Many seeds bread – baking with Esmee
You kind of know my history with baking bread right? Well, it’s not as if I don’t try I want to immediately add but bread and me, seem to not be on very good terms most of the time. I love bread. I could exist on bread alone if that was ever needed (Not that I want to but I could…) I sort of messed up Esmee’s (from the Dutch blog Esfactory) rich man’s brioche before and Esmee, kind person that she is, offered me a fun one on one baking session at her home. Esmee and I had been chatting over twitter for quite a while now, getting along just fine, but we never actually met in person. Well, let me tell you; she is even more fun and lovely in real life than she is online! 🙂
Above all we had a lot of fun that day. We chatted almost constantly I think about everything and anything and in between there was some serious breadbaking going on. Well, quite frankly I just watched and asked a zillion questions but I loved the way that she approached baking. My kind of baking so to speak. After having followed a breadcourse, then going on a workshop at Levine and now watching Esmee bake bread quite effortlessly I think I am ready to try it again. What did we make? We baked two kinds of fougasse, one with olives and one with anchovies. The olive one nearly didn’t make it home, it was so good, but we had it for dinner that same night. The other one is in the freezer so I will not be able to tell you how that was before eating it. But that won’t be long!
We made walnut bread and hazelnut bread and I brought home a batch of dough for many seeds bread from one of the books of Peter Reinhart. And that is the bread I will be sharing with you later below. I haven’t eaten all of the breads as there was a grand total of 8 breads! Wow! Talk about production!! 🙂 One of the walnut breads is consumed and boy that was good too. While talking to Esmee, I finally admitted to myself that it is not so much the actual act of bread baking that I mess up, but it is my impatient manner. Bread baking takes time and a little care.
Levine had already shown me it wasn’t really all that scary but still… it helps to repeat matters doesn’t it? Plus I have to get some proper flour to bake rather then use all purpose flour, as that makes a big difference as well. O and for lunch Esmee made these delicious bagels! I will have to ask her for the recipe for that too, as I so want to try making those myself too. Hmm, I think we need to meet again.. 😉 Loved all the animals too, from the adorable slightly overactive Pumba, the pup (see him sitting in that chair below.. how hilarious is that??), the two cute kittens and the three older cats. O and let’s not forget the turtles.. 😉
Many seeds bread
Ingredients
- 638 g unbleached bread flour 5 cups
- 85 g whole wheat or whole rye flour 2/3 cups
- 56.5 g sesame seeds 1/2 cup
- 28.5 g sunflower seeds lightly toasted, 1/3 cup
- 28.5 g pumpkin seeds lightlly toasted, 1/3 cup
- 28.5 g flaxseeds 3 tbsp
- 17 g salt 2 1/4 tsp
- 14 g instant yeast 1,5 tbsp
- 56.5 g honey 3 tbsp
- 340 g lukewarm water 1,5 cup
- 170 g lukewarm buttermilk any other milk or yoghurt 3/4 cup
- Optional
- sesame seeds or poppyseeds for garnish
- Combine the flours, salt, seeds, yeast, honey, water and buttermilk in a mixing bowl. If you're using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.If mixing by hand, stir with a large spoon. The dough should be sticky, coarse and shaggy. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
- Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed or continue mixing by hand for 4 to 4 minutes, adding flour only as needed to keep the dough ball together, but making sure the dough remains soft and very tacky or slightly sticky. (if the dough is a little too stiff mix in a little more water) Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Esmee uses oil instead which will make sure you do not keep adding extra flour to the dough. Works fine I think! lightly knead by hand for about 3 minutes. Dough will be soft and slightly sticky but should hold together to form a soft, supple ball.
- Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days (if you plan to bake the dough in batches over different days, you can portion the dough and place it into two or more oiled bowls at this stage)
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours before you plan to bake. Shape the cold dough into one or more loaves.Brush the top of the shaped dough with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds (for a shinier crust and better sticking of the seeds, you could brush with egg white wash instead of water) Mist with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. let the dough rise at room temperature for 1,5 to 2 hrs, until increased to about 1,5 times its original size.
- About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 177 C or 149 C for a convection oven.
- Bake loaves for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan. Total baking time is 45 to 55 minutes for leaves and only 20 to 25 minutes for rolls, The bread is done when it has a rich golden color and the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom and the internal temperature is above 85 C in the center.
- Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes for rolls and 1 hour for large loaves before slicing and serving.
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
