A classic boule with toasted hemp hearts folded in. Nutty, slightly sweet, sliceable. This is the working bread — nutrition that tastes like bread, not like a supplement.
Uses your regular starter and regular water. No hemp protein powder, no hemp-water starter apparatus.
- One boule, baked in a Dutch oven — ~830g finished weight
- Bake temp: 500°F → 450°F
- ~14 slices at ½ inch thick
- ~180 cal per slice, ~6g protein, ~5g fiber
- Lasts about 4-5 days sliced and stored room temp, longer frozen
- Pairs with eggs, avocado, soup, hummus, cottage cheese
Ingredients
| Item | Weight | Baker's % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 500 g | 100% | Includes 50g from the starter |
| Water | 350 g | 70% | Includes 50g from the starter |
| Active starter | 100 g | 20% | Normal 100%-hydration starter, at peak |
| Sea salt | 10 g | 2% | |
| Hemp hearts, toasted | 60 g | 12% | Folded in during shaping — see method |
| Hemp hearts (crust) | 10 g | 2% | Optional — pressed onto the top before baking |
Total dough weight: ~930g raw → ~830g baked (after evaporation)
Baker's percentage is Method B — the starter's flour (50g) and water (50g) count toward the totals, so the actual flour you weigh in is 450g bread flour.
Weights use baker’s percentage — the starter’s flour and water are subtracted from the totals. Use the calculator to scale.
New to sourdough? Learn how to make your own starter.
Method
Day before baking (evening)
- Feed your starter as normal — no special hemp feed needed. You want it active, bubbly, peaked before you begin.
- Toast the hemp hearts. Spread all 70g on a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, 3-4 minutes until fragrant and lightly golden. This unlocks the nutty flavor and drives off any raw grassy notes. Cool completely. This is the single most important step for taste.
Bake day morning
1. Mix (5 min) In a large bowl, combine 450g bread flour, 300g water, and 100g active starter. Mix until no dry spots remain. Cover.
2. Autolyse (30 min) Rest. This hydrates the flour and starts gluten development.
3. Add salt (5 min) Sprinkle 10g salt over the dough. Fold and pinch until fully worked in. Dough will feel shaggy but cohesive.
4. Bulk ferment (4-6 hrs at 72–76°F) Cover. Do 3-4 sets of stretch-and-folds in the first 90 min, spaced 30 min apart. On the third fold, sprinkle 60g of the toasted hemp hearts across the dough and fold them in evenly. Then leave alone until dough has risen ~50-75% and feels alive — domed, soft, jiggly.
5. Pre-shape and rest (20 min) Turn dough onto lightly floured counter. Shape into a loose round. Cover with a bowl. Rest 20 min.
6. Final shape (5 min) Shape into a tight boule. If using the crust hemp hearts: brush the top very lightly with water and press 10g toasted hemp hearts onto the surface. Place seam-side up in a floured banneton or bowl lined with a floured towel.
7. Cold proof (8-16 hrs in fridge) Cover and refrigerate overnight. The cold slows fermentation and develops flavor.
Baking day
8. Preheat (60 min) Place Dutch oven (lid on) in oven. Heat to 500°F.
9. Score and bake - Turn dough out onto parchment (hemp-hearts side up if you seeded the crust). Score with a sharp blade — a single curved slash is classic. - Lower into hot Dutch oven. Cover. - Bake covered 20 min at 500°F. - Uncover. Drop oven to 450°F. Bake 20-25 min more until deep brown and hollow-sounding when tapped. - Internal temp should read 205–210°F.
10. Cool fully Cool on a rack at least 2 hours before slicing. Cutting hot bread compresses the crumb — wait.
Slicing and storing
- Slice ½ inch thick. A serrated bread knife works best.
- Store sliced bread in a cloth bag or wood box for 3-4 days.
- Freeze remaining slices flat in a freezer bag. Toast straight from frozen.
Nutrition (per 60g slice)
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | ~180 |
| Protein | ~6 g |
| Fat | ~3 g (omega-3 from hemp hearts) |
| Fiber | ~5 g |
Honest framing: this is bread. Hemp hearts add real nutrition — complete protein, omega-3 fats, magnesium, iron — but at portion sizes that don't overwhelm the loaf. Two slices with an egg and avocado is a real breakfast.
Why this recipe changed
An earlier draft of this loaf used hemp protein powder, hemp-water hydration, and a separate hemp-water-fed starter. Testing that approach was likely to produce a grassy, bitter, dense loaf — hemp protein powder is designed for smoothies where you can mask it with fruit and cocoa, not for bread where it dominates. The current recipe keeps the nutritional case (real protein and omega-3s from hemp hearts) and drops the ingredients that would have made the bread hard to eat.
If you want an even more hemp-forward version, add 20-30g of hemp hearts ground fine (5-second pulse in a spice grinder) to the flour mix. That gives you a subtle green flavor throughout. But start with the recipe as written — it's the one most likely to become a bread you actually bake on repeat.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Dense, no rise | Starter wasn't at peak | Wait for active, domed starter |
| Gummy crumb | Underbaked or sliced too hot | Bake longer + cool fully |
| Bitter, grassy taste | Hemp hearts not toasted | Toast until fragrant, cool fully |
| Crust too dark | Oven runs hot | Drop oven temp by 25 degrees |
| Hemp hearts falling out | Added too late in bulk | Fold in during third stretch-and-fold, not at shaping |
What this recipe is *not*
- Not a "health food" — it's bread with real nutrition
- Not a fast bread — 24+ hours from start to slice
- Not a sandwich-loaf shape — Dutch oven boule, round
Compared to
The published recipes I studied when writing mine down. Respect to the bakers who came first.
A well-documented seed-inclusion sourdough that treats hemp hearts, flax, and sunflower the same way — toasted, soaked, and folded into a standard levain-leavened dough. This loaf simplifies to hemp hearts only at ~12% of flour weight, folded in during the third stretch-and-fold.
A sourdough with 75g toasted hemp seeds kneaded into a rye-and-bread-flour dough. Same toasting-first technique for taste, similar hemp-to-flour ratio.
