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mom’s famous multi-grain bread

June 15th, 2011 · 14 Comments

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Today’s post is a guest post from Master Bread Maker and Dishing The Divine’s editor, Shirley Madsen (aka my MOM!). Please leave lots of comment love for her as she was afraid that people wouldn’t want to read her post! :)

Paula has asked me to submit a brief write-up on my special whole wheat bread recipe. As I am sure you all know, Paula is certainly capable of doing this herself, but she considers me to be the ‘real’ bread maker in our family. Indeed, I have been baking all kinds of yeast breads for over 30 years – ever since I tasted a slice of freshly baked whole wheat bread made by Paula’s Grandma Madsen in Iowa. I grew up on ‘day old cardboard tasting white bread’ and the only other kind of bread I was familiar with was Wonder Bread. My mom refused to buy Wonder Bread as she deemed it was too expensive. She knew that us seven kids would polish off a loaf or two of this ‘cake’ in a single sitting.

Here is my current favorite recipe for a multi-grain bread based on a Cook’s Illustrated version. I say current because I am always looking for new, improved recipes. Whole wheat purists can use all whole wheat flour but you will have to increase the amount of water by a few tablespoons as whole wheat absorbs more water than white flour. Your bread will be a little denser even when using vital wheat gluten.

This recipe makes two loaves. I cut the recipe in half as I prefer to bake a new loaf a couple of times a week. Breads containing whole wheat become rancid after a few days.

Note : I buy Bob’s Red Mill 6-grain hot cereal with ground wheat, rye, corn, oats, spelt, Kamut, and flax seeds. You can use your own favorite hot cereal (some include up to 9 or more grains) or just as easily make your own mixture using whatever grains you have on hand – Scottish oats, amaranth, oat bran, wheat bran, coarse corn meal, bulgur wheat . . .


mom’s famous whole wheat bread
from www.cooksillustrated.com
6 1/4 oz 6-grain hot cereal mix, 1 1/4 cups (see note above)
20 oz hot water (2 1/2 cups)
15 oz unbleached bread flour (3 cups), plus extra for dusting work surface
7.5 oz whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour (1 1/2 cups)
4 tbsp non-instant dry milk powder
4 tbsp vital wheat gluten
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted, slightly toasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, optional

Place cereal mix or grains of your choice in the bowl of a standing mixer and pour hot water over it.  Let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture resembles thick porridge, about 1 hour or as long as overnight.

Whisk flours, dry milk powder, and vital wheat gluten in medium bowl.

To grain mixture, add honey, butter, and yeast and stir to combine. Attach bowl to standing mixer fitted with dough hook. With mixer running on low speed, add flours, 1/2 cup at a time, and knead until dough forms a ball, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic and let dough rest 20 minutes. Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears sides of bowl, 3 to 4 minutes (if it does not clear sides, add 2 to 3 tablespoons additional all-purpose flour and continue mixing). Continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes.

Add seeds and knead for another 15 seconds. Transfer dough to floured work surface and knead by hand until seeds are dispersed evenly and dough forms smooth, taut ball. Place dough into greased container with 4-quart capacity. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray two 9 by 5-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and pat into 12 by 9-inch rectangle. Cut dough in half crosswise with knife or bench scraper. Shape loaves: with short side facing you, starting at farthest end, roll dough piece into log. Keep roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go then seal loaf by pinching seam gently with thumb and forefinger. Spray loaves lightly with water or nonstick cooking spray.

Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, 30 to 40 minutes. (Dough should barely spring back when poked with knuckle.)

Bake until internal temperature registers 200 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire rack before slicing, about 3 hours.

 

 

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Tags: breads · light · vegetarian

14 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Nicole@HeatOvenTo350 // Jun 15, 2011 at 8:07 am

    This bread looks just plain perfect. Thanks for sharing it, Shirley! Using a hot cereal mix is an ingenius way to get a good mix of grains into a wheat bread. I can’t wait to give this a try!

  • 2 LeAnn // Jun 15, 2011 at 8:19 am

    I’m so excited, I’ve been waiting for this post! It looks/sounds awesome. Gonna get myself to HH for some ingredients, and then this will be made! Thank you!

  • 3 Brant // Jun 15, 2011 at 9:05 am

    This bread is so good, you will never go back to buying the fake stuff!

  • 4 Jo // Jun 15, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    Mmm, love some Shirley Madsen bread :)

  • 5 natalie (the sweets life) // Jun 15, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    This looks wonderful! Nothing beats homemade bread!

  • 6 Caroline // Jun 16, 2011 at 4:23 am

    Beautiful, intelligent, informative, and eloquent post! I’ve been looking for a wheat sandwich bread recipe and I think this is it. Thanks for sharing!

  • 7 Amy // Jun 16, 2011 at 12:31 pm

    I love the step by step directions! Thank you, I will definately be giving this a try.

  • 8 molly :) // Jun 19, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Hi Shirley — Any ideas on what to use instead of the dry milk powder if we don’t do dairy?

  • 9 Shirley // Jun 19, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Molly, the multi-grain bread recipe by Cook’s Illustrated does not include milk or dry milk powder so feel free to omit this ingredient. The reason I add dry milk powder is that it gives a softer texture to the bread. You may need to add an extra tablespoon or so of flour. Instead of butter, another dairy ingredient, you can use vegetable/peanut oil or soy lecithin.

  • 10 Jessica // Nov 7, 2011 at 11:24 am

    Thanks so much! So great of you to share this all!

  • 11 Melanie Stallings // Dec 24, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Shirley, this sounds wonderful. The name is a bit misleading, though. I would have looked sooner if I had realized that it is a multigrain bread. I can’t wait to give it a try. I’ve got to find the vital gluten first. Thanks so much for sharing. I love to bake and would love to see more of the ‘real’ baker’s posts!

  • 12 Shirley Madsen // Dec 25, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    Melanie – You can make this bread without the vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten helps give breads using whole grains a bit of oomph so they rise higher. If you don’t have a store where you can buy small amounts of gluten, your best bet is to buy a package on Amazon. Local grocery stores carry vital wheat gluten as well – for a price:). I agree with your comment – this bread should be called multi-grain bread.

  • 13 Farah.F // Oct 13, 2014 at 12:37 am

    Hi, i was wondering if i could use ‘bread improver’ instead of vital wheat gluten? would that give a similar effect or no?

  • 14 Paula // Oct 13, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    @Farah – No idea! I have not heard of “bread improver” before. :) Worth a shot!

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