When we are having bread or flutes for dinner it is more or less always according to the same recipe. We have eaten a lot of this bread ourselves but we have also used it many times when having guests. As mentioned in many of our different recipes on this blog we always try to avoid the processed food from the grocery stores - most of the processed food has an ingredients list so long and with words only an chemist would understand. And that also applies to simple food like bread. In our opinion bread should only consist of some basic ingredients like flour, water/milk, yeast and salt + some different ingredients that makes the bread delicious like nuts and seeds. Most of the time homemade bread is also a lot cheaper than the ones from the grocery store.
This recipe for braided flutes with sunflower seeds is our top-1 favorite. It is simple to make and super delicious. We usually make plaited flutes - they are just so decorative - but you can also just make normal buns. If you have kids I am sure that they will love the Braided flute. These flutes goes perfectly with many recipes like our grilled chicken meatballs or our delicious Chili Con Pollo.
Braided Flutes with Sunflower Seeds
6 flutes
Preparation time: 120 min
Danish title: Flettet brød med solsikkekerner
Ingredients:
4 dl (1.75 cups) milk
2 dl (0.8 cup) sour cream, yogurt or similar
50 g (2 oz) yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
100 g (3.5) sunflower seeds
1/2 dl (1/4 cup) oil
1 kg (2.2 lb) plain flour
1 egg
Instruction:
Step 1: Heat up the milk. It should only be lukewarm.
Step 2: Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the sour cream (or other acidified/soured milk product).
Step 3: Add sugar, salt, sunflower seeds and oil. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
Step 4: Add the flour step-wise while stirring. When the dough starts to get thick and difficult to stir using a spoon, then use your hands to knead. Keep kneading while adding flour - stop when the dough does not stick anymore. The quality of the flour depends on how much you should use.
Step 5: Leave the dough in the bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel and let it raise someplace warm (preferred at ~30 C or ~90 F) for about 1 hour.
Step 6: When the dough is raised take it out of the bowl and knead it lightly. Divide the dough into 6 smaller pieces. If you do not want a braided bread you just make 6 nice breads and put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Step 7: If you want to make a braided bread you divide the pieces of bread into another 3 pieces and roll them out as long sausages with the same thicknesses. And then you just make a braided bread the best you can. Practice makes perfect.
Step 8: Brush the bread with a beaten egg. This adds a nice light-brown color to the bread. Let them raise for about 1/2 - 1 hour.
Step 9: Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and bake the bread for about 15 minutes.
Step 10: Let the bread cool off a little and serve the still hot bread with cold butter.
Tip: This bread can be used as a side snack for most dinners. We have used it several times for our delicious chicken lasagna, our meatballs with chili and lime, and our Hawaii pork patties. If you have leftover it can be frozen and used at a later point.
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