1/4 c Water
-(at 105 degrees)
1/3 c Turbinado sugar
-(most any sugar will
-do, though)
2 pk Yeast (dry), active
1/4 c Butter
1/4 c Shortening
1 1/2 c Water
1/2 c Milk
1 lg Egg
1 c Dry milk, non-fat
1 1/2 ts Salt
1 1/2 ts Honey
1/8 ts Cinnamon, ground
1/2 c Rolled oats
1/2 c Cornmeal
1/4 c Bran
1/4 c Cracked wheat
1/4 c Buckwheat
1/2 c Soy flour
1 c Rye flour
2 1/2 c Whole wheat flour
3 c White flour
Butter
Melt the shortening and the butter. Let them cool a bit, so as not
to kill the yeast when they are added to the dough. If you want to
scald the milk, do so, and also let it cool (it is common practice to
scald milk before baking with it, though I never do.)
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the 1/4 cup of lukewarm water.
Mix the cinnamon, oats, corn meal, bran, cracked wheat, buckwheat, soy
flour and rye flour. Add the rest of the water, the milk, butter,
shortening, egg and honey, and mix well. Stir in the dissolved yeast
mixture. Mix in the salt and the whole wheat flour.
Stir in the white flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until the mixture is
stiff enough to knead. You’ll probably have about half of it left.
Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, onto a floured surface. Knead
the dough, adding more white flour as necessary to keep the dough
workable. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about ten
minutes. It’s okay if you end up using less than or more than the
three cups of white flour; just use whatever it takes.
Put the dough back into a bowl that’s been very lightly greased. Let
it rise, covered, in a still, warm place (around 85 degrees F. is
best, though room temperature will work) for 45 minutes, or until it
has doubled in bulk.
Punch the dough down, divide in half, shape into loaves and place
each half into a loaf pan which has been very lightly greased. Let
rise again, for another 45 minutes, in a still, warm place, until the
loaves have about doubled in bulk.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. as the bread finishes rising.
Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped.
Remove from the loaf pans and rub the top of the loaves with some
butter to give them a nice, soft, chewy crust.
NOTES:
* A 7-grain bread for toasting or eating plain — This bread was
first made from whatever was settin’ ’round the kitchen when I
started baking. It has a wonderful texture and flavor. Yield: 2 large
loaves.
: Difficulty: moderate.
: Time: about 3 hours (half of it rising time).
: Precision: approximate measurement OK.
: Alan M. Marcum
: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, California
: sun!nescorna!marcum
:
Yields
2 loaves