4 seed bread

hee hee hee. such a rich, heavy and nutritous loaf!

you have to give credit to the guy (or gal) who thought of combining seeds/nuts into bread. the added dimensionality, bite and subtle taste transforms the basic bread into one hell of a nutritious meal!

there are so many variations you could do, depending on what's easily available. first time i'm trying this and i'm already thinking of other combinations. this is another "keeper" and i'm sure we'll be baking this from time to time!

• 4 cups of flour (since i like rye so much, i used 2 cups of rye + 2 cups of white)
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 1-2 teaspoon honey
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ~1.5 cups water
• 1-1.5 cups of seeds (your choice here)

i had some leftover poppy and flax seeds. so went to the store and, to keep the theme consistent, bought some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. so there are 4 types of seeds here!

combine them anyway you like. i had the poppy seeds soaked in warm water for 10 minutes first before adding to the other seeds.

there are 2 ways to mix the seeds into the dough. you could mix all up first, then pour in the yeast + water mixture. or you could add the seeds to a rather active dough which has grown considerably for an hour.

i prefer the latter as i like to knead the dough a little first. you know, make sure all the flour/yeast/salt is pretty well mixed up first. also, to let the yeast grow considerably first.

then spread out the dough (but not flatten), pour the seeds mixture and knead like crazy.

boy, this will be one wet messy dough. it won't be like kneading anymore but more like just stretching the dough. [if you are unsure whether your dough is too dry or too wet, err on the side of wet.] the seeds (especially the smaller poppy and flax) will be everywhere, sticking to your fingers as well. boy, they do have a knack of hiding in the space between your fingers.

but don't worry too much about this. let it be a wet messy mixture. after mixing them up for a few minutes, leave it aside and let the yeast work its magic.

an hour later, you'll find the dough has grown more and has "taken in" the seeds. now it'll be really easy to stretch or do whatever you want with the dough. the seeds won't fall out anymore. they behave!

such a heavy dough, it won't rise much, so forget about looking for big holes in your bread. in fact, it rises pretty slowly...

[i cheated here. i had to leave early so i had the oven heated up to 60 c, then switched off, and placed the dough inside. boy, in 20 minutes, it grew a lot!]

placed at the middle rack of the oven and had it baked 180 c (about 350 f) for 25 minutes.

it's a beautiful loaf and tastes fantastic! you could chew and savour every bite and taste.

i better stop here. got to take another bite!