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Struan Bread
It isn't bad for sandwiches either. I have to admit though that this bread occasionally gives me nightmares. Click "Read More" to learn why. When I was in high school I worked in the Brother Juniper's bakery and cafe. For the most part I worked on the slicing machine, but I also helped scale and shape the loaves. Oh yes, and top the loaves with poppy seeds. The poppy seeds. The poppy seeds are what give me nightmares. I have no idea how many pounds of poppy seeds we went through a day, but I know we made as many as 500 loaves of Struan Bread, each one covered with hundreds of poppy seeds. Those seeds would get everywhere: in your hair, under your fingernails, in your clothes, everywhere you can imagine. Even a few places you can't imagine: I recall a number of times pulling poppy seeds out of strange places (like my book bag for school or a clean pair of pants) and wondering "How in the world did poppy seeds get in there?!? I still avoid poppy seeds most of the time, though I'll admit they are wonderful on top of this loaf. About Struan Bread Struan Bread (properly pronounced "STRU-en bread", but most people I know call it "STRON bread") is a harvest bread. I believe the story is that Peter Reinhart read something about a traditional bread that Irish villagers baked into which they threw a little bit of everything they were harvesting. Struan Bread as we know it is an attempt to capture the spirit of that loaf. Regardless of the origin, this bread is wonderful. One is certainly free to experiment with including different or additional grains. I've done so a bit and the bread has turned out quite good, though I don't think any of them have be as excellent as the combination found in the original recipe (reproduced below). Oh yeah, I need to add that this recipe is roughly the recipe found in Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. I believe he includes versions of it in most of his other baking books (Crust & Crumb and Brother Juniper's Bread Book come to mind). If you don't already have one of his bread books on your shelf you owe it to yourself to pick one up.
Mix together the ingredients for the soaker. Cover and allow to soak for at least half an hour or as long as overnight. In a larger bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then stir in wet ingredients and soaker. Add more flour or water until the dough can be formed into a ball that is tacky but not sticky. Place the ball of dough on a clean work surface and knead it for 10 to 12 minutes, then return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to ferment until doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl, degas it gently, and split it for two loaves or shape it as is for one. Place the loaves in greased bread pans, spritz or sprinkle water on top, and sprinkle a handful of poppy seeds on top.
Cover the pans loosely with plastic and allow the loaves to rise until doubled in size again, approximately 90 minutes.
Bake these loaves at 350 for 40 to 60 minutes, until the internal temperature is around 190 degrees. When ready the loaves will be quite brown on top and will make a hollow thud when tapped on the bottom.
Doesn't that look good? Trust me, it is WONDERFUL! Try it, it is worth the work! Related Recipes: Maple Oatmeal Bread
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In the 15 years since I first tried Brother Juniper's Struan Bread, I've tasted a lot of great bread, but I still don't think I've tried anything that makes as great toast as Struan Bread does. Nor have I tried any bread is so universally enjoyed: everyone who tries it agrees that this bread makes killer toast. 
Struan bread
I finally got around to making a loaf of this bread a couple weeks ago. (Only had the book (as well as all of PR's other ones -- autographed too) for about 6 years or so.) The only ingredient I didn't have was the brown rice and I used oat bran instead of wheat bran. Otherwise I followed the recipe and everyone's correct. This bread is delicious and makes the absolute best toast ever. Even better than cinnamon-raisin bread and that's saying a whole lot for me. Next time I make some I'm going to cook up some brown rice and put it in to see the difference.
L2B
Rice
The rice is nice, but it is still excellent without it. It is a good way to use up leftover rice, if you have some around, but I tend not to bother making a batch of rice just to bake a batch of bread. Ever try making just three tablespoons of rice? Not so easy. ;^)
I've used white rice too (in fact, I think I'm using white rice in the photos above). It works fine.
Rice
Well, I'd probably make chicken over rice and hold back of the rice to use in the bread. In fact, I think that'll be dinner tomorrow so I can bake a loaf on Sunday. Got some really nice jam that will be great on toast....
L2B
This has got to be one of
This has got to be one of the best and easiest breads I have ever made. I have been making it weekly for a few months now. I am going to be trying some of your other recipes. Thanks for sharing.
Sourdough Struan
Recently I tried to make this Struan recipe using a sourdough starter in place of the yeast. My thinking was if this tastes so wonderful, how much better it would be made with a SD starter. The results were a very dense loaf of bread that did not rise enough. It could be that I didn't give it enough rising time, but more than a day rising is just a bit too much for me.
Even as dense as it is, the bread when toasted lightens up a bit and thin slices are very delicious topped with some cheese to melt under the toaster oven. But then, what can't be improved by some melted cheese?
Next time I'll make the recipe with the yeast and stop messing around with perfection.
Brown rice for Struan bread
I have truly enjoyed this recipe. Since I too rarely have cooked brown rice hanging around waiting to be used in bread, I decided to make up a pot of it (once!) and then freeze it in 3 Tablespoon amounts. Now, when I make the Struan bread, I just thaw one of those little packages of rice while I allow the polenta mixture to soak. I've been happy with the results, and now make the bread more often.
Thank-you for this wonderful resource.
melody
Good idea!
I often skip that too because of the hassle, but this is a great idea to do with leftover rice!
Struan Bread
I love the Struan Bread also. Nothing beats it for toast is right. I do have a question tho. Does Buttermilk freeze? I don't buy it except to make the bread and never use it all (I have to buy a quart at a time.).
Any suggestions? Did anyone use the powdered buttermilk instead of fresh?
Thanks
freezing buttermilk
I haven't frozen buttermilk--but I have frozen eggnog (for use in eggnog-cranberry scones) and it worked well. I have not tried the dried buttermilk. But I have often used the "classic buttermilk substitute" with great success. For that, one places a Tablespoon of lemon juice in a 1 cup container and tops it up with regular milk to make one cup. Let stand for 5 minutes, then apply to recipe.
freezing buttermilk
You can also use Kefir as a replacement for buttermilk, I do this for Struan (and any other bread asking for milk). Plus Kefir keeps for a month in the fridge, but only 7-10 days on the counter out of sunshine :(
Powdered buttermilk
I use it all the time and it works well for me.
Struan Bread and pwd buttermilk
Yes, that is all I have ever used in making this bread and have absolutely no problem with crumb, crust or flavour. Give it a try...just be sure to follow the combination ratio of water to pwd. Good Luck.
Struan and Buttermilk
I use reconstituted buttermilk for all my baking that calls for buttermilk. It works fine, and the powder keeps for a long time in the freezer. I made Struan this weekend from the BBA recipe, but used whole wheat flour for about one third of the total amount, and substituted sesame seeds for poppy seeds. It's almost a bit too sweet for me. I think I'll use less brown sugar next time. But over all, it's a flavorful moist loaf.
A while ago, I made the version in Brother Juniper's Bread book, but was not near as impressed with it as with the version in BBA.
Thumbs Up!
I just found this website last week and this was the first recipe I tried. Everyone loves it. We like a good moist sandwich bread that's a little sweet and has some whole grain to it. The rice adds a nice bit of nubbiness, too. This makes stellar toast.
Reinhart
I have BBA, American Pie, and the whole wheat book...is it worth picking up the other two? How much repetition is there?
Straun
A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.
–Aesop
I have made the straun from the "Brother Juniper" book also. The first time was several months ago and then I was reading through my bread books again and made it again yesterday...forgetting until after I had it mostly mixed, that it has to much salt and doesn't weigh out right in the version I have...so I tweeked the dough a bit and ended up with 2 big beautiful 1 1/2 pound loaves.
Today I have the sourdough version going from the "Crust and Crumb". (Leavened Multigrain Bread, pg.95)
I'll try the one here tomorrow. I like the presoak method and wondered how it would work for this.
I also make a pot of brown/wild rice mix and freeze it in to portions. (the wild rice really makes for a beautiful slice!)
Another trick from "Crust and Crumb" is to make a "Multigrain Blend" of the polenta, oats, and bran. Then just use the approperiate amount.
I'll try posting a picture tommorrow....yea!!! I like this site!!!
The most amazing bread
The first time I made this I must admit it was not very nice... however now I have a feel for the dough it is wonderful. I only use the rice if I have any on hand.
I made this bread the other
I made this bread the other day, it came out very nicely.
But I ended up adding about a cup of flour before it got to what seemed like the right consistency to me. This was fine as even the larger loaf is going pretty quickly here. I was just wondering how much flour others found they needed to add to the recipe.
By my (sometimes faulty) calculations, it's nearly 100% hydration as listed, though I'm not sure how to count the grains in the soaker for hydration calculating - or the rice for that matter, which is another grain and has some moisture of its own.
Russ
Oh, my gosh! This sounds so
Oh, my gosh! This sounds so good!
Is that considered 2 small
Is that considered 2 small loaves? What sized pans did you use?
New user to site - so sorry
New user to site - so sorry I've missed it for so long... Made the Struan bread this past Sunday and used 2 cups regular flour with 1 cup spelt flour - 1st and 2nd rising satisfactory, but it did not rise as much during baking. Not unhappy with the results though, the crust was (both loaves finished Monday night) crispy, but the inside was soft, sweet and delicous.
I loved the silky texture of the dough during kneading (oh so sensual!!)- could have kneaded this all day.
I usually have barley left over from breakfast, and will substitute next time for the rice, and see if as wonderful
Thank you
Struan
Oh i made this wonderful bread on the weekend .Fabulous and tastes soooo good gave it all away after I sampled .
Poppy seeds
This bread looks great...and I can't wait to try it.
But my son's place of business does random drug testing and poppy seeds show up as drugs...
Is there anything I coud use to subsitiute? Maybe sesame seeds...I know it wouldn't be the same..and I Love poppy seeds...but I would like to try it.
Janie
Poppy Seed, Schmoppy Schmeeds
Janie,
I love this bread. I made PR's BBA version last weekend and am making a double batch this weekend, even though I have 3 other breads I have to bake.
That said, I don't think the poppy seeds really add anything to the bread. There's nothing wrong with them; they just aren't necessary. I'm planning to leave them off this time.
Phyl
Poppy seeds
Thanks Phyl...now I am ready to try it...just didn't want to get my son in trouble!!
Janie
I purchase low-fat buttermilk
I purchase low-fat buttermilk and find it keep very well due to the low fat content but I use mine up pretty quick but have kept it 2-3 weeks without any problems anyway buttermilk is sour to the taste and I think it would have to be more than 4 weeks old to spoil!
Ok gang I have been lurking in the back ground and now finally realize I need to purchase PR's BBA book so it is on my list to buy before I bake any bread.
I have made my first starter and guess it's okay, it is sour to the smell, and although I cheated and added some yeast to it I think it was getting sour anyway and the next time I will not cheat, I feed it every Sunday and I guess I am doing that right, pour half off then add 1/2 c flour and 1/2 c water and it is just waiting for me to make my next move...bake bread. I used AP White Lily flour!
Does it matter if flour is bleached or unbleached?
Does PR's book explain %'s, I keep seeing you guys speak of recipes using %'s and I have no idea how to decipher these in a recipe...help!
Thanks alot guys and hopefully the next time I post it will be a picture of my first bread.
White Lily and Baker's Math
Just a quick heads up, Gildee: White Lily Flour is extremely popular in the South because it has a ridiculously low gluten count for being an AP flour. If you're planning on baking bread with it, be prepared for it to act funny :) I've also noticed that their Bread Flour also has a significantly lower gluten content than others that are available.
I know that some of us also feed our starters BF because it does contain more gluten, but by no means is it a must. To each their own. If you can get your hands on unbleached flour, you'll find it has better flavour in the end product.
There's a section in the Handbook (top menu bar, click on Handbook, it's under Section 2: Bread Basics, though the whole thing is a good read) on Baker's Math which will explain the percentages for you. It's all a percentage in relation to total flour which is always expressed as 100%.
Go with White Lily Bread
Go with White Lily Bread flour, if economics is a factor. The ap is not going to be your best option for breads, but their bread flour is a great option. Since you have access to WL ap, you most like can get the bread flour. It is unbleached, 11.7% protein, the same as King Arthur AP. I started out using the recipes at the KA web site(still my go to source) and realized that almost all the recipes call for their AP.
The White Lily bread flour can hold it's own against any other as an all purpose bread flour! And it's almost half the price of the usual going price of KA(here in Atlanta). The bread flour is the same price as the ap at Kroger and Walmart.
Flour test comparisons. Somewhat dated, 2006, but there don't seem to be too many of these type comparisons being done:
http://home.earthlink.net/~ggda/flour_test.htm