To make the multigrain bread, I substitute 25% to 50% of the flour with other grains or bran. I’ve substituted up to 100% of the flour but I prefer 50%. You can substitute 1 cup of flour with ¾ cup of any other flour and ¼ cup gluten. I have used oat, rye, spelt, kamut, rice, potato…. I didn’t like the taste of sorghum. The spelt and kamut are wheat. They have a different gluten which is more extensible. Mixing some spelt or kamut with regular flour makes for lighter breads particularly when using a lot of bran. It’s a 1 to 1 substitution.
I use a high gluten bread flour that is untreated. It bakes into a honey color on its own. When I add a lot of extras to the dough, I blend in some Italian 00 flour to help carry the load. Alternatively, I use a food processer to make the extra stuff smaller so it is easier for the gluten to lift it. I keep various bran types, ground flaxseed and wheat germ in the refrigerator, tightly sealed in a French canning jar.
Here is the simplest mix. It makes a whole grain bread that doesn’t look much different than what we can buy.
-Mix 1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill 10 or 7 grain Hot Cereal, ¼ cup wheat or corn bran, ¼ cup oat Bran, ½ cup of ground flaxseed. Add boiling water and stir. Top with about ½ inch of boiling water and let the mix absorb the water as it cools. It can be prepared a day ahead and left in the refrigerator O/N. You can substitute the hot cereal with bran.
-If you want to make a starter, mix 1 cup of flour with enough water to make a very wet dough and add 1/8th to ¼ of a tsp of yeast. I use SAF yeast that I keep in the freezer. 1lb lasts me > 2 years. Let the dough rise and feed it more flour 1 to 3 times as time permits. I start it the night before if I don’t already have a culture growing.
- To make the dough, mix the cooled bran/cereal with 1 cup buttermilk, ¼ cup olive or wheat germ oil, the starter and ½ tsp more yeast. If no starter, add 2 cups of flour and 1½ tsp yeast. Mix well with a spoon and add ¼ cup gluten and mix again. Optional: Add 2 Tbs wheat germ and ½ cup of whole flaxseeds that were soaked in water for at least 1 hour. Let the dough sit for about ½ hour to an hour. The dough should be fairly wet. Add more buttermilk if needed.
-Add ½ cup raw sunflower seeds, and ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds. Knead the dough adding more flour as needed until elastic. I use my stand mixer. I add flour slowly until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but still sticks to the bottom. This will be a wetter, stickier dough because of the fiber content. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and rub the surface with a little olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cotton towel. You can let it rise at room temperature but if you have time, stick it in the refrigerator and let it rise slowly overnight. You’ll get better flavor and better nutrition if you give the yeast time to break down the carbs.
-To shape the bread, split the dough into two. Punch it down pressing gently but don’t knead it. Flatten into a rectangle and roll from the narrow side like a wrap. Pinch the seam to seal it and tuck the ends in and pinch them tight. You can put it in a bread baking pan or leave it on parchment paper to rise free form. If the dough was in the refrigerator, take it out about one hour before shaping.
-Preheat the oven to 450oF. Slash the top of the dough across the width in 3 to 4 places about 1/3rd of an inch deep. Wet your hands and put a thin layer of water over the surface of the dough. You can also brush it with water, half&half or an egg wash but I just use wet hands to cover it.
-Bake for 15 min at 450oF and then lower the heat to 350. Continue baking until the temperature inside the bread reaches 200oF (about 15 to 20 minutes more). I use a thermometer and punch a hole in the bread to get the reading.
-There is no salt in this bread. Yeast doesn’t like salt. The only white powder I add is a pinch of vitamin C when I remember. It protects the dough during kneading.
To add more protein and fiber:
-substitute 1 cup of flour with an equal mix of soy and corn flour, or 1 cup cooked quinoa or millet, or 1 cup of garbanzo flour/potato flour or mashed potatoes, ½ cup of sesame seeds (only use the hulled ones). You can also add pureed lentils or dal. Adding some bean to grain improves the amino acid profile, so does a long fermentation in the refrigerator. Use soy and corn together to make a complete protein. Always wash quinoa well before cooking because it has a soapy substance on the surface that needs to be removed. I usually soak it and millet for few hours in water before rinsing and cooking. You can also add cooked whole berries (wheat, Rye....)
-I substitute 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of corn resistant starch which is the easiest way to add soluble fiber. This is not corn starch. It comes from a variety of corn that was hybridized specifically to make the starch hard to digest by humans but perfect for the bugs in the GI track. This is the substitution I always make for our diabetic friends.
-I add 2 Tbs of ground psyllium fiber when I have about 50% other flours to help support the structure of the dough. Adding too much psyllium turns the dough into glue.
-I like it toasted smeared with a bean dip or hummus.
It takes less hands-on time to make it than it took me to write it. I put a lot of details just in case you don't make bread on a regular basis.
