Thursday, February 28, 2013

My Private Blend 7 Grain Bread


I'm a bread snob.  
There I said it.  
Really it's true.  
I make bread at least twice a week.  
I have 5 kids and get to make 5 sandwitches every school day.  
Plus we eat French Toast, toast-milk-and-sugar, garlic toast, and just plain old bread and butter regularly.  
That equals a TON of bread.  
I guess you could say my family is spoiled.  They only prefer my bread too.  
We got some free recenly that someone gave us, the expensive kind with all kinds of crazy stuff in it, and my kids asked when it was going to run out so I could make them my bread again. 
 Really. Scouts Honor! 
We also sometimes bring the bread to church for the sacrament.  
Everytime more than one person tells me that they knew it was mine.



I just looked through my blog post list and found no fewer than
17 different bread and bread-ish recipes.
Ok so why am I telling you all this? 
 Because this bread is my new favorite. 
 That's saying alot!
Since I discovered Buckwheat, I'm addicted.
 I love the amazing flavor it adds to your food and 
the nutritional benefits are just Awesome!  
The original recipe came from Shar's, and while it's a good whole wheat bread, 
it was a little dense and didn't really stand out to me. I needed to put my own spin on it. 

So here's my new favorite bread.  I hope you love it as much as I do!

Here's my private grain blend:
2 cups hard white wheat
2 cups hard red wheat
1 cup soft white wheat
1 cup kamut
1 cup spelt
1 cup buckwheat
1/2 cup quinoa

The only thing that could boost this nutritional value would be to sprout it.
I will do that soon, but I needed bread right then and didn't have time.

Pour all of this into your grain grinder and grind it up.  It makes a beautiful flour that is soft and light.
These three are what I call my triple threat.  
It greatly improves your whole grain bread so it's soft, light, and not like a brick.  
Eww.  I don't need to waste all that whole grain goodness on a door stop.
All right.  All the preliminaries are done.  Let's make bread!
7 Grain Bread

In your Bosch mixer,
(If you have a Kitchen-Aid, 1/2 the recipe)
put the following:
6 cups warm tap water
2/3 cup applesauce
2/3 cup honey
3 Tbsp Dough Enhancer
3 Tbsp Vital Gluten
3 Tbsp Potato flour

3-4 cups fresh ground whole grain flour
3 Tbsp yeast


Mix and let sit for about 5-10 minutes.
This is usually when I put my ingredients away.

Turn mixer on and add flour one cup at a time until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl.
Put the lid on and mix for 6 minutes.

Open bowl and add:
2 Tbsp salt
More white flour if needed to get right consistency.

Put lid back on and mix for another 2 minutes.

While it is mixing for the final 2 minutes, get out your bread pans and grapeseed oil.
Since this is whole grain bread, you don't need to let it rise twice. 
Yeah!  I'm all for homemade bread quicker!
Spray your pans with cooking spray.
Drizzle counter with grapeseed oil, (olive oil would also be a good option).
Turn dough out on oiled surface.


Divide into 4 pieces.
Shape into loaves and place in your bread pans.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise.
It takes about 25-35 minutes.


When the dough is about 1/2 to 3/4 inches above the pan edge,
preheat oven to 400 degrees.
When the oven is ready, remove the plastic wrap and place pans in oven.
Drop temperature to 325 degrees.
Bake for 33 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on wire racks.
I brush the tops with shortening and let cool.
Store in airtight bread bags.
I usually keep 2 out and 2 go in the freezer.
Since I make this with applesauce instead of oil, 
while it greatly decreases the fat content,
 it does shorten the shelf life.  
Not like that would ever be a problem at my house, 
but if you have a smaller family and don't eat much bread, 
keep the one you are eating in the fridge, and put the rest in the freezer.
I either take it out the night before to defrost, 
or stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes.


Time to make sandwiches again.
Look at all that whole grain goodness in a light super yummy bread!
If you try it, I hope you will leave me a comment to let me know how it turned out. 

 I'd love to hear from you!







2 comments:

  1. What is the difference in flavor of the red and white wheat?

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    Replies
    1. Hard red is more protein dense and makes a heavier bread. Hard white is a mix between hard red and soft white. For a long time I only use hard white because it makes a much lighter loaf, plus I didn't know much about all the different types of grains. I don't think there is much difference in taste, just the density of the bread.

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