bouncy light wholemeal bread packed with seeds. How can this be?

 

 

 

 

 

When I first created this bread I wanted something packed with seeds and Omegas but also something that tasted good and was not akin to eating “knitted sandals” (complete with gritty bits). So after a fair bit of experimenting I have a bread that lasts days and days without going dry (helped by the oils in the seeds), slows your blood sugar spikes down, tastes great and has a satisfying “crunch” to it while all the time is not like chewing bricks.

Here is how I make it:

Ingredients

370g (faina integrala) wholemeal flour  and yes do use bio/organic
200g (faina normala) regular white bread flour which is quite high in gluten in Romania as its a hot sunny country.  I try to use the organic stuff too
100g (Seminte de In) Flaxseeds
100g (Seminte de Dovleac) Pumpkin seeds
100g (Seminte de Floarea Soarelui) Sunflower seeds
2 tsp (sare) salt
25g  (drojdie) fresh yeast (or dried and use according to the packet)
1 tablespoon olive oil or flaxseed oil or best of all hemp oil..put that in your pipe heh?
1 tablespoon treacle, carob molasses (sirop de roscova) or pomegranate molasses (sirop de rodie)
450 ml (apa)  warm water

 

 

 

Gadgets & Gizmos

I admit that I let my Kenwood do all the hard work kneading but if you don’t have a food mixer with a kneading attachment or a willing man with strong arms then use it to take out all your frustrations on (anger issues? this is perfect) and bash it and roll it and squish it till you are tired.  Then leave it to relax while you do the same but not so much that you cant form the loaves and bake them!  Fancy tins are nice but so are round balls “rustic style” on a tray.  Do oil the tins and trays/ use a combination of baking paper unless you want to spot weld your loaf to the tin.

How To

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water (mix boiling with cold and make sure you can hold your finger in it for 5 seconds or contemplate bathing a baby in it…not literally but you know what I mean)

Put all dry ingredients in the bowl

Pour on the yeast and water mixture and mix together with a large spoon (it makes the work of the food mixer easier)

Start kneading and knead until the dough is “elastic” and pulls away from the bowl – this can take quite a time. ITS IMPORTANT PLEASE KNEAD IT UNTIL IT GOES ALL ELASTIC. Its what makes the bread lighter with such a high level of seeds inside.

Leave to rise until almost double in volume – I like putting a damp tea towel over the top so it just touches the dough…when I notice the tea towel rising above the bowl rim it reminds me the dough is risen!

 

 

Shape into loaves – paint with eggwash and decorate – leave to rise another 30 minutes or so (it will depend on the humidity and temperature of your room).  Now the egg wash is quite important because it keeps the outside of the dough moist so no crust forms and constricts the rising, it is a handy “glue” for decorative seeds and it gives the bread a gorgeous mahogany colour

 

 

 

 

Bake at 250C for 18 mins.  Now if your domestic oven doesn’t go up to 250C put it at its maximum setting and bake a little longer.  When you take them out knock them on the bottom and they must sound hollow.  If its the first time and you are nervous then cut through and check – better to sacrifice aesthetics and have cooked bread.  If you have space put a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven – my oven is usually too crowded with loaves jammed in!

I am what I eat:

This bread has just about got it all: loads of omegas, fibre, vit E from the nuts.  I don’t eat a lot of bread but I do eat this.  If you want to lose a few kilos eat two slices of this every morning.  No “money back guarantee” of course but its really worth trying as it helps regulate blood sugar pretty brilliantly.