I
love bread. I love mixing it, kneading it, baking it, smelling it and
eating it. Again, I love bread. This is one of my favorite breads.
It comes from the book
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by
Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois (2009). I love the book, but I
do want to say there is nothing 5 minutes a day about it. Their idea
is that it takes 5 minutes of
active time, however, don't think
you can get home from work, spend 5 minutes and have it in and out of
the oven in time for dinner. It takes a good 90 minutes to rise and
then 40 minutes to bake, that is after you've mixed it and let it rise
for 2 hours and sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
Now, don't let my
rambling scare you off from this recipe. It is great to put together
on a Saturday and then bake on Sunday, and Monday, and Tuesday, and
Wednesday. It makes 4 loaves ( I usually bake two at a time). You can
half the recipe, but trust me you will want all four. The idea is you
mix together a batch of dough and it lasts in the fridge for 7 days,
and some recipes in the book up to 2 weeks.
This loaf is a dense
whole wheat loaf with millet and dried fruit. I change up the dried
fruit depending on what I have in my pantry and that depends on what is
on sale. I love this toasted and a smear of cream cheese sends it over
the top. Did I say this was
so good?
The directions are
long, but really it doesn't take that much time to put together, the
long part is giving it the time to raise.
Toasted Millet and Fruit Bread:
adapted from
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois (2009)
Makes enough dough for at least five 1-pound loaves. This recipe is easily doubled or halved.
1 cup millet
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. granulated yeast, or 2 packets
1 1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
3 3/4 cups lukewarm water
3 cups mixed dried fruit (I used cranberries, cherries, apricots, and dates)
1. Mixing and storing the dough: Before mixing, toast the millet in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring and shaking
constantly
until it turns golden brown. Whisk together millet, flours, brown
sugar, yeast, salt and vital wheat gluten in a 5 quart bowl, or a
lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Add the water and fruit and mix without kneading, using a spoon, a 14
cup food processor (with dough attachment), or heavy-duty stand mixer
(with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of
flour to incorporate if you're not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature
until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2
hours.
4. The dough must be refrigerated for at least
24 hours before use. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight)
container and use over the next 7 days.
5. On baking
day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flower and cut off
a 1-pound (grapefruit size) piece. Dust with more flour and quickly
shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to
the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarte-turn as you
go. Because of the millet and drid fruit the loaf will never be
perfectly smooth.
6. Elongate the ball into a narrow
oval. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a
pizza peel prepared with flour or lined with parchment paper for 90
minutes. I use a non sided cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal to
aid in sliding.
7.
Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. with
a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler
tray on any other rack that won't interfere with the rising bread.
8.
Just before baking, use a pasty brush to paint the top with water.
Slash the top with 1/4 inch deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread
knife.
9. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone
(or slide the parchment paper and dough onto the stone). Pour 1 cup
hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door.
Bake about 40 minutes until richly browned and firm. If you use
parchment paper, you want to peel it off about 2/3 of the way through
baking.
10. Allow to cool before slicing, if you can. I always mangle the first loaf because I can't wait for it to cool enough.
This
book and the first book by these two authors are great books if you
like bread. There is a recipe for a pumpkin pie brioche that I make for
Thanksgiving dinner, and a whole wheat baguette we eat almost every
week. I have both books and use them about once a week.
November 10 Daylight 6 hours, 53minutes, 29seconds current temp. 18ºF
Grandma Stejer holding my mom on the Montana Ranch (about 1938).
