multigrain bread with rosemary

The past two weeks have just sped by and the house felt a bit empty after I dropped U. off at the airport this morning.  Having her here felt like life coming full circle from over twenty five years ago, when I was just a bit older than her and had gone to Germany for a summer internship in a lab where I became friends with her mom A.  It was the first time I was away from home and A. took care and guided me throughout my stay and we have been dearest friends since.  I often look back fondly on those days of traveling through Europe after my internship, with a Eurail pass and all my belongings in a backpack, staying in youth hostels, meeting wonderful people, the kindness of strangers and the sheer beauty of the land.

When U. came here, we had made a list of all the must-do things which she wrote down in her neat handwriting and although we could not put a check mark against all the items, we got pretty close. We also had fun looking at old pictures and had a good laugh at skinny me with my owl-shaped glasses and her mother’s penchant for pink 🙂  I was telling her how we used to first go to a bakery early in the morning and pick up some bread or rolls before heading to the lab and a long discussion on breads in different countries led to us planning to make a good homemade bread.

This bread is the coming together of two of my favorite ones – the Multigrain Bread from America’s Test Kitchen and the Rosemary-Walnut from Cooking Light.  I have made them separately many times and they have always worked.  I followed the same recipe for the Multigrain bread which makes two loaves and also added some rosemary and chopped walnuts along with some flax seeds to the dough, and topped the loaf with a mixture of flax, sesame and raw pumpkin seeds.

Rosemary has such a heady aroma and I love it in bread. The whole house is enveloped in its fragrance when the bread is baking.  This one rises beautifully and is really soft and great for paninis or dipped in soups.  Granted that it is not 100% whole grain but still a healthier option to white bread!

We had it for dinner with some vegetable soup and then as sandwiches with hummus and veggies the next day.  Now that the weather is getting cooler and it is almost soup season again, I hope you try baking this bread to go with your soup!

Multigrain Bread with Rosemary

Printable recipe

(Very slightly modified from America’s Test Kitchen)

1 1/4 cups of 7-grain hot cereal mix

2 1/2 cups boiling water

3 cups all-purpose flour ( I used King Arthur Flour, unbleached)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat (I used King Arthur Flour, organic)

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 1/2 tsp instant yeast

1 tbsp salt

3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds ( I used 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/8 cup flax seeds and 1/3 cup chopped walnuts)

1/2 cup old-fashioned or quick oats to coat the top ( I used equal amounts of pumpkin, sesame and flax seeds to make about 1/3 cup)

Add the hot cereal mix to the bowl of a stand mixer and pour the boiling water over it.  Let it rest for about an hour, until it looks like thick porridge (Stir occasionally).

Mix the flours in a medium bowl.

After an hour, once the cereal mixture has cooled, add the melted butter, honey and yeast and mix.

Attach the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  With the mixer running on medium low, add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time and knead until dough forms ball.  Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 mins.

Add the salt and knead on medium-low until the dough clears the side of the bowl.  (I needed to add about 5-6 tbsp more of flour to get to that stage and the original recipe mentions you may have to do that).

Knead for another five minutes, add the seeds and knead for another minute.  Transfer dough to a lightly floured suface and knead by hand until the seeds are well dispersed and the dough forms a smooth, taut ball.

Place dough in a well-greased, 4 qt bowl and let rise, covered for 45-60 minutes until doubled.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F and grease two 9×5 loaf pans (I used an 8×4 pan for one loaf and shaped the other half like a boule).

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and pat lightly into a 12×9 rectangle.  Cut the dough in half crosswise with a knife or bench-scraper to give two 6 x 4 1/2 rectangles.

Roll the dough like a towel or for cinnamon rolls from the 6-inch side and pinch the seams.  Spray or  very lightly coat the dough rolls with oil.  Put the oats on the counter and gently roll the dough rolls in the oats or the seeds.

Transfer to the coated loaf pans and let the dough rise, covered with a greased plastic wrap, until doubled for 30 to 40 minutes (The dough should barely spring back when pressed with a knuckle).

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  This bread has quite a good oven spring and will rise some more in the oven.  The original recipe says that the bread should bake until the internal temperature registers 200 degrees F.  It took me almost 50 mins but your oven might be different.

Remove loaves from pan and cool on wire rack for about 3 hours before slicing.

 Enjoy!

* The cereal mix looks like large grains of sand and you could try making a mix of your own if you cannot find this one.

This link has some good pictures of the recipe.