Friday, July 3, 2009

Mom's Amazing Seed Loaf

My mom (hi Mom!) sent me this recipe for the most delicious (and healthy!) bread. It's basically a white loaf except for the hefty dose of Red River Cereal, which adds a nice big dose of fiber to every slice. I only made one modification, which was to add some lemon juice. It was an experiment that paid off, as I'd heard that lemon juice is an excellent dough conditioner, and yields a fluffier, tastier loaf.


You can shape it either in loaf tins or freestyle, as I did. The inside crumb is light and soft, despite being so good for you. This might be an excellent bread to use to introduce a reluctant seedy-bread eater to the fold.


You need:

6 c all-purpose flour
2 c Red River cereal (I imagine Sunny Boy would also work)
3 c boiling water
1 tbs sugar or honey
1 tbs salt
4.5 tsp yeast
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs butter, for brushing on after.

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cereal and the boiling water. Let sit 20 minutes, until the cereal has cooled and absorbed much of the water.

2. Add 2 cups of flour and mix, then add the sugar, salt, yeast, and lemon juice. Make sure the mixture is not hot (warm is ok) otherwise it'll kill your yeasty-beasties.

3. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time and knead for 10 minutes.

4. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise about 45 minutes.

5. Shape into two loaves and let rise again for 40 minutes. If you shape them freestyle, slash them with a sharp knife just before baking.

6. Bake for 35 minutes at 400ºF. When done, remove and brush with the butter. Your house will smell like heaven.


Edit: Here is a shot of the crumb:



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8 comments:

  1. Lemon juice is a dough conditioner? Seriously? I had no idea.

    Those loves look absolutely delicious. And they look a lot like loaves I've paid very good money for from Paradise Bakery. I'll definitely be giving this recipe a try!

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. try again..
    Ascorbic acid, in tiny quantities, is a dough conditioner. However, precise measurements are difficult becuase the effects of the ascorbic acid are complex.

    Putting lemon juice in your can't do any harm, and it *may* have a beneficial effect. However, I'd think that other gross factors, such as flour quality, mixng time and technique, and fermentation times would outweigh any possible benefits of lemon juice.

    Then again, I was wrong, once.

    Saludos,
    Don Cuevas

    PS: CI Darling; why can't I go back and edit my post after previewing? I haven't seen this type of rather cramped comment form on Blogger before.
    In fact, it's so cramped, my text disappears off to the sides. By the time I get to read it, I've forgotten what I wrote.

    Now, where is that infernal SUBMIT bitton??
    DC

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  4. @ Don Cuevas -
    I'm not sure about the comments - I'm just using the default blogger html for comments and it doesn't happen to me... could it be your browser?

    Thanks for all your comments!
    The lemon juice trick I heard of on the back of a bag of flour, actually - I don't know if that changes your mind at all. :)

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  5. That bread looks so good. I like all of the bits in them.

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  6. oh! i want to make this so bad, but i live in the U.S. and have no idea what a good sub for red river cereal would be. :(

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  7. @ Rean - can you get Sunny Boy cereal?

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  8. I just ordered six boxes of the stuff from--amazingly--someone on Ebay, and it came to only about $27 including the shipping! That's the best deal I've seen in the states, by far...I'm just going to store the boxes in my freezer until needed. Yum!

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