One of the most unfortunate trends of the last many years is that white bread is still more popular than whole grain bread. Refined flour has had the brown husk of the grain stripped away that contains most of the vitamins and nutrients. Without the fibrous husk, refined starches are broken down quickly into sugar and absorbed immediately in the blood stream. White bread is easier to digest but it leaves you hungry soon. Whole wheat bread or multigrain bread takes longer to digest, releasing energy slowly. This makes you feel full for a longer period, reducing hunger pangs. Plus, it has all the goodness of grains.
Making bread is easy. There is nothing that tastes better than a loaf of freshly baked bread.
I often make multigrain bread at home. My daughter loves to take it to school.
You can take flours of your choice.
Multigrain Bread
Ingredients- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup rolled oats (powdered) + 1 tbsp for sprinkling
- ¼ cup Raagi (finger millet) flour
- ¼ cup Soya flour
- ¼ cup olive oil (canola oil, sunflower oil or any other oil can also be used)
- 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup milk powder
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 cup water (quantity of water depends on requirement while kneading)
Instructions
- Mix yeast in the warm water and keep covered for a while. In about 15 minutes, it should become frothy.
- In another pan, mix all the flours, milk powder, salt and oil. Add honey and mix well.
- Now knead this mixture with the frothy yeast and water mix. If the dough feels hard, add more water gradually. I used local grains that kept absorbing water.
- Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. The dough should become soft and supple. It should not be sticky. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover the bowl. Let it rest for an hour or until double its size.
- Punch down the dough, knead again for 2 to 3 minutes. Shape into a loaf and transfer to a greased loaf tin. Cover, and let it rise till it becomes double its size.
- Shape the kneaded dough, place it in an 8 inches x 4 inches inch greased loaf tin. Cover the loaf tin and keep it in a warm place.
- Allow the bread to rise for an hour or until double.
- Brush the top with milk and sprinkle oats.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes. The top should turn golden and the container should sound hollow when tapped at the bottom.
- When done, remove from the oven and remove from the loaf tin after 5 minutes.
- Cool it on a wire rack. Slice when cold
Hi Namita, this is such a healthy bread and I am on a bread baking spree and love healthy recipe!! So this is book marked and will be tried soon! :) Will keep u posted on that... and thanks for dropping by my space. U got some treasureable recipes here :)
ReplyDeleteHey Namita... I am gonna make this today! :) I had one doubt, usually while baking bread, after the first rise, I punch down the air and then allow it to rise again a little before I shove it into the oven. Here I see you have not asked to punch down the air after the first rise? Is that the way it is to be?
DeleteHi Nandita,
DeleteI use instant yeast for breads. It requires single rising. Earlier i used to bake my breads with the "unpredictable" active yeast. For that, the dough had to be kneaded twice. If you are using active yeast, you will have to punch the dough after first rising and let it rise again before putting it in the oven. I hope this helps.
Best wishes.
Thanks Namita. I have already baked the bread and it turned out great! :) I use Instant yeast too, but always punch out the air after the first rise. This time I tried the method you suggested and I found some air gaps in the final bread(guess for me the punching in has to be done even with Instant yeast) and it was a little bit crumblier than yours.But hey, the taste was great... 4 slices have already disappeared :) I will post it soon and link it to this post of yours. Thanks Namita.. loved the bread! :)
DeleteThanks for the recipe Namits... posted it and mentioned you too :)
ReplyDeletehttp://nansyumyums.blogspot.in/2013/02/multi-grain-bread.html
Wow - this is amazing! I have always wanted to bake bread with atta. I live abroad, but I will eventually return and am constantly on the lookout for healthy baking that I can do with local ingredients.
ReplyDeleteIs there a particular brand of instant yeast that u use?
ReplyDeleteHi Chaitra, I use instant dry yeast. It comes in 500gms brick. There are several brands in the market. The one that I am using currently is "Prime"
ReplyDeleteI am happy that you are enjoying your bread baking.
We dont get instant dry yeast here...its active dry yeast.... proportion is the same or higher
ReplyDeleteHello, personally I would suggest that you go for instant dry yeast. It is very dependable. If you are using active dry yeast, then use the same quantity as mentioned in the recipe. You will have to proof it first. Here is a link that will help you understand working with yeast-
Deletehttp://www.melskitchencafe.com/tutorial-working-with-yeast/
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI do not have soy flour. Can I use ragi flour in its place, which means I will be doubling the amount of ragi flour. Would it alter any aspect of baking if I did that?
Hello, You may use any other flour in place of soy. You may use buckwheat flour also. You may use ragi also. The bread is a multigrain bread and tends to be a little dense. It is definitely a healthy bread. Happy Baking!
Deletenicely done
ReplyDeletethank you so much for the recipe :)
Thank You Disha :)
DeleteCan we use aashirwad multigrain aata instead of using different flours?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Archana. It would work well here.
DeleteNicely explained.
ReplyDelete