends itself well to freezing.
I’m not much of a breakfast fan when I first wake up, but a few hours later, when my tummy and I are both wide awake, I love breakfast. It’s funny, my son is the same as me, but my girl takes after her dad and needs to eat right away or else!
Thanks!
I’m like your husband and daughter, I have to eat as soon as I wake up or I turn into a grouch 🙂
bircher muesli is just about my favourite thing in the world – and this looks utterly scrumptious. can’t believe I’ve never thought of it before!
I became addicted to muesli when I was studying abroad in germany, it just has such a rich texture and flavor! I love that you made it in bread-form, it sounds and looks incredible!
Ahh fabulous recipe – how clever. I adore bircher muesli and bread so this has got to go onto my must bake list.
Muesli is one of my favourite things in the foodie world, trumped only by homemade bread. As you can probably guess, this recipe just jumped to the top of my list 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing.
What a fantastic idea!! I absolutely love this.
looks yummy!
I am not a fan of bircher muesli,. I do love breakfast though and this is the way I would always love to eat it. A delicious loaf based on a great idea
Lovely idea, thank you 🙂
I try to talk myself into thinking that I don´t skip breakfast, I just eat it very late! This is just my kind of bread, no white flours and perfect to freeze and toast.
I love this idea, I think a quick trip to the shops is in order to pick up the ingredients I need to make it.
This is just the thing to make me reconsider muesli. (And breakfast, for that matter.) Looks so delicious.
Hooray, please be a breakfast convert, it’s so good! 🙂
Such gorgeous looking bread. That melted butter shot makes me want to make this straight away!
I love this idea for a loaf, packed full of so many goodies i could eat this every day, especially with some lovely butter but no jam for me, I want to appreciate all the flavours inside this amazing loaf !
You’re right, it’s at its absolute best nicely toasted with a smear of butter, nothing else. I have half a loaf in the freezer which I’m planning to bring out on Bank Holiday weekend, yum 🙂
Portable muesli! I love the mix-ins you chose to enhance the bread. The slices look absolutely irresistible with that butter melting beautifully on top.
Exactly! I pack Bircher muesli or yoghurt & granola to eat after the gym in the morning but if I’m in a hurry, a slice of this is much less messy!
This sounds so delicious! I am loving Bircher muesli made with orange and mango juice at the moment!
I’m never hungry in the morning, so I skip breakfast a lot. However, eating breakfast gets your metabolism moving, which helps one lose weight. I try to force myself to get ‘something’ down, nowadays. A toasted slice of your gorgeous and healthy bread would definitely stir up the latent morning hunger! When I read ‘spread with salted butter’..the hunger set in..and it’s 10 am. A start!
I always wake up starving so can’t really relate to this, but I know you’re not alone. Maybe if you know you’ve got something totally delicious waiting for you to eat when you wake up it might make you hungrier 🙂
I am imagining if an army eat just a little bit of food like that,seem i will surrender as an baker i love making a lot of bread and i want to feed many of my family member a lot.
I made this over the weekend and it was great. I didn’t have any raisins so I used apricots and dried cherries. I left out the nuts and seeds because I don’t like them in bread. A great breakfast loaf. Thanks for that one.
Fab idea. Love bread but often feel guilty about eating even plain old sourdough. This recipe feels very virtuous!
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This looks completely amazing, and a combination of my two fave things!
What a great combo of ingredients – on my “to do” list.
I made this for the morning after a fast…..blooming delicious and fulfilled every need. I’m going to have to take the rest to work so I don’t scarf it all myself.
Hooray! So pleased you enjoyed it, it’s one of my favourite breakfasts 🙂
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