I first met Sandeep Gyawali of Miche Bread in Austin at last year’s Grain Gathering when we sat next to each other the first night at dinner. But of course I already knew of him through his beautiful Instagram feed (@michebreadaustin) and I was eager to meet him. We talked bread (what else?) and I asked whether he would be willing to do a Meet the Baker interview next time the Man and I were in Austin (which happens fairly often since we have family there).
Josey Baker’s Seed Feast Loaf
A reader who lives on the other Coast, too far away from the Mill to come and taste the bread for herself, wondered in a comment if Josey Baker would kindly share a formula. So I asked and it turned out that he would. Not only that but he sounded delighted to do so: “This was the very first bread I made with anything other than flour, water, and salt. I grabbed some seeds from the store and tossed them in my dough, doing everything else the same, and voila—Seed Feast was born! This is still one of my favorite breads that I make, and I’ve heard the same from a lot of happy customers. I’ve never seen this seed combo in any other bread, and for this I feel very proud. It is a true Josey Baker Bread original.”
Thanks for sharing, Josey!
Makes two loaves.
* Water should be hot for soaker, cool for levain and lukewarm for final dough.
Method:
(described in Josey’s own words)
1. Levain (sourdough pre-ferment):
Use starter that is sour smelling in a good way, most likely between 12 and 24 hours old. Make your pre-ferment 8 to 12 hours before you want to start mixing your dough—likely in the evening before you go to bed or in the morning. You want it to be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Put this stuff in a big bowl and cover the bowl tightly so that the water can’t evaporate.
2. Soaker:
Spread your sunflower and pumpkin seeds out on a sheet pan and bake them in 350F oven for 10-15 minutes, just till they start to smoke. Put them in a small bowl. Add hot water. Because seeds soak up a lot of water, you’ve gotta let them soak for a while before adding them to your dough.
3. Final dough:
KNEADING
- Uncover the pre-ferment bowl, and take a big whiff. It should be putting off a pretty strong smell, nice and yummy, maybe a touch sour. If it doesn’t, no biggie; it’ll still make awesome bread;
- Add the final dough ingredients (remembering to use warm water) including all of the levain and all of the soaker, mix everything together so that it’s evenly combined, just for 30 seconds to a minute;
- Cover with a plate or plastic wrap, and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour, whatever is convenient.
STRETCH & FOLD
- Dip your hand in a bowl of water, then reach down into the side of the dough bowl, grab a little bit of it, and pull it up and push it down on top of the dough. Rotate the bowl a little bit and do it again to another portion of the dough. Give the dough about 10 stretches and folds;
- Cover the dough, and let it sit for 1/2 hour;
- After 1/2 hour, stretch and fold the dough another 10 times;
- Cover the dough, and leave it alone for another 1/2 hour or so;
- Do this another 2 times, at 15- to 30-minute intervals.
BULK RISE
Choose your own adventure for the bulk rise:
- If you want to shape your loaf in 3 to 4 hours, let the dough sit out somewhere in your kitchen;
- If you want to shape your loaf anywhere from 12 to 48 hours later, stick it in the fridge (or just outside if it’s cool out—about 45°F/7°F).
SHAPING
After the dough has completed its bulk rise:
- Flour your counter and dump out the dough;
- Pre-shape your loaf into a round, then let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes;
- Shape it into a loaf and leave it on your counter, seam side down, while you line the proofing basket with a floured cloth;
- Plop it into the prepared basket, seam side up.
FINAL RISE
Again choose your own path for the final rise:
- If you want to bake bread in 3 to 4 hours, let the loaf sit out somewhere in your kitchen;
- If you want to bake bread anywhere from 6 to 24 hours later, stick the loaf in the fridge (or just outside if it’s cool out—about 45°F/7°C).
PRE-HEATING
Once your loaf has risen, put your baking stone and pot or Dutch oven on the middle rack of your oven and preheat at 475°F/240°C/gas 9 for 45 minutes. If you put the dough in the fridge, take it out while the oven is preheating so that it can warm up to room temperature before you bake it.
BAKING
- Sprinkle the loaf with cornmeal (or cover with parchment paper), and invert it onto a plate or pizza peel; (Or carefully plop your loaf into your preheated Dutch oven;)
- Slash the top with a razor, get it into the oven, and cover it with a pot or bowl (or the Dutch oven lid);
- Bake for 20 minutes, uncover, and bake for another 25 minutes;
- Check the bread and see how it’s looking. If it’s not dark brown, give it another 7 minutes.
Meet the Baker: Josey Baker
Josey Baker (yes, his real name) is the type of guy that if you have known him for five minutes, you feel you have known him all your life. In fact you don’t even have to have met him in person to know him. Long before I did, I read his book, Josey Baker Bread: Get Baking – Make Awesome Bread – Share the Loaves, and I felt I could have recognized him anywhere from his voice alone. And it wasn’t even an audiobook!
A Rustic Apple Galette in Ten Easy Steps
This ten-step recipe supposes you already have some galette dough at hand. In my case, I had a scrap of dough in the freezer labeled “100% whole-wheat galette dough” and dated back to last August.
If you don’t have any dough scraps, you may want to use this galette dough recipe. I have tried it with different flours and different percentages of whole-grain and it has always performed well. But any other dough will work.
Nordic Whole-Grain Rye (a New York Times recipe): Takes One and Two

Nordic Whole-Grain Rye Bread – Take Two
A few days ago the New York Times published an interesting article on rye by food writer Julia Moskin (Rye, a Grain With Ancient Roots, Is Rising Again.) Having been a huge fan of rye bread ever since I first set foot in Denmark ages ago (see Hanne Risgaard’s Real Rye Bread and Chad Robertson’s Danish Rye Bread) I decided to try my hand at the first of the two recipes posted with the article, Nordic Whole-Grain Rye Bread. Long story short: I ended up making it twice because the first try was a flop.
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