Makes six 10 grain and then some seeds bagels!

Yeasty mixture
1/2 Tablespoons Natural cane sugar
3/4 to 1 Cup Warm Water
1 and a smidgen teaspoon of yeast

Combine all three of the above ingredients in a glass and stir. Leave till you have the dry mixture ready.

Dry Mix
1 Tablespoon Natural cane sugar
1 Cup All purpose flour
1 Cup White Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Mixture of Sesame Seeds, Flax Seeds and 10 grain cereal mixture
1 Tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten
1 Teaspoon Sea salt, coarsely ground

Stir the dry mix till everything is well combined, then slowly add in the yeasty mixture while stirring with a wooden spatula till everything is combined and the dough is not dry and not overly tacky. Additional water may be needed depending on the amount of 10 grain mixture or seeds used. Everything should be off the walls of the mixing bowl and bottom when properly hydrated, it should all be collected on the dough ball when thoroughly mixed! Only slightly tacky, not sticky though.

Now flour a work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes until you achieve a slightly tacky dough ball and proper gluten development. Adding more flour if needed as you go.
After the gluten is developed and the dough is ready, prepare a bowl by slightly oiling it and place the dough in the bowl covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place in a warm area and allow to rise for one hour. The dough will not have risen the amount you would expect from a loaf of bread but it should have risen slightly after one hour in a moderately warm area. I placed mine under my sink, but if you have steam heat in your house (like mine), on the metal radiators would be an excellent place.

Now, preheat your oven to 425 degrees and bowl a large pot of water. While the water is boiling, make six balls of dough from the original dough and place on a cooking sheet with parchment paper on top. Take one ball of dough at a time and either; roll the dough into a snake shape long enough to fit over the palm of your hand and overlap the other end of the dough by an inch and half and proceeded to roll the dough on a moist surface till the bagel is connected at the joint. Then place the bagel on the parchment paper covered with a towel and repeat until all six bagels are formed. Or alternatively, take a dough ball and slowly poke a hole in the middle of the dough. Now using your thumb and index finger work out the hole by stretching and gently pulling the dough to form a larger hole thus creating a traditional bagel shape. Either way, repeat until all bagels are formed.

Once the water is boiling and the bagels are shaped, place two bagels in the pot and boil for about one minute then flip each bagel over and boil for an additional minute. Carefully remove the bagels with a slotted spoon and place on the baking sheet, at this time feel free to add a topping to the bagel by sprinkling, well, on the top. Cover with the towel and repeat for the remaining bagels.

After the bagels are boiled and topped if desired, load them into the heated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes paying attention to make sure they do not burn. The bagels will be done when the reach a light brown color around the tops. You will most likely be cooking near the whole time.

I found this article on whole grain baking to be of interest and am guessing that others may also find it so.

Jeff

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11food-t.html?_r=1&hpw

Anyone have a good online source for whole corn? I've tried Pleasant Hill and Wheat Montana. Amazon has some 25 pound bags for $400+, which makes me think that the corn has been gold plated first...

I tried popcorn, but it's too wet (Retsel w/ steel wheels).

Thanks!

Loyd

With the kids home for the summer, I pretty well abandoned my bread baking/learning routines but school is coming and I'm ready to get down to it again.  Meanwhile I got some birthday book money (the only way I get to buy books these days) and am looking to order two books.  Trouble is, there are four on my list. I'm hoping you folks can help me.  Which two would be the best combination for a wanabe whole grain bread/sourdough bread baker?

Peter Rinehart's Whole Grain Breads

Peter Rinehart's Bread Baker's Apprentice

Dan Lepard's Handmade Bread

Mark Hammelman's Bread

Recently since college started up again I've been having little time to get all the baking in that I would like to! Work's keeping me busy as well and it's driving me insane having to look at those artisan loaves and pastries by Zingermans every single day, but between work and school I did manage to refresh my starter and give it a whirl with my now favorite loaf, Hamelman's Whole wheat levain from Bread.

I followed the recipe almost exactly but instead of using standard whole wheat bread flour by KAF, I used KAF White Whole Wheat flour and proofed it in my banneton with AP flour. The result was one of my best loaves yet, since I believe I am finally figuring out my archaic oven and maybe, just maybe figuring out the stretch and fold method as well.

And then just this morning before work I baked my version of Reinharts Whole wheat sandwich bread from the Whole Grain Bread book.

Results were wonderful!

All in all I think I am learning to key to my archaic oven.

Hi,

I've been trying out Rinhardt's whole wheat recipe for a hearth bread.  The whole process seems to work

according to plan but at the end in the oven I'm not getting much of an oven spring.  The bread in fact barely

rises.  It's flavor is ok but just doesn't have the height that I'm seeing in the photos on this site for people

who have tried his bread  or the photos in his book.  I wonder why.  I'm not having any trouble getting a rise

during fermentation.  It's just the oven spring that isn't working out.  Any ideas?  I have tried to use both

Reinhardt's hearth oven cooking method, and I have also used a cloche, without producing different results.

I think I've found one of the greatest sandwich breads ever in this recipe! It's soft and delicious with a crispy crust, it takes hardly any time to make once you've soaked your beans, and it's a high protein bread with all the nutrients found in pinto beans.

I found a Pinto bean bread recipe on the Idaho Bean Commission website: http://www2.state.id.us/bean/recipes/getrecipe_action.cfm and I tweaked it a bit to use weight measurements instead of cups and to use instant yeast instead of active dry. I also added another proofing step and changed the flour ratios a bit. That website has more recipes for beans than you could ever imagine possible!

Anyway the bread came out better than I could hope. I think it's become my new sandwich favorite. It has a delicious flavor that only slightly reminds me of beans (although a bean flavor wouldnt have put me off - I love Pinto beans) and is very soft and springy. And I'm always trying to get more protein into my diet.

The Bean commision put nutritional values on their recipe page for a "serving's" worth of bread. I assume they mean per slice, since the values look comparable to those per slice for other breads. They will be slightly different now that I've fiddled with the flour ratios, but then, the recipe was hardly precise to begin with since the flour was measured in cups and the number of cups was not specific.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this bread as much as I have!

I did a free form loaf as well as one in a loaf pan.

Ingredients: 
430g warm bean water (that used to boil the beans)

36g honey

41g vegetable oil

473g cooked Pinto beans, pureed

12g sea salt

7g instant dry yeast

300g whole wheat flour

473g white flour

Preparation:

Soak your Pinto beans overnight and then cook them in a pressure cooker till they can easily be smashed between the fingers. Save the water. Remember that the beans will be much heavier once they are soaked and cooked, so be sure to prepare enough. After the beans are cooked, put them in a food processor and mix till fairly smooth.

Mix warm bean water, honey, oil, bean mash and salt in a large bowl; mix well. Add yeast.
Add wheat flour and enough of the white flour to make dough stiff but slightly sticky to the touch. Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until it passes the window pane test.

Place in an oiled bowl and let rise till three times its original size, about 1 hour. Turn out onto work surface and shape into loaves or place in loaf pans; let rise until double (about 30 minutes). Bake at 350F (175C) for 50 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf is firm and sounds hollow when tapped.

Nutrition Information

Amount Per Serving

Cals: 183

Total Fat: 2.8g

Cholesterol: 0

Sodium: 65mg

Total Carb: 33.7

Dietary Fiber: 6.5g

Sugars: na

Protein: 7.2g

You can see the little bean skins add an interesting look to the outside of the loaf.

Crumb shot - very moist and shiny.

ready to be eaten - yum!

For months I have been trying to decide on buying a good quality grain mill and grinding my own fresh grains. I really don't want to buy what I can purchase easily locally, but we live in a rural area and it's a drive to a decent store that carries Organic. Jmonkey, Bill Wraith, Proth5 and many others have raved about how much better their fresh ground organic flours are. Today I baked up my first batch of Organic  Fresh Ground 100% WW bread. I used Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads Master recipe.

I'm still a little cynical about all this Organic and fresh ground stuff so yesterday I made a batch of the same recipe using Bob's Red Mill Stone Ground WW, which has been my usual WW flour. I was able to save half the loaf to compare with todays results. The bread was delicious on its own.

Today I used the flour I received from Country Creations mail order flour service. The price is right and due to a regional shipper I got the flour on my door step in 2 days for less than I would pay at TJ or Whole Foods. Rhonda took my order and ground the 2 bags I bought that day. The product is slightly grainy instead of the silky smooth KA brands but I think is fine for my use. I got good gluten development in the short mixing time and a nice rise during my over proofing :>(.

My family was asking what is in the oven since the aroma was stronger than my usual breads. The house filled with a rich wholesome aroma I have not experienced prior. When the loaves came out of the oven I was really surprised at the wonderful smell. I have always expected this kind of aroma but never experienced it. Knowing how much of our taste comes from sense of smell, I have high expectations.

Finally the taste test. My wife had been gone and so she was able to objectively try both versions and pass judgement. The overwhelming consensus is that the fresh ground is way better tasting and smelling.

So, I'm sold. Country Creations has a wide variety of the products I like to use and their prices are more than fair. To me it's a bonus that her farm is Certified Organic and also the taste test winner. It's a win win situation for us.

On another thread several members are discussing the changing flour situation and how hard it is to get a straight answer from TJ's. The Whole Foods is a huge place but they don't move that much product so I question how fresh it is, plus it is priced at double what I paid through these folks. I can't think of a reason not to support the small farmer/mill. Hey, it's Earth Day right? I'm taking a stand!

Eric

I was distracted and this got over proofed, sorry.

I have a friend from Liverpool who loves to visit Ireland when he journeys back home.  He speaks fondly of a dark, whole grain bread he enjoys there that is popular in Dublin.  As he describes it, it is a yeast bread that is only mildly sweet.  I've searched for "Irish bread recipes" to no avail... Does anyone have any ideas?

Hi all,

I've just borrowed an original copy of the Laurel's Kitchen Break Book and I was wondering if anyone has a personal favorite from this book they can recommend?

Thanks!