Crazy whole grain/seed breads
I love any bread, I really cannot stay away from a loaf when I cook it. I was born and raised in Italy (in Milan and mostly on different type of white breads) but I live in US. While in College, I used to go skiing in Alto Adige (Italy North East German speaking region) and...the breads there are out of this world. I have incredible memories of Strudels and bread of any shade of brown, seeds and grains...I would love to find more information on fool proof multigrain/seed breads (maybe a good book) and find recipes already tested...Yes, there are plenty of recipes on the web but...this is a very knowledgeable forum and I think it might be less troublesome to find recipes here.
I know other Nordic EU countries have their own version of multi seed/grain breads...the more the merrier.
Thanks
Where can I find the recipe?
It sounds like we may have similar taste. I love breads that are dark, dense, flavorful, and varied. The Rye Baker is my favorite baking book.
A super favorite around here, although only 25% Whole Grain flour, but 34% grains and seeds is Hamelman's Five-Grain Levain. It is worth a try if you use a sourdough starter.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/59038/community-bake-hamelmans-fivegrain-levain
i also love hamelman’s five grain sourdough; great suggestion.
a seeded bread (also sourdough) that i make about once a week is this one:
https://breadtopia.com/seeded-sourdough-bread/
i’ve been substituting 20% stone ground wheat or spelt for some of the bread flour; i think you could increase the amount of whole grain if that’s more what you’re after.
the recipe is very flexible for seed substitutions: i add anise seeds to the combo in the recipe. i’ve also done pumpkin /sunflower/chia seeds (toasting the pumpkin and sunflower seeds) and that is great as well. the only constraint i’ve found is that the chia seeds are necessary: they make a gel when soaked and that makes a huge difference to the dough behavior and final crumb of the bread.
hope that helps!
-c
I cannot have white flour in US. I am doing well with a whole wheat freshly milled (locally) and einkorn flour but I found very difficult to translate white flour recipe into my flour preferences
I make this nearly every two weeks, and it comes out great every time. I personally like a pretty high ratio of seeds to flour, but the amount can be adjusted to taste. The key is to give bulk ferment enough time. The weight of the inclusions and whole grains can bog things down time-wise. I don't really use the fermentation jar anymore either since I've made this so often. It's easier to tell now by looking when it's time to shape the dough and park it in the fridge. I prefer the method outlined in the recipe over the slap and folds mentioned elsewhere. The intensity of that process (and mess) never seemed to result in any better bread or crumb for me, so I'm happy I found something that works for a heavy seeded loaf with a respectable percentage of WW in the mix.
I've gotten better crumb since switching to a larger DO than when I baked the loaf in these photos (linked below)--I think this loaf actually hit the top of the clay baker I was using. I'll try to remember to circle back to this post with some more current photos when I bake again this weekend.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69097/seeded-loaf-successfinally