Makes one 9 × 5-inch/23 × 12.7 cm loaf
WHILE KANSAS MIGHT BE KNOWN AS THE SUNFLOWER STATE—AND INDEED, STUNNING sunflower farms, such as Grinter Farms in Lawrence, draw thousands of tourists every year—sunflowers are actually more abundant in the Dakotas, with South Dakota being the nation’s biggest producer. If you’ve ever seen a stunning goldenrod carpet of midwestern sunflowers, their big, goofy faces turned up at the sun like children sucked into their favorite cartoon, you won’t soon forget it.
Sunflowers first grew wild in Arizona and Texas, prized by Native Americans who used the entire plant for everything from foodstuffs to textile dyeing, body painting, and medicine. Spanish explorers brought the sunflower to Europe in the 1500s, and over the next 300 years, it grew in popularity in Europe and then in Russia, where the flowers became a national obsession, mostly for their oil.
The cultivated seeds eventually made their way back to North America in 1930, when Canada started the first government-sponsored sunflower-breeding program. These farms then extended down into parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas, and eventually Kansas, too. So, like any good food story, it took multiple cultures to discover a plant, make it awesome, and then return it to whence it first came so as to flourish. And if you’ve made it this far, I’ll bet you’re hungry. How about some carbs to celebrate the sunflower? When you’re in the mood for a nubbly, wholesome loaf, this is the kind of bread you’re looking for.
1⅓ cups/166 g bread flour, spooned and leveled
1 cup/225 g warm whole milk (110° to 115°F/43° to 46°C)
2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
1½ teaspoons granulated sugar
1 cup/128 g whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
½ cup/50 g old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup/60 g unsalted, shelled raw sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons/28 g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons/42 g honey
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Nonstick cooking spray or oil for bowl
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the bread flour, milk, yeast, and sugar on low speed for 3 minutes. Cover tightly and let rest in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Add the whole wheat flour, oats, sunflower seeds, melted butter, honey, and salt. Fit the bowl back on the mixer along with the dough hook attachment. Knead on medium speed for 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a smooth work surface and knead by hand several times—the dough should feel springy and elastic, and need very little flour—if any—to keep it from clinging to the work surface. Spritz the mixer bowl lightly with nonstick cooking spray or oil it lightly and place the dough back into it. Cover tightly again and let rise until doubled, 30 minutes.
Turn out the dough onto the work surface once again and knead several times before shaping it into a loaf to fit a 9 × 5-inch/23 × 12.7 cm pan. Cover with plastic wrap and rest for a final 30-minute rise.
Position a rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 375°F/190°C. Bake until deeply golden and hollow-sounding when tapped, about 35 minutes (the internal temperature should register at least 190°F/88°C on an instant-read thermometer). Let cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn out the bread to cool completely before slicing.