Homemade bread

Lately, I have been baking homemade bread. It started when we bought our used bread machine at the warehouse sale. My intention was to make a gluten free bread but I did not get to make it, instead I baked many loafs of multigrain bread. I found an excellent recipe online that use no dairy. It is an easy recipe and it will make a beautiful bread like the fancy bread at your local grocery stores. However, you need to set a time to make this bread since it will take around 3 1/2 hours to make this bread. The bread is delicious that my husband and daughter eat the bread before it cools down.

Multigrain (whole wheat) bread recipe, taken from Sustainable pantry

Ingredients,

Soak 1 1/2 cups of varieties of grain overnight, I used:

Oats

7 grain hot cereals

Quinoa

you will also need,

6 ounces white flour (about 1.5 cups)

10 ounces whole wheat flour (about 2 cups)

1.5 cups grain mixture (see above)

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp active yeast

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4-1 1/2 cups of water ( I used 1 cup of water at 110 F)

Directions: (for those who do not have a bread machine)

In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, add all the dry ingredients and mix for about 30 seconds. Add the grain mixture and the olive oil, and with the food processor running, start pouring in the water. Because there is a lot of water in the grains, the amount of water you need to add will vary, so add it slowly until a dough ball forms and starts moving around in the chamber. I added about 3/4 cup.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead for just a few seconds. Form it into a bowl, and let it rise in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap until it doubles (1-2 hours). Our kitchen was HOT, so after about 45 minutes it had risen plenty.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface again and let it sit covered with plastic wrap for about 20 minutes.

Dusting with flour as needed, shape the dough into a flat rectangle the width of your loaf pan. Roll up the dough and place it in the oiled pan seam side down. Dust with flour and cover with plastic wrap and let it double again (1-2 hours).

If you want seeded bread: scramble an egg and brush it on the top of the loaf, sprinkle on the seed mixture of your choice (I used sesame seeds and rolled oats).

Slash with a sharp knife or lame, and put it in the center rack of your oven. After about 20 minutes rotate the pan for even cooking. It should cook for about 40 minutes or until it has a nice golden brown crust that gives a good thud when knocked with the back of a chef’s knife. Remove from pan and cool on a cooling rack.

For bread machine owners, follow this directions:

Start to measure the water, I used 1 cups of water at 110 F temperature. As you know, when you add your ingredients to a bread machine bucket, you first need to start with liquid ingredients. So I add in my water, olive oil, grains that have been soaked. After all the liquid ingredients go in, I can start with the dry ingredients, 2 kinds of flours, yeast and salt.

I only use the bread machine to mix the ingredients into a dough and to raise it. It will take about 1 1/2 hours. After that I have to put the raised dough to a flour surface board, knead it little bit, shape it into a loaf pan shapes and slit the middle of the bread with a knife. And let it raise again for 20 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. After the 20 minutes, transfer the dough into the oil grease loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap and let it raise for another 1 hour. Before one hour is up, heat up the oven to 400 F and get ready an egg wash. Coat the top of the dough with an egg wash and sprinkle a bit of oat over it. Bake for 40 minutes, rotate the pan once after baking 20 minutes. After the bread is done, take it out from the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack. Serve after the bread is cooled.