more grains! more seeds!

bread with grains and seeds is fast becoming a favourite here. it's nutritious, packed with fiber and because we use so much grains/seeds, it screams "premium". you know for sure it can't be store bought as it's just too expensive to do it commercially.

baking this bread was very eventful too. more on that later.

first of all, i bought this "organic ancient grain mix" by radiant whole food from hock choon. the description on the package says

"ancient grain mix is nutritious and has not undergone modern technology of hybrid nor genetically engineered. grown mainly in the andes in south america, africa and central asia, ancient grains can be referred as "super grains" or "mother of all grains"."

interesting eh? i can't vouch much for the above as i have not been around for THAT long ok? but this package is said to contain organic buckwheat, organic millet, organic quiona and organic amaranth.


spot the grains!

can you identify which is buckwheat, millet, quiona and amaranth?


neither could i!

well, i know buckwheat is the largest fella in the group. millet is the tiny yellow colour grain. not sure about quiona and amaranth though.




let's face it, these grains are generally nutty flavour... like wheat and rye so they don't stand out in your bread. so for added flavour, fun and texture, i mixed in sunflower and pumpkin seeds (bought from bake with yen).

• 4 cups of bread flour (i used 2 white + 1 wholemeal + 1 rye. going all out for grains.)
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 or 1.5 cup of grain mix (here we have buckwheat, millet, quiona, amaranth, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds)
  
• adequate amount of water
  

as before, boil/simmer the grain mix for about 5 minutes to soften them up first. soaking overnight doesn't soften them enough.

i'll advise to stir in the grain mix into the flour first. i didn't make an attempt to drain them dry and just let the flour soak up the excess water. after i mixed in the yeast mixture (i used dry yeast so if you use instant, your procedure should be different from mine), then i mixed them up well and only added water as required.

then knead as usual until you get that ubiquitous "dough feel" --- smooth like a baby's bottom but yet a little sticky.

then we wait!

however, this time my "waiting" period got pretty eventful. i waited for 4 hours but the dough hasn't risen much. it did a little but too little. as it was already 10.30pm and i was already feeling sleepy (i have no idea what i did the whole day), i thus put the dough into the fridge for a slow slow rise. after all, slow rise makes better bread.

i woke up at 2.30am (body clock has gone all haywire), took out the dough (hasn't risen much either) then waited for it to rise. while waiting, i read paulo coelho's the alchemist, a book recommended by a friend. so who says men can't multi-task?

5am and still the dough looks the same to me! alright, time for "dough express"! heated up the oven to 60c and put in the dough. 6.30am, still the dough looks the same.

it is then i realized something is SERIOUSLY wrong. SERIOUS.

i recalled the last few bread baking sessions... they worked but the dough was having trouble rising and i had to resort to "dough express" couple of times. the only possibility is the yeast is bad...

well, i bought a packet of instant yeast a week ago so seems like this is the time to salvage my dough!

mixed a teaspoon of instant yeast into 3 tablespoons of flour + water. then spread out flat the "almost dead" dough and spread the new yeast mixture on the dough as evenly as possible. then roll out everything like a swiss roll. knead for a few minutes.

put back oven and set to 60c again.

2 hours later... signs of life! the dough has risen somewhat.

so proof the dough, and let it rise for another 2 hours. then bake!

so what's the conclusion here?

reading is not recommended while baking bread?

i think you need to take care of your yeast. for this new packet, i took out aboout a quarter and stored in a small jam jar. the rest, i packed it nicely, sealed it into a plastic bag, then kept it in the freezer.

i doubled above recipe. so about 2 cups of flour per boule.
(i onced baked without dividing into smaller boules. the bread looked impressive but the center was gummy. so go for smaller boules.)

we ate one. gave 3 away to friends and relatives.

no wonder everyone loves us!

whole lot of fibre!

i was at the market and came across this stall where this young chap was selling lots of grains. most interestingly, he also sells this "10 grain mix", supposed to be very nutritious, full of fiber etc.

well, i can't help it so had to take a look. the 10 grains are... barley, oat, quinoa, buckwheat, flax seed, sunflower seed, millet... and 3 other types of which my poor memory couldn't grasp. 

hmm... very interesting indeed! so i bought some and said to myself, "this makes excellent bread"!

now, you are supposed to soak the grains over night before you include them into your bread dough the next day but i wasn't keen on waiting, so i had the grains (about 1 cup) boiled/simmered in hot water for about 5 minutes.

now, if you don't do this, you'll be in for a culinary adventure! every bite could potentially damage your tooth! if you are keen on this sort of "fun", go ahead!

[actually on another occasion that i did this bread, i tried the "soak overnight" method. the grains didn't soften enough, so i recommend the boiling/simmering.]

to have more fun, i used rye flour, so that's 11 type of grain! and if you include the white whole wheat flour, that makes it 12!

• 4 cups of flour (i used 2 cups rye + 2 cups white)
• 1 tsp yeast
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup stout + adequate amount of water

i used more honey here as since the dough will turn out dark (thanks to rye), might as well make it darker!


i added in stout as i just love rye + stout.

beware that this is a very heavy dough. the usage of rye only makes it worse. this dough needs PLENTY of encouragement. don't be suprised if it needs 4 hours to rise appreciably. if you can't wait, heat your oven to 60c and put the dough in. that's bread making the express way!



if you are short on fiber, it doesn't get any better than this!