Healthy Multigrain Bread

We love home made bread and soups for dinner, that too during such mild winter nights. I have always wanted to try adding some millets in my bread, but was skeptical of the taste and texture. Unless and  until I get a green signal from my family (especially Neha), I can’t proceed 🙂 Finally, today I tried a small log bread with whole wheat flour, semolina, ragi (finger millet), jowar (sorghum) flour and oats flour. The health benefits of ragi, oats and sorghum is known to everyone, isn’t it? I have used the tangzhong method here. The cup used here is 240 ml.

Healthy Multigrain Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 100 gm plus 2 tbsp
• Semolina 100 gm
• Oats flour 25 gm
• Ragi 25 gm
• Sorghum flour 25 gm
• Salt to taste
• Honey 1 tsp
• Instant yeast 1/2 tsp heaped
• Red chilli flakes 1 tsp
• Garlic powder 1 tsp
• Onion powder 1 tsp
• Olive oil 1-2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves a small bunch
• Sesame seeds as needed
• Lukewarm water as needed
• Normal room temperature water 5 tbsp

Method:

• Take two tablespoons of whole wheat flour and mix it with five tablespoons of water at room.temperature.
• Make a smooth paste, without any lumps.
• Cook it on low flame in a sauce pan till its like a custard consistency. This is the tangzhong or water roux. 
• Cool it and keep it aside. You can cover it with a cling film while its being cooled, so that it doesn’t form a skin on top.
• If you have time or you want to check your yeast, dissolve it in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and add a teaspoon of honey or sugar and mix it well. Keep it aside for 10-15 minutes or till it is frothy. Or you can simply add the yeast to your flour.
• Mix all the flours, salt, chilli flakes, onion and garlic powder in a big mixing bowl.
• Add the tangzhong and mix well.
• Slowly add the water and start kneading.
• After kneading for 3-5 minutes, sprinkle some oil and knead again using the stretch and fold method.
• Continue kneading for some good 10-15 minutes till the dough becomes extremely soft, elastic and bouncy.
• Shape it into a nice ball and place it in a clean bowl greased with oil.
• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and keep it in a warm place till the dough doubles in volume. This might take around an hour or so depending on the temperature at your place.
• Once the dough is doubled, transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Punch out the gases.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle and sprinkle crushed coriander leaves on the surface. You can add cheese or any other herbs or your choice.
• Roll the rectangle into a tight log. I cut the log into half and made 2 breads. You can even shape it into a log and place it in a bread tin to make a loaf bread.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust it with some semolina.
• Transfer the shaped breads onto the baking tray.
• Smear the top of the bread with milk or oil and cover the tray with a clean tea towel.
• Allow it to rise fot 25-30 minutes.
• Towards the last 10 minutes, preheat the oven at 180-200 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Apply milk wash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

• Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and smear the top with butter.
• Slice and serve it warm with some garlic butter along with a bowl of piping hot soup.

Notes:

• You can try using any kind of millet flour. But use small quantities. Feel free to skip oats or any millet and use sane quantity of wwf or semolina or simply skip it and adjust liquid ingredients accordingly.
• I always Gloripan instant yeast in my bakes. It rises well and hence I use very less quantity of yeast.
• Incase you use Bluebird or Eagle or any other brands, please add little more yeast than mentioned in the recipe. With practice and experience, you will know for a particular amount of flour, how much yeast is required.
• To be very honest, if I am not in a hurry, I prefer very less yeast and longer fermentation. But if I am pressed for time, I add a pinch more or heaped measure of yeast to make things faster.
• So everything boils down to your experience and how well you know your yeast, your room temperature. Follow bread recipes only as a guideline. Use your intuition and bake. All the best 🙂