It is wonderful to bake breads. Decorative breads are so much more fun. I bake this pretty looking sunflower bread every now and then. The daughter loves it and everyone who looks at it thinks it is some kind of marvel. Trust me, it is so easy and simple. I would recommend this even for a beginner. I have been making this bread since my beginner days and it has worked every single time.

Why I love this Sunflower bread

This sunflower bread is pretty to look at. It makes for a wonderful centre piece. Get a sour cream or cheesy dip and it makes for a fabulous starter or tea time snack.

You can increase the size or decrease it easily. It can have as many rings as you want.I have made three rings here. You can make them bigger or smaller depending on the size of the bread you need.

Add any flavour or colour to it and make the bread look prettier. Just divide the dough into 2 or three parts and mix each part with a separate food colour or flavoured puree of your choice. You can make it healthier by adding spinach or pumpkin puree.

It is a delight for kids. You can make small sunflower breads for each kid too. They will gobble it up in a jiffy.

Substitutions and Variations

The most obvious question for substitution is about replacing all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. The answer is the same I give for all my breads. All purpose flour makes the bread light and tastier than whole wheat flour. So my suggestion is to try with all purpose flour first and then substitute it with whole wheat flour. My ideal recipe would be half each of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I think it has a good balance between taste and ‘health’. If you are using whole wheat flour you need to add around 20% more water to the dough.

I have used half milk and half water. You can replace it with entirely milk or entirely water. Milk makes the bread softer. If you don’t have milk, then add water and replace 25gms of the flour with milk powder.

As I said before, you can vary the colour and taste of the bread by adding purees of your favourite vegetable. You can also add some herbs to the dough to give it some punch. I love adding around 1/2 tbsp of dried rosemary to the dough. Mint, thyme, basil are all good options.

I have used instant yeast which is what I will recommend. But if you are using active dry yeast then you need to mix the yeast, sugar and water and set it aside for 5 minutes. It should froth up nicely. Add the mixture to the rest of the dough and proceed with the recipe. Also, increase the yeast by 1/4 tsp if you are using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast.

Some other fun bake recipes are Burger Buns, Pita Bread, Hassleback Potatoes and Potato Skins

Happy Baking!

I am sending this to Bake-a-thon by Srivalli.