The Suburban Foodie

Bread!

I've been looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend day to bake some bread, from scratch, but since I have a three-year-old, a nice, quiet weekend is pretty much a pipe dream! I bought all my ingredients weeks ago, in anticipation of some fun, old fashioned bread baking, and could not stand looking at them (the ingredients) one more minute, as they beckoned from the counter top! So, I finally just DID IT and baked my first loaves of homemade bread in probably 15 years! I used to have a bread machine, and pretty much killed it by making so much bread. Then, there was a dry spell, where supermarket bread was sooooo much more convenient. Then, I took an EXTREMELY LONG maternity leave from work (it's been three years...) and have been baking and cooking up a storm!

I must thank Erin at www.houseonhillroad.com, whose blog I've been following for a while. She posted this bread recipe on Pinterest, and felt I could trust her judgement! The original post is from Sara at www.ourbestbites.com. Her photo-filled tutorial REALLY helped me out!

Multigrain Bread

1 1/4 cups seven-grain hot cereal mix

2 1/2 cups boiling water

3 cups all-purpose flour (not bread flour)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup honey

4 Tbl. unsalted butter, melted and cooled*

2 1/2 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 Tbl. salt

Optional: 3/4 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds (I opted out)

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats

*If you're using salted butter, just decrease the additional salt by just a bit.

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 and resembles thick porridge, about one hour. Whisk flours together in separate bowl.

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 cohesive mass starts to form (1 1/2-2 minutes); cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes. Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears sides of bowl, 3-4 minutes (if it does not clear sides, add 2-3 tablespoons additional all-purpose flour and knead until it does. Don't add more!) continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes. Add seeds (if using) and knead for another 15 seconds. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead by hand until seeds are dispersed evenly and the dough forms a smooth, round ball. Place dough in large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 45-60 minutes.

Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and divide in half. Press one piece of dough into a 9 x 6-inch rectangle, with short side facing you. Roll dough toward you into a firm cylinder, keeping roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Turn loaf seam side up and pinch it closed. Repeat with second piece of dough. Spray loaves lightly with vegetable spray. Roll each loaf in oats to coat evenly and place seam side down in prepared pans, pressing gently into corners. Cover loaves loosely with greased plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size; 30-40 minutes. Dough should barely spring back when poked with knuckles.

Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until loaves register 200 degrees (check by poking with thermometer); 35-40 minutes. Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool for five minutes. Remove loaves from pans, return to rack and let cool to room temperature, about two hours, before slicing and serving.

The bread can be wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. Wrapped with an additional layer of foil, the bread can be frozen for up to a month.

*For those without a stand mixer, stir wet and dry ingredients together with a stiff 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, to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter. Proceed with recipe as directed.