Day 10: Multigrain Bread

The ends totally are faces saying, "Slice us off and eat us!"

I don't know if you know this, but I love bread. However, making it isn't always the easiest thing to do. It's time consuming. It's a test in patience. It's excruciating to smell that baking bread and not be able to eat it!

I especially love multigrain bread. (Simple wheat bread is too simple for my delicate taste buds!) However, every recipe I could find for multigrain involved nothing short of milling my own mix of grains. (Either I need a better search engine, or a small, counter-top mill.)

Then, something miraculous happened! Someone on Pinterest (have you heard of this site?) linked a shortcut to making multigrain. A shortcut that astounded my mind and had me wondering, "Why didn't I think of that??"

I had to make this bread! I set out on a mission to attain all the necessary ingredients. I dreamt about this bread! I did have a little trouble finding the main ingredient, but only had to go to 2 stores to find it. Totally worth it just so I could have this bread in my oven!!

What is this ingredient, you ask? This magic shortcut that alleviates the need for out-dated kitchen appliances?? Well, it was 7-grain Hot Cereal mix! I know, right?!? So. Simple! Genius!

The biggest problem with this recipe is that it involves a LOT of waiting! Every other step is waiting. It is totally worth all the waiting!! As Alton Brown always says: "Your patience WILL be rewarded!"

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup (6 1/4 oz) 7-grain hot cereal mix
2 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour (NOT bread flour)
1 1/2 cups (8 1/4 oz) whole wheat flour
1/4 cup honey
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled (if you use salted butter, just decrease
       the additional salt by just a bit.)
2 1/2 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 Tbsp salt (unless you used salted butter)
3/4 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds (optional, I omitted)
1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats

Directions:

1. Place cereal mix in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook and pour boiling water over it; let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to 100 degrees (F) and resembles thick porridge. (About 1 hour.) Whisk flours together in a separate bowl. *

2. Once grain mixture has cooled, add honey, butter, and yeast and mix on low speed until combined. Add flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, and knead until a cohesive mass starts to form (about 1 1/2-2 minutes); cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes.

3. Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears the sides of the bowl (about 3-4 minutes). If it doesn't, add 2-3 Tbsp additional all-purpose flour and knead until it does. Don't add any more than that!) Continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes.

4. Optional! Add the seeds and knead for another 15 seconds.

5. Transfer the dough to lightly floured surface and knead by hand until the dough forms a smooth, round ball.

6. Place dough in large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.

7. Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and divide in half.

8. Press 1 piece of dough into a 9x6 inch rectangle, with short side facing you. Roll dough toward you into a firm cylinder, keeping the roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Turn loaf seam side up and pinch it closed. Repeat with other piece of dough.

9. Spray loaves lightly with water or oil spray. Roll each loaf in oats to coat evenly and place seam side down in prepared pans, pressing gently into corners.

10. Cover loaves loosely with greased plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough nearly doubles in size, about 30-40 minutes. Dough should barely spring back when poked gently with knuckle.

11. Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees (F).

12. Bake until loaves register 200 degrees (F), about 35-40 minutes.

13. Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove loaves and return to metal rack to let cool for 2 hours before slicing and serving.

Storage: Bread can be wrapped in double layer of plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. (Like it's gonna last that long!) Or wrapped with an additional layer of foil, bread can be frozen for up to a month.

*For those without a stand mixer, stir wet and dry ingredients together with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together and looks shaggy. Transfer the dough to a clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, 15-25 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary. Proceed with recipe as directed.

I barely could wait until the bread was cooled properly to slice into it and enjoy!

Leftover Polynesian pork sandwich on my multigrain! Yum!