No Knead Seven-Grain Bread with Spelt

I’m a little behind (again) on my bread baking for the HBinFive Baking Group.  I was supposed to make 10-Grain Bread for the May 1st Bread Braid, but I didn’t quite get to it in May so I made it for the June Bread Braid instead. 

I changed the recipe to suit the grains I had on hand. I didn’t have the 10-grain cereal mix the recipe called for, but I did have a mixture of seven grains in a bucket that I bought a couple of years ago.  I know, I have way too many grains.  That’s why I didn’t go out and buy the 10-grain cereal mix. Instead, I ground the 7 grains into flour and used the flour instead of cereal. I also used white spelt flour and whole wheat pastry flour instead of the white whole wheat bread flour and all-purpose flour.

I call my version, Seven-Grain Spelt Bread.  It’s a healthy no knead bread…easy to make and tastes good too.

 

Seven-Grain Spelt Bread

Adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

Makes: 2 Medium Loaves

Ingredients:

• 2 cups 7-grain flour (I milled my flour from a mix of 7-grains, but you can use a 5-grain or 10-grain cereal mix if you prefer)
• 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (I used the pastry-setting on my grain mill)
• 3 cups white spelt flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
• 3 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 to 2 tablespoons seed mixture for sprinkling on the top of crust (I used black & tan sesame seeds, poppy seeds, anise seeds, and sunflower seeds)

 

Directions:

1. Stir or whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a large bowl.

   

2. Add the water and mix with a spoon or Danish dough whisk until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.

    

3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a non-airtight lid, and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for approximately 2 hours.  During this time, the dough should rise and collapse (flatten on top).

    

4. Refrigerate the dough for 24 hours. You can use the dough after the initial rise, but it has better flavor and handles better if you refrigerate overnight.  You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

    

5. The next day, or on baking day, cut off 1-pound pieces of dough and shape into balls by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.  You may need to dust the dough and your hands with a little flour so the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers.  Let the balls rest on the counter for a few minutes then resume shaping.

    

6. Elongate the balls into ovals, then place the ovals into greased loaf pans. 

   

7. Allow the loaves to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap for about 90 minutes. I let the loaves rest until the had reached the top of the loaf pans. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

    

8. Just before baking, spray (or brush) the loaves with water and sprinkle the tops with the seed mixture.  Slash the loaves with 1/4-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated knife.  You can omit the scoring part if you like.

    

9. Bake the loaves for about 30 minutes, until richly browned and firm.

    

    

10. Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing or eating.

    

 

Enjoy!  This bread tastes really good with peanut butter and cheese – not at the same time of course. It also tastes good plain. The combination of the seeds gives it a crunchy and unique flavor.

 

Thanks for joining me in the bread baking blog. 

Happy Baking!
Cathy

 

About the HBinFive Baking Group

 

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.