If you know me, you probably know that my favorite flower is the sunflower. It’s tall (like me), bright yellow and creates delicious seeds… and these are only a few of the many wonderful things about them. I love to … Continue reading
Just to give you a sense of how good this stuff is, I made it on Sunday and it was gone on Tuesday… and we didn’t share any of it. If Cracker Jack and Mrs. Claus had a baby, … Continue reading
There is a bread overload in our home! We have loaves left over from a few days ago, this new loaf I’m going to tell you about, and now I have my first ever wild yeast sourdough starter.
Mmmmhm, I harvested wild yeast. How cool is that?! I’ll most likely post a sourdough recipe this weekend, so if you would like to join me in sourdough heaven, the starter recipe is:
4 cups AP flour
4 cups water
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp honey
Mix all of these together and your should get a floury slime. Cover the bowl with a basket or lid with small openings or holes. You want the natural yeast in the air to get in, but not flies and dust. Now all you have to do is wait. About 3 days until the mixture starts to bubble and smell like beer. At that point you can use it immediately then store the rest. Then once a week you feed it a little flour and water – even if you haven’t used any. Although the “mother” (as some bread bakers call it) is very difficult to kill, you need to make sure it is fed properly, like a new little pet! This guy explained everything to me.
Now on to the healthy choice – multigrain. This bread has got everything, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, molasses, whole wheat… It makes a darn good PB&J too.
The recipe is adapted from the Willam-Sonoma cooking essentials cook book.
The flavors in this bread are really different than anything I’ve had. The molasses and toasted seeds bring some smokey-earthiness, but the bread itself is really fluffy. I feel like I can go back to this recipe over and over for typical weekday toast, sandwiches and snacks.
Multigrain Molasses Loaf
1 1/2 cups milk (I did half milk half water and everything worked out perfectly)
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (one package)
1 egg, separated
2 cups AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted (I added flax seeds and sesame seeds as well)
save some seeds and oats for garnish on the top of the loaf
First heat up your milk and molasses to about 105 degrees, stir to combine it and add the yeast. Allow this to sit until its all nice and fluffy/foamy and add in the egg yolk.
In a large mixing bowl with a dough hook attachment (or a nice big bowl, a wooden spoon and your hands) combine flours, oats, salt and seeds. Then pour in the yeast mixture.
Add AP flour as needed to create a soft sticky dough. With a mixer the kneading will take 6-8 minutes, by hand it will take about 10 minutes. You’re looking for a sticky dough, but not super-sticky-gooy-hands status sticky. More like… Used name tag sticky.
Put the dough ball in a greased and covered bowl to rise for about an hour.
BAM!
Now grease a standard 9 X 5 loaf pan, beat down and knead the dough a bit to get all the air out, form a new, smooth ball and plop it in the loaf pan to rise another 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and beat your egg white during this time.
SHABANG!
Now swipe on the egg wash, sprinkle with leftover seeds and oats and pop it in the oven for 40-45 minutes. When you knock on the bottom and it sounds hollow, its done. Let it cool in the pan for a bit, then take it out to cool completely on a rack.
Slice it for a hearty, healthy sandwich or cover it in peanut butter for a filling breakfast.
Throwback kitten picture day! Wasabi discovering ice cubes…
ohdearbaker.wordpress.com 