How
to bake multi-grain bread
We
sell lots of multi-grain bread. No wonder. Bits of wheat, barley, oats,
and other grains make for great bread adding flavor, nutrition, and
a wonderful chewy texture. Now you can make your own multi-grain or
cracked wheat bread. It’s easy. Start with your favorite recipe
and alter it with a whole grain mixture. Here’s how.
A quick perusal
of your baker’s shelves will tell you how popular multi-grain
bread is. But it’s not hard to bake—you can make your own.
You can use any recipe and add the cracked grain mixture though traditionally,
a whole wheat recipe is used. The following instructions and recipe
will tell you how.
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With most cereal
mixes, 1/3 cup to 6 tablespoons of cereal per loaf is about the right
ratio. If you want soft cereal bits in your bread, soak the cereal for
an hour in hot water before starting the bread. It’s not necessary
but a nice touch. If you are baking bread in your bread machine on a
three hour cycle, the long cycle will tend to soften the grains without
pre-soaking.
Because both the
bran in the whole wheat and flour and the sharp edges of cereal tend
to cut the gluten strands as they develop, a couple tablespoons of added
gluten is a good idea. Always use a quality, high-protein content bread
flour. Your bread will never be better than the flour that you use.
