The Fresh Loaf

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Power Bread

mse1152's picture
mse1152

Power Bread

Well, now that the World Series is over, I can post...

This weekend, I made the Power Bread from PR's new book. It's the third bread I've made from that book, and I think I like it best. It's dense and heavy, with a definite sweetness and lots of crunchy bits, thanks to sunflower seeds and sesame seeds. It's like a trip back to the whole wheat 70s, if you remember that time...and if you don't, I don't want to hear about it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a choice of milk, buttermilk, yogurt, soy or rice milk for the biga. I used nonfat yogurt. The sweetener in the final dough was brown sugar. Just reading the list of ingredients makes you feel nutritionally virtuous. I really liked the idea of a puree of raisins and flaxseeds. The loaf is literally heavy, but not like a doorstop...there's just so much good stuff in there! I baked it a full 50 minutes before it reached 195 degrees, and I think it could have gone a bit longer. The crumb looked just a bit moist in the middle when I cut into it more than an hour later. You can see the sunflower seeds in the crumb, and a looser section through the middle.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added around 2/3 to a full cup of extra flour during mixing and kneading. It was still pretty sticky in keeping with the 'no fun to knead' nature of the three breads I've made from this book. The dough rose very well in the bulk and pan proofs, but got no oven spring. Overall, I really like this bread.

Sue

Comments

Ramona's picture
Ramona

This bread looks like it really turned out well. Very nutritional and yet, flavorful.

browndog's picture
browndog

It does look like a success story. Beautiful rise for such a heavy dough.

Oh, yes, I remember the whole wheat seventies. I'm still recovering, and just beginning to regain an appreciation for dense, seedy, but delicious breads like this one.

weavershouse's picture
weavershouse

I also remember the heavy fall apart loaves I tried to feed my family! Alas, no Floyd, no FRESH LOAF website, no websites, no home computers, no great bread books in my library....now I feel very old.

 

 

Great job with your bread. It looks delicious. I'm enjoying using whole grains again and this time there is an amazing difference in my bread.                                  weavershouse