July 9, 2008

The Good Loaf

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lots of good stuff in this loaf

I have been baking our daily bread for almost a year now to avoid high-fructose processed sugar and other hard-to-pronounce additives. It is also a good way to have additional servings of healthy stuff like flax seed meal, wheat germ, and wholegrain oats to our diet. I also use raw sugar and grapeseed oil whenever they are needed. Flax seeds contain the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and according to the package can replace shortening or eggs in most recipes, the only downside is it can't be used in white loaves because the dough will become dark or will have dark specks. Since I usually bake whole wheat bread anyway I welcome the darker color of the loaf. The addition of oats makes the toasted slices very very crunchy. I love it for breakfast with just fruit preserves like apricot jam or Turkish figs while sipping a ginormous mug of coffee or milky tea. I will add quinoa flakes and chopped walnuts into my next loaves but for now my favorite is old fashioned oats. I tried to calculate the approximate nutrition value to determine the total carbs, fats, glycemic index, protein, etc so that I can post the Nutrition Table but I still have to figure out how to do it.

Whole Wheat Loaf
makes two 8 x 4 loaves

2 cups fine-ground whole wheat flour
1½ cups stone-ground graham flour
2 cups bread flour
¼ cup flax seed meal
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 packet instant yeast
2 tablespoons fine raw sugar
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
¼ cup non-fat milk powder
2 cups water, at room temperature
1 whole egg, at room temperature
water and extra oats for topping
  • In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix the whole wheat, graham flour, yeast, sugar, milk powder, and salt. Slowly add water while mixing at low speed, mix for 1 minute. Add egg, oats, wheat germ, and the bread flour ½ cup at a time. The dough will be a bit sticky. Mix at low speed for 2 minutes. Remove paddle attachment and replace with dough hook. Knead at low speed for 5 minutes. Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with a plastic film. Leave to rise on the kitchen counter for 1 hour.
  • Punch down to release gas and divide dough into two. Shape and place in the loaf pans. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise on the kitchen counter for 1 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush tops of loaves with water. Sprinkle oats on top of loaves, pressing them lightly. Bake for 40 minutes or until tops are golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Remove loaves immediately from pans and transfer on a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing.

the buns look like potatoes:-)
I made the other half of the dough into a dozen buns. They are so good filled with cheese pimiento or kesong puti (farmer's white cheese).

it's very crunchy when toasted, good with homemade apricot preserves
and your favorite cup of tea or coffee


7 comments:

Chibog in Chief said...

our thoughts are really connected these days..for i bake some bread yesterday too LOL i love home-bake loaves they are always better than the one we buy from groceries :-) my slice i would probably put some nutella hehehe

Oggi said...

Dhanggit, I think I can afford to smear Nutella on mine too as I already lost half of the weight I recently gained.:D

Lori Lynn said...

So photogenic and satisfying to the soul your perfect loaf of bread!

Cute breakfast china too!

Oggi said...

Lori Lynn, thanks!:)

Jen said...

I wish I dared bake my own bread. Scared of bread baking. :)

Oggi said...

Jenny, it takes a lot of practice but you'll get there.:)

Anonymous said...

Re: Nutrition labels: Visit the URL: http://caloriecount.about.com/foods
where you can find a button to create your own recipe, and after your finish it will show you a nice Nutrition Label. Besides listing the ingredients, you need to specify how many servings the recipe makes. For bread, I might divide the total weight of the ingredients by about 35 grams per slice, for instance, or whatever number of grams you usually get when you slice the loaf!

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