Last week, I got a new shipment of ancient grains. I stocked up on emmer, khorasan and einkorn, along with some ancient red and yellow wheat and a bit of spelt. The new grains moving in meant that I needed to use up the rest of what was in the kitchen so I could refill my jars with a fresh batch.

All the cleaning and re-filling ended up in four small loaves of delicious and fluffy toast with mostly khorasan and emmer, and a batch of hearty, multigrain breakfast waffles.

I’ll tell you all about the waffles on one of the next waffle wednesdays. Let’s concentrate on the bread first.

I made a big batch, so here’s the halved recipe for 2 small loaves, about a pound each.

• 360g lievito madre (at peak)
• 14g salt
• 280-300g warm water
• 200g emmer wholegrain flour
• 250g khorasan wholegrain flour

Mix everything roughly, then knead the dough until the windowpane test is successful. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes before you shape the loaves and place them in a loaf pan.

I divided each loaf’s portion into three smaller ones and placed the rolled up dough pieces next to each other in the pan. It makes for a more regular shape.

Let the breads rise at room temperature until doubled in size. Depending on the ambient temperature of your kitchen, it might take up to 16 hours.

Pre-heat your oven to 220°C/430F and bake your breads with steam for about 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 190°C / 375F once the bread sits in the oven.

Let your breads cool before you slice them and enjoy a sandwich or two, topped to your liking. The bread works with sweet as well as savory.