Sunflower Seed Sourdough Bread

This Sunflower Seed Sourdough Bread is a nutty, flavour-packed sourdough loaf with a crisp textured crust and a signature chewy crumb. In this recipe, we'll show you how to fold sunflower seeds into the dough for a perfect distribution and get that beautiful, golden seed topping to stick! 

Jump to:

• How Do Sunflower Seeds Affect Sourdough Bread?
• Ingredient Notes
• Step-By-Step Method
• More Sourdough Recipes With Mix-Ins
• Sunflower Seed Sourdough Bread

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How Do Sunflower Seeds Affect Sourdough Bread?

Adding sunflower seeds to your sourdough brings extra flavour, crunch, and nutrition, but it also impacts a few steps in your sourdough baking process:

• Hydration: Since we mix in dry seeds, they will absorb a little moisture from the dough-but not lots of liquid, so the overall sourdough hydration only needs a slight increase. If you prefer, you can soak the seeds for a few hours beforehand and stick to the hydration level you're used to.
• Bulk Fermentation: Sunflower seeds don't interfere much with fermentation, so you can expect your dough to rise at the usual rate without any major changes.
• Handling: Sunflower seeds have sharp edges that can create small tears in the dough, so once they're folded in, be gentler with your coil folds and final shaping to keep the dough structure intact.

Want to learn more about Flavoured Sourdough and How To Add Mix-Ins to Your Sourdough? Head straight to our eBook page below:

Ingredient Notes

• strong bread flour: with at least 12% protein content. You may replace up to 20% with whole grain/ whole wheat flour.
• salt. 
• water: use slightly warm water if you need to speed up bulk fermentation or your kitchen is very cold. 
• active sourdough starter: 100% hydration. 
• sunflower seeds: untoasted. You can also use a mixture of pumpkin seeds and white sesame seeds (we have a crusty Sesame Sourdough Bread recipe too), if you wish. 

Step-By-Step Method

I used my Everyday Sourdough Bread recipe, and made a few adjustments, namely hydration and shaping technique in order to add seeds as topping. Nonetheless, this Sunflower Seed Sourdough is made over two days. Let's jump into the method!

DAY 1

Feeding Your Starter

• First thing in the morning, feed your sourdough starter. I typically feed 70g of my starter in a ratio of 1 part starter:1 part water:1 part flour. This simply means that I mix 70g of starter with 70g water and 70g flour. Scoop the mixture into a clean jar, and leave it in a warm spot (ideally, (21-27°C)), semi-covered for 4 hours. Your starter should at least double in volume in this time. If it doesn't, it may need a couple of good feeds before it's fit for purpose.
• I use 160g of active starter for baking and feed the remaining 50g before storing it for the future.

Mixing The Dough

• Once the sourdough starter is active and bubbly (and at least doubled in volume), mix the dough. I use a stand mixer for this. Simply mix the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Then add the water and sourdough starter. Run the mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment for 10 minutes, until your dough is smooth and elastic.
• It does not need to pass the windowpane test just yet (the gluten will continue developing when we fold the dough during the bulk fermentation period).

Coil Folds, Adding Seeds And Bulk Fermentation

• Scoop the dough into a large bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place (21-27°C) for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, with cold wet hands, perform the first set of coil folds. Simply lift the bread dough with both hands from the sides and tuck it under to form a coil (video in the recipe card). Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and coil again. Cover the bowl again, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes again.
• Repeat the folds once again, and leave the dough to rest for another 30 minutes.

• Now, scatter ¼ of the sunflower seeds over the surface of the dough, and stretch one corner of the dough over (just like stretch and folds method). Scatter another ¼ of the seeds in the center of the dough and fold the other side of the dough over. Repeat with the remaining two sides of the dough. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Want better distribution of the seeds - the best way to achieve it is through sourdough lamination. 

• Then, at 30 minute intervals, perform two more sets of coil folds. For more information on how to coil fold and when to know when you've done enough folding, head to our dedicated article about Sourdough Coil Folds.
• Once all the folds have been completed, cover the dough and let the dough rise at warm room temperature for 2-4 hours to finish bulk fermentation. Your dough should just about double its original size. If you are using a see-through glass bowl for bulk fermenting, you should see a lot of activity and bubbles forming at the base and sides of the bowl.

Shaping, Topping and Cold Proof

• Spritz a shallow, wide bowl with a little water. Scatter the sunflower seeds for topping in the bowl. Prepare your banneton basket (or any other proofing basket alternatives ready to go. Don't use too much flour to dust it.
• At the end of sourdough bulk fermentation, scoop the dough onto the kitchen surface. Then swiftly fold the four corners of the dough into the centre, forming a tight ball. To prevent the dough from sticking to the work surface, either dust it with a little bit of flour or spritz a little bit of water. 
• Pick up the shaped dough by the seam with your hand and place it into the bowl of sunflower seeds, pressing and swirling it around for the seeds to stick to the bottom. Then lift the dough ball with seeds at the bottom into your proofing basket.

• The seeded side of the sourdough ball should be at the bottom, with the seam at the top.
• Pinch the seam together with your fingers, if the dough starts spreading in the bowl to make sure the dough is tight. Sprinkle with some flour, and cover the dough with a clean fabric napkin or small lightweight tea towel.
• Place the proofing basket in a large plastic bag - it will protect the dough from drying out. Then place the whole thing in the fridge for its final proof (a.k.a. second rise) in the fridge for 12-36 hours.

DAY 2

The next day, place the Dutch Oven in the oven, and preheat it to 240°C (typically, it is the highest temperature home ovens will go to) with the Dutch oven in it. It needs to be piping hot!

Scoring The Dough

• Once the oven is hot, take the dough out of the fridge and out of the bag.
• Invert the dough gently onto a large piece of parchment paper. If your dough was properly bulk fermented and shaped correctly, it should not spread once inverted.
• Using a bread lame or a razor blade, score the dough deeply (approximately 1cm deep) at a 30- 45º angle. One single deep slash is all that's needed for that sought-after sourdough "ear". The blade may catch on the seeds, but be assertive.

Baking

• Take the hot Dutch Oven out of the oven, take the lid off, and lift the sourdough into it, holding the edges of the parchment paper. Be mindful of how you lift the paper. Sometimes, the scored slash can begin to close up during this process. To prevent this, lift the parchment from the sides that won't push the two edges of the scored dough back together.
• Place the lid back on the Dutch Oven and place the bread into the hot oven for 25-30 minutes.
• After 25 minutes, take the lid off, and return the sourdough to the oven for another 20-25 minutes. If you don't want your loaf of bread too dark in colour, you can reduce the oven temperature to 200°C.

Cooling

• Once baked, take the Dutch Oven out of the oven. Lift the bread out by holding the corners of the parchment paper. Place the bread onto the wire rack, and slide the parchment paper from underneath the loaf.
• Leave the sourdough to cool down to room temperature before slicing.

More Sourdough Recipes With Mix-Ins

Looking for ways to make sourdough baking exciting again? Try these delicious sourdough bread recipes with inclusions next time, from Pistachio Sourdough to Caramelised Onion And Cheddar Sourdough: