Multigrain Bread

This recipe came to me from my sister Erin, and she got it from her mom Peggy (or bonus-mom to me), and she got it from Cook's Illustrated, April 2006. I was always quite afraid of making bread, but this is an easy recipe to follow.

I make this bread just about every weekend. I haven't bought a loaf of bread in a very long time. It freezes very well - just wrap up the loaf good and tight in plastic wrap when you freeze it, and then let it defrost on the counter when you are ready to eat it.

This recipe was meant to use a KitchenAid mixer and is one of the main reasons why I got a new one for my birthday this year.

So - are you ready to make bread? Then let's go. Oh - and this makes 2 loaves.

1 1/4 cups 7-grain hot cereal mix
2 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat white flour (I actually use whole wheat flour)
4 Tbsp honey (to make it slightly sweeter for a good breakfast toast, double the honey. Duh - I'm gonna double the honey then.)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp salt (I use Kosher)
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

Here's the cereal I use. I have trouble finding the same brand each time. Both of these work well, and I've been known to mix brands also.


Put you cereal in the KitchenAid mixer and pour the boiling water over it. Stir it up and let it rest until the mixer cools to 100 degrees - or about 45 minutes to 1 hour later. The cereal should have soaked up most of the water - like this:



Stir in the honey, butter and yeast.

Oh, the yeast used to scare me too - so many kinds available. Here's what I use for this recipe: (UPDATED TO SAY: Peggy called me this morning to say that this is not the right kind of yeast to use - it should be instant yeast as indicated in the ingredients. However, this yeast has been working for me -I've used this for the last couple of times I baked the bread.)


Now, with your bread hook, add the flours (your supposed to whisk them together first, but I never do this). Knead until dough forms a ball, about 2 minutes. Cover and let the dough rest for 20 minutes (I just take the bread hook off and let it sit in the bowl with the dough and cover the entire bowl).



After the dough has rested for 20 minutes, add the salt and knead on medium until the dough clears the side of the bowl for about 3-4 minutes. You will most likely need to add flour at this stage. Just add it 1 tbsp at a time. I probably end up adding 4 tbsp or so. Continue to knead for 5 minutes.



Place dough in a greased container and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled, 45 minutes to an hour. My house is always so cold (on purpose) that I will often turn on my oven, and then turn it off after 1 minute and put the bread in there.

Here's the dough in my greased container before it has rested for 1 hour.


And here it is after 1 hour. My how it has grown!




Spray two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans with nonstick spray.


Place your old-fashioned rolled oats (Oatmeal) onto a plate. I just dump a bunch onto the plate - I don't measure this.


You are supposed to take your dough to a floured surface and flatten dough into a rectangle shape that's roughly 12 by 9. Divide dough in half, and then roll it into a log.


I, being the lazy person that I am, the one who doesn't want to have to clean a floured surface later on, have figured out a way to skip this step too. I divide the dough in half in the bowl you see above, then I take one half and work with it in the air - stretching it out - the way you would handle pizza dough. When I have a rectangle shape about the same size as my loaf pan, I roll it up tightly. I then take that dough and roll it around in the oats and then put this in the loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining dough.


Here's my two loafs ready to do their second rise.


Cover both pans lightly with plastic wrap and allow them to rise another 45 minutes to 1 hour.


After the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 375 and bake for about 30-40 minutes. My oven takes about 32 minutes.


Remove the loaves from the pan and allow to cool.


Here's the finished loaves.


And here's a slice - YUM!!




I know it looks like a lot of steps for this - but it really is pretty easy. If I can do this - you can too! Enjoy!

UPDATE: If you like this, be sure to try the cinnamon swirl bread.