I'm practicing a few recipes. This multigrain bread recipe is from www.cookingbread.com with a few slight modifications. It's very dense and hearty. The recipe includes whole wheat flour, cracked wheat, flax meal, steel-cut oats (which aren't flat--they're like an oat kernel), molasses, and buttermilk. You have to make a starter the night before and also soak the whole grains to soften them. The sponge smells delicious and is slightly sticky when you knead it up.
It turned out pretty well, and smelled great baking, except I didn't let it bake quite long enough. Many bread recipes say to bake until the loaf sound "hollow" when tapped. I find that pretty ambiguous. It's really hard to tell sometimes until you cut into it. My last loaf I slightly over-cooked. So, it's still slightly dough-y in the middle, but tasted really nutty and rich and yummy. Especially warm and slathered with butter.
It makes two loaves, and I tried to make a "boule" out of one--it didn't work too well. You're also supposed to brush it with egg white before baking, so I brushed one loaf and skipped the other to see the difference. The egg white makes it nice and brown and glistening on top. Also, interestingly, you're supposed to put a cast-iron skillet in the bottom of your oven and pour boiling water in it as you bake it, to create steam. I gave the bread a nice chewy outer layer.
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