Multigrain Bread

I have always wanted to bake a multigrain bread loaf with various grains and seeds in it. I think I had baked a small sandwich log bread with ready made multigrain aata. As always I was browsing through various blogs and figuring out what all grains and seeds can be added to make your bread more nutritional and rich in fibre. Many were using ready made pack of 7 grain cereals or

10 grain cereals along with all purpose flour and some whole wheat flour.

I decided to use some oats, barley flakes, wheat germ along with coarsely powdered flax seeds, some white sesame seeds and melon seeds. Wheat germ is a good source of vitamin E, folic acid, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc etc. The resultant bread though a bit more heavier than usual breads, but is quite soft and fluffy with a beautiful nutty flavour. I loved the crisp n crunchy crust and the soft crumb. Though I keep telling all my readers to be patient and wait for 2-3 hours before slicing the bread, I couldn’t wait that long and I sliced one end to see the crumb texture after an hour 🙂 It tasted actually very good. Waiting to slice the loaf tomorrow morning and make some grilled sandwiches for breakfast. I am sure that this bread would toast beautifully. I shall now try to add some gluten free flours in my next attempt. Till then enjoy this recipe 🙂 For more bread recipes, please do click here. Do read this for better understanding of yeast and bread basics. As always I have used a 240 ml cup.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 200 gm
• All purpose flour 100 gm
• Salt to taste
• Honey 1 tbsp
• Oats 1/4 cup
• Barley flakes 1/4 cup
• Wheat germ 1/4 cup
• Flax seeds 2 tbsp
• White sesame seeds 1 tbsp
• Melon seeds 2 tsp
• Boiling water 1.5 cups (360 ml)
• Lukewarm water ~ 1/2 cup (120ml)
• Instant yeast 3/4-1 tsp

Method:

• Dry roast the flax seeds and grind it coarsely.
• Mix the oats, Barley flakes, wheat germ, ground flax seeds, sesame seeds, melon seeds in a big mixing bowl and pour around 1 1/2 cups of boiling water in it.

• Cover and keep aside till the grains and cereals absorb the water and become soft.

• Now add the whole wheat flour and all purpose flour to this mixture.

• Mix honey, yeast to one fourth cup water and add to the flour mixture.
• Mix all the ingredients and keep it covered for around 15-20 minutes.

• Add salt to the mixture and knead using the stretch and pull method.

• Drizzle oil in between and knead till the dough becomes soft, elastic and supple.
• Transfer the dough into a well oiled bowl and cover it. Allow the dough to rise to double it volume.

• Slowly punch out the gases and knead again for a minute.
• Meanwhile grease a bread tin with butter and keep it ready. I have used a 9 by 3.5 inches rectangular aluminium tin.
• Spread the dough into a rectangle using a rolling pin and roll it tightly into a log.

• Transfer the log into the prepared bread tin with the seam side down. Apply some water or oil or milk on top.

• Sprinkle some more nuts or oats on top.

• Allow the dough to double in volume.

• Towards the last few minutes of proofing, preheat the oven at 180-190 degree Celsius for atleast ten minutes.
• Bake the bread for around 45-50 minutes or till the internal temperature of the bread is around 100 degree Celsius.
• Remove the tin from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the tin for 4-5 minutes.
• Transfer the bread on to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
• You can smear the top of the bread with melted butter or oil.
• Cool the bread for atleast 2-3 hours before slicing.
• Enjoy these yummy n healthy multigrain bread either with a dash of butter or transform it intoa grilled sandwich 🙂 it’s gonna taste great either way.

Notes:

• You can replace the wheat germ with wheat bran or oats.
• I shall try more breads with Millet flours and update the blog.
• You can even add some cornmeal be to the dough.
• Pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, chopped cranberries etc too can be added to the dough.