Chickadee,Granary is the trademark owned by Rank Hovis Mcdougal of their malted grain flour.

Other millers make a similar flour with whole crushed malted grains but are not allowed to use the Granary name. in England what is known as a Hovis loaf is a brown loaf made with refined flour and added wheatgerm but not from Granary flour.Apart from the crushed malted grains  i think Granary also has added malt powder.Hope this is useful athough it doesnt help you find a supplier in the States.

Thanks for the info, motherspride. I have not had Hovis bread for many years, so my memory of it may not be quite accurate, but I do remember it as being a small brown loaf & very tasty with a nutty flavour to it. Are you writing from England or North America? If you're on this side of the ocean (I am Canadian) have you ever come across a supplier of a flour similar to Hovis's  Granary flour? Or is there someone else out there who might have a lead.

I do make a brown loaf that is very similar to Hovis, but I have for years been looking for Hovis bread tins that when the bread is baked in these tins you get the Hovis impression on the loaf......

 I finally had some luck and managed to buy a couple of Hovis two lb loaf size tins, also then  some body had seen my request for Hovis tins and very kindly sent me a couple of 1 pound tins, both arrived last week. This was my first attempt to use tins, I can see now that I need a little more home milled flour, also to bake a tad longer

 to emphasize  the name a little more.This is for my own enjoyment that I have the right tins,,,, ;-)))))qahtan

Aren't you the lucky one!!! They are beautiful. Even if you didn't bake bread they would be fun to have as a kitchen decoration. Was your loaf a recipe you devised or is there somewhere I might find it? Where did you purchase the tins?

Interesting question. This page has some info that might be of use. It seems to be a mix of "almost" Whole Wheat flour with malted wheat flour. Shouldn't be too hard to approximate. I too have some Hovis tins and, having never tasted Hovis bread, would also be interested in a recipe to use in them.

Woz 

 I bought the two 2 lb Hovis tins in UK, and a very kind person sent me two 1 lb tins,

  Hovis bread is not available in Canada, and their recipe is a closely guarded secret, but Hovis flour is not available in Canada, I made up my own version of Hovis.

                                         qahtan

Woz, that link to the info re: Hovis was interesting. Thanks.

qahtan, were you able to find malted grains or malted flour to put in your version of Hovis? It seems to be impossible to find here. Does anyone out there know of a source?

Stu

The follwing recipe which was adapted from Delia Smith's website is very close to the good old granary loaf that I used to enjoy as a child in the 1950s' in the UK. Living in Canada, it has proved to be impossible to obtain Rank Hovis Granary flour without it being slightly more expensive than buying caviar!

I apologize for the formatting, but if you can de-cipher the ingredients you should be able to produce a "rave" product!

Granary Style Bread by Delia Smith (with adaptations)

(Source: Delia Smith Online)

Ingredients:Original Recipe Ingredientsv  2 cups                                                   warm waterv  2 tbsp sweetener                             malt extract****, treacle, molasses or honeyv  1 cup                                                      malted wheat flakes**v  2 cups                                                   white whole wheat flour***v  1 scant tbsp                                        active dried yeastv  2 tbsp                                                   melted butter, margarine or oilv  3-4 cups                                               unbleached all purpose flourv  2 tsp                                                      saltv  ½ tsp                                                    diastatic malt powder****To this basic recipe, Delia Smith adds the following ingredients:v  ¾ cup                                                   rye flourv  ¼ cup                                                   caraway seedsv  ¼ cup                                                   rolled oatsv  ¼ cup                                                   plain unsalted sunflower seedsv  1 – 225 g                                              potato, peeled, steamed & mashed v  the “biga” + 3 tbsp dry skim milk powderBiga Recipe Ingredients: (from The Italian Baker by Carol Field)v  ¼ tsp                                                    dried yeastv  ¼ cup                                                   warm waterv  ¾ cup+                                                 water at room temperaturev  2¾ cups                                               all purpose flour Preparation:Pre-Baking Day: 24 hours before BakingBiga “Pre-Ferment” v  Start the “biga pre-ferment” the day before you intend to bake. Stir the yeast into the warm water and let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining biga water and then add the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon for about 4 minutes, cover with plastic wrap and let rise, at least overnight. The biga should triple in volume and will be wet and sticky when readyBaking DayGranary Bread:v  Pour 2 cups of warm water, into a stand mixer bowl. Stir in the chosen sweetener, malted wheat flakes and 2 cups of whole (or white whole) wheat flourv   Mix in the yeast and allow this sponge to “work” for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the butter or oil, salt, rye flour, mashed potato, rolled oats, caraway seeds, biga and skim milk powder and add enough flour to make a “shaggy” mass that begins to hold together and pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl v  Continue kneading for several minutes adding enough flour until it comes together and is not too sticky. Transfer dough to a large lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ hoursv  Punch down, cut in half, and fit into two 4 ½” x 8 ½” greased bread pans or pans of your own preference, in terms of shape….. I prefer baguette pans as they hold the shape of the loaf really well.  Slash the tops of the loaves with your own “signature” patternv  Allow to rise again, until the dough is about ¾ risen, but still allows a fingerprint to bounce back v  Preheat oven to 350°Fv  Beat an egg in a small glass with a fork and “paint” the loaves to provide a glaze and also to act as an “edible glue” for your own preferred topping of sesame, caraway, poppy, sunflower, flax or any other legal seedsv  Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutesv  The loaves are cooked, when a tap on the bottom, (of the loaf, that is), sounds hollow and feels crusty. You can also pierce the centre of the loaf with a wooden skewer….. if it comes out totally clean, the loaf is done. If in doubt, err on the side of baking a little longer, rather than removing from the oven too soon  **             Available from King Arthur Flour, Vermont USA     ***           Available from Anita’s Organic Flour Mill, Chilliwack, BC. White whole wheat flour is a relatively new strain of whole wheat that is rapidly replacing the traditionally grown red whole wheat, all across the prairies  of North America. It has a higher protein level and is less bitter than the red varieties, in addition to having a lighter golden colour****         Available, economically,  from Spagnol’s, on Annacis Island, Richmond or probably from any reputable home-brewing outlet  

Makes two loaves

Stu, might be a good idea to post the URL for that recipe so we can decipher it.

Going on a hunt, I found this recipe which looks not too hard. The only ingerdient that may post some difficulty is the "malted wheat flakes", although from this page they look somewhat like rolled oats and are added for "texture, visual appearance and sweet malt flavour." Therefor, given that there is already malt added in various forms, perhaps subsituting rolled oats would be sufficient.

Any Granary Bread eaters feel like experimenting and reporting back?

Woz

Thanks , Stu , for that recipe. It did take a little deciphering. I checked the KA site and malted wheat flakes are currently unavailable. I wonder why it is such an elusive product? Anyway I may try the recipe with rolled oats as woz suggests and see what happens.

You may be able to find the malted wheat flakes at your local home brew supply store.  I get malted grains at mine and use it several recipes. 

Thanks, Drifty, for the suggestion.We don't have a home brew place in my area, but I know where I'm sure I can find one. I assume you grind the grains into flour or am I mistaken. If not, how do you use them?

Thanks again Drifty. I'm thinking I should put a grain mill on my Christmas list.

I seem to have mucked the link in my above message. It should be http://www.sunshinerecipes.com/granarybread.shtml

Woz 

Just come across this blog.  I found the easiest way to make a good version of English granary bread is to add some 'extract of malt' (available in drug stores or health food stores) to a basic multi-grain bread recipe.  You can buy multi-grain flour at good stores if you don't want to m ix your own grains.  This applies to Canada - don't know if you can get malt extract in U.S.

 This is going back a way, but in 1994, I was a baking student at the Vancouver Community College in British Columbia, Canada.

We made Hovis bread using bags marked Hovis flour and we had the stamped tins as well.

Perhaps if you contacted the baking department, someone might be of help

http://www.vcc.bc.ca/programs/detail.cfm?WPGM_DIVISION_ID=7&WPGM_PROGRAM_ID=204

Downtown Campus
250 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1S9
Switchboard: 604.443.8300
Fax: 604.443.8588

Hi all

There is no malted flour or malt extract in  true Hovis bread.

The recipe is as follows for a single 2lb loaf:-

In cups for our Americans cousins and because it works.

3 Cups Extra strong wholemeal flour (I use Allison's Premium)

1/2 Cup  of cracked wheat ( You will need to get this from a flour mill. i get mine from Wessex flour mill in Wantage in the UK. This is whole grain Wheat cut in to 4 peaces.)

1/2 Cup of Wheat bran.

2 tsp of sugar

2 tsp of Salt

1 1/2 tsp of Quick yeast ( I use Dove Farms.) You can use 1 oz (30g) of fresh yeast if you can can get it. This give better results.

2 Cups of warm water.

The Final product should be quite dense and should keep for 3-4 days.

I got the recipe from a bakery that recently closed after 54 years of serving the local community. I was also lucky enough to get some of there tins that they used. I have the 3 different official sizes Hovis tins.

Until they closed I was lucky enough never to have had to bake my own bread. I lived near the bakery for 25 years of my 32 years. Now I have learnt to bake good bread, almost as good as the real thing. But not quite.

I know this recipe works as i baked a 2lb loaf is afternoon.

If you want any tips just ask.

Dave

Just a question Dave, are these metric cups and can I do this bread in the breadmaker?

Hi

I was not aware that there was such a thing as a metric cup. As far as i know they are American imperial size cups. But its not that important about the exact size of the cup. Its the ratios that are important.

I hope this helps. Next time I make a loaf i will weigh out the ingredients out and add the weights to the recipe.

Dave

I used a recipe from King Arthur Flour Co.  They do carry organic malted wheat flakes, but they are a bit on the pricey side, so I'm looking for another source.

My husband is a Brit, and you just can't seem to find a Hovis-like granary bread here in the States, even in the international-type shops, or in any of the bakeries.

He said the King Arthur Flour granary bread recipe is very similar, and he did like it.

It will also work in a bread machine if you cut the ingredients in half. The KAF recipe is for 2 loaves. 

I thought the loaf was a bit on the dense side, although it did bake all the way through (no gumminess).  I am trying my 2nd loaf right now; I cut the amount of white flour in the KAF recipe by a quarter cup and substituted gluten flour for a better rise.  We'll see how that turns out.

If that still seems dense, I will experiment with adding more water to get a better rise out of the bread.  I like it; it's tasty yet has a crunchy texture to it.

I just recently purchased malted wheat flakes from King Arthur, they have not carried them for some time, made the granary loaf recipe from rear of bag, it was pretty darn good, maybe not quite the granary I recall from my youth in UK, but very happy with end result.

Thank you guernseyali for the info. I know they have not been available for some time so thanks for the update. I just hope it won't be outrageously expensive to ship to Canada.