Homemade Multigrain Bread

For this week's What's Cooking Wednesday I am making homemade Multigrain Bread from my new baking book, "The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book". And, for your viewing pleasure, I have taken lots of pictures of all the steps. Actually, this wasn't to make it any easier for you to follow along with the recipe as much as it was to try to sneak in shots of my Brand New KitchenAid Artisan Mixer (insert Tim the Tool-Man Taylor gruffing ape noises here). Yes, I finally got my mixer and, yes, I do love her. I haven't gone as far to name her...but I do walk by and pet her on the "head" every once in awhile. She sure is pretty. But, anyway...



On with the recipe!



Ingredients:

1. 1 cup seven-grain hot cereal mix (Red Hill is recommended)
2. 2 cups boiling water {For an accurate measurement of boiling water, bring a full kettle of water to a boil, then measure out the desired amount)
3. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing
4. 3 tablespoons honey
5. 2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour
6. 1 cup whole wheat flour
7. 1 envelope instant or rapid-rise yeast
8. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
9. 1/2 cup unsalted pumpkin or sunflower seeds
10. 1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick-cooking oats

Directions:

1. Stir the cereal mix and boiling water together in a medium bowl and let stand, stirring occasionally, until the mixture resembles a thick porridge and is just warm (about 110 degrees), about 30 minutes. Stir in the melted butter and honey.

1. Combine 2 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, and salt in a standing mixer (like a lovely white Brand New Artisan, perhaps) fitted with the dough hook. With the mixer on low speed, add the cereal mixture and mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.




2. Increase the mixer speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding the seeds during the final minute of mixing. If after 4 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/2 cup flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but sticks to the bottom.




3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.






4. Grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gently press it into a 9-inch square. Roll the dough into a tight cylinder and pinch the seam closed. Place the loaf, seam side down, in the prepared pan. Mist the loaf with vegetable oil spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size and the dough barely springs back when poked with a knuckle, 45 to 75 minutes.

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the loaf lightly with melted butter, sprinkle with oats, then spray lightly with water. Bake until golden and the center of the bread registers 200 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the loaf halfway through baking. Cool the loaf in the pan for 15 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, before serving.

Results:




This was the first loaf of bread I've made that actually worked! I was so excited. It was a bit of an all-day affair (with all the waiting around for it to rise, etc.), but it wasn't really very much work at all. And, the house smelled mah-velous! I did cook it with the oven rack on the lower-middle position -- and the bottom of the loaf came out a bit burned. So, next time I would raise the rack probably for about the last 15 minutes of cooking time. And, I didn't have a pastry brush so I just kind of mushed the butter on top of the bread with my fingers and, as you can see, the oats didn't stick on to the top very well. I don't know if the pastry brush would have helped them stick better(?). But, the bread did taste very good. I mean, it is multi-grain bread so don't go expecting melt-in-your-mouth, buttery, fluffy, homemade white bread kind of a thing...but if you like multi-grain (and we do) it is very good.

But, more importantly...
isn't my mixer pretty?