On my quest to bake every variant of bread that I can, I wanted to bake up a nice big loaf of multigrain bread. My husband always wanders towards those short, hefty loaves coated in seeds and oats at the grocery store, so why not make one myself, right? I will be honest… I am much more of a light and fluffy white bread type of girl. I love Japanese Milk Bread and Brioche and am not a huge fan of picking seeds from my teeth after morning toast, but I am open minded and love to try new things, so today I am baking up a loaf of multigrain bread. I did some research on the different ways to go about creating your own healthy loaf and I felt that a compromise could be struck between the typically dense multigrain bread and a softer sandwich style bread and this is what I came up with…
I did need to take a trip to the grocery store to gather some of the ingredients for this bread. Although I used your standard all purpose flour, I did need to procure some multigrain cereal and various seeds. As many of you know, the grocery stores aisles are a little light right now, so I went with what I could find. I grabbed some country style muesli, whole flax seeds, poppy seeds and I knew that I had black sesame seeds in my pantry for when I make naan bread. I felt confident in the amount of grains and seeds that I had gathered and headed home.
The first step is to bring some water up to a rolling boil. I just turned my tea pot on, while I gathered everything else up. You will need 4 cups of all purpose flour and 1 more cup of all purpose flour in a separate bowl reserved for later. You will also need 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 packed tablespoon of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. There are no eggs or butter in this bread. Last, but not least, you will need one packet of rapid rise or instant yeast. You can use active dry with this recipe, but at the moment, instant is much easier to find, so I based my recipe around instant yeast.
To get started, pour two cups of boiling water over 1/2 cup of muesli and whisk it a bit. Now this is going to look like way too much water, but we are using the hot water to both soften our muesli and to bring together the rest of the ingredients. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes. We will be adding the yeast in next, so the water temp needs to come down to around 100-115 degrees so it doesn’t kill our yeast. If you have a thermometer, pop it in after 15 minutes and check the temperature. Mine was all the way down to 100 degrees at 15 minutes.
Now that the water temperature is where we need it, add the packet of yeast, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tightly packed tablespoon of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt and whisk to combine. Start adding the flour in a little at a time. I scooped in about 1/2 cup or so and whisked, another 1/2 cup and whisked… and after about 3 cups of flour, the dough started to come together and I switched over to a silicone spatula for the rest of the mixing.
Once all of the flour has been added, mix until everything is fully incorporated. You should have a damp dough that is smooth, but speckled with muesli. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside for about 20 minutes.
After the 20 minute nap, transfer the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it by hand for 3-5 minutes. Add more flour, about 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is sticky. You are done kneading when the dough is soft, no longer sticky and feels elastic.
Shape the dough into a round loaf and place it into a large oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and allow it to rest in a warm place for 60-75 minutes. As with most bread doughs, you are looking for the dough to double in size by the end of this resting period. Once it is sufficiently rested, transfer it back onto a floured work surface and gently roll it out into a long oval with a wide rolling pin that has also been floured.
Roll the dough up as you would a cinnamon roll, starting by rolling the short side farthest from you towards you. Once the entire loaf is rolled up, transfer it into a buttered 9″x5″ bread pan seam side down. If you want your loaf to be extra beautiful, dust some of the seeds along the sides of your bread pan prior to placing the dough in. The seeds will stick to the butter and will bake into the exterior of your bread. I love the way it looks…
Cover the bread pan with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Just a little warning… this bread can get really puffed up during this final rise. Don’t worry, it will all stay where it should be! Before you bake the bread, brush it with some egg wash (1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water whisked together until smooth) and sprinkle more seeds over the top.
Bake your beautiful loaf on a middle rack at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. After the first 25 minutes, cover the top loosely with tin foil to prevent the top crust from becoming too dark. Your bread is finished when the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees and it sounds a bit hollow when you knock on the top. Transfer the bread in the pan onto a cooling rack.
Once the loaf has cooled enough to remove it from the pan, place the loaf directly onto the cooling rack and allow it to cool fully before slicing. This bread smells so good! Earthy and hearty and just perfect for toast or a nice sandwich. You can store it at room temperature in an airtight container. I use a cake stand with a heavy glass lid to store my fresh soft breads and they stay good for several days… if they last that long!
I hope you enjoy this bread and make a big beautiful seed covered loaf up for yourself! Enjoy!
Multigrain Bread
Ingredients
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, tightly packed
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup muesli (with or without raisins)
- 1 packet of yeast (rapid rise or instant)
- 1 teaspoon whole flax seeds
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (black or white)
- 1 teaspoon poppyseeds
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
Instructions
- Combine 1/2 cup of muesli with 2 cups of boiling water in a large bowl and allow it to sit for 15-20 minutes or until the water temperature is between 100-110 degrees
- Add in the yeast, olive oil, brown sugar and salt and mix to combine
- Gradually add 4 cups of flour, mixing as you go, until a smooth, soft dough forms
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes
- Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 3-5 minutes, adding additional flour if the dough is sticky, until you have a smooth, elastic dough
- Transfer the dough into a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and rest in a warm place for 60-75 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size
- Transfer the dough back onto a floured work surface and roll it out into a large oval
- Roll the dough up as you would a cinnamon roll, starting at the short side and working your way towards you
- Prepare a 9"x5" bread pan by spreading 1 tablespoon of softened butter all over the interior of the pan
- Lightly dust the buttered pan with half of the seeds
- Transfer the rolled dough into the bread pan, seam side down
- Cover the bread pan with a kitchen towel and rest for 30 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- Once the dough is big and puffy, brush the surface with egg wash and sprinkle to remaining seeds over the dough (you can also add a bit more muesli over the top of the loaf too)
- Bake on a middle rack at 425 degrees for 45 minutes
- At about 25 minutes into the bake, loosely cover the loaf with tin foil to prevent additional browning
- The bread is done when the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees and the bread sounds hollow when knocked on
- Transfer the bread in the pan onto a cooling rack for about 5 minutes
- Once the bread can be touched, transfer it out of the pan and directly onto the cooling rack
- Cool the bread completely before slicing (about 1 hour)
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container