I. Love. This. Recipe. I now religiously make it once per week. It’s infallible, makes great sandwiches because it’s fluffy inside, and it freezes really well. I can make two loaves but almost always stretch it out to three (somewhat shorter) ones, which is perfect for kid sandwiches. I slice two loaves once they’ve cooled completely and freeze them in old bread bags. And, it’s such a fast recipe that I can make it any time of day, even while making dinner. 30-40 minute rises and bake times means that you have 2 or 3 loaves of sandwich bread around two hours: glorious, multigrain sandwich bread with toasted seeds throughout.
The only thing downside to making this bread is that you can’t forget about it. The first rise is a little bit forgiving if you over-rise it, but the second rise notsomuch.
The multigrain flour that I use is Robin Hood’s Multigrain Best for Bread Flour and I really like it as a quick way to boost the nutritional value and texture of my breads. I use it a lot, even just subbing in 1 cup is often a delicious choice, like in the New York Times’ No-Knead Bread.
Fall is off to a busy but satisfying start
We have survived our first month of Kindergarten and back-to-school madness fairly unscathed! (With heaps of scrumptious ham sandwiches ‘ta boot, ha). My husband has been super busy with an out-of-town conference and a bunch of late evenings doing public engagement for work. The girls and I have been doing lots of dog walking, biking to the zoo, and seeding out a big fall crop of spinach in the garden. We had an arborist’s truckload of beautiful mulch dumped on our parking pad off the alley and it is slowly taking over our front lawn as we go grass free, but in the meantime it has been the best toy as my mountain sheep clamber up and down it.
This time of year is so gorgeous. Mornings smell delicious and fresh in the colder air yet we still usually get a soul-warming bout of heat in the mid-afternoon to soak up a few more rays. The colours were lovely and vibrant this year and, in spite of our bizarrely timed seasons the past few months, fall has seemed to be knock everything back in to place and is on time. The larches were even prime the third week of September, as usual, even though spring started in February this year. Go figure!
Well, the timer is going for my loaves this evening so I am going to sign off. Try the recipe and let me know how much you love it!
Multigrain Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
1/4 c butter
2.5 c milk
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
5 c flour (I prefer 3 cups multigrain bread flour + 2 cups unbleached or white bread flour)
1/3 c pumpkin seeds
1/3 c sunflower seeds
Directions
- Put seeds in pan on stove over medium-high heat to toast. Shake periodically.
- Melt butter in pot or microwave.
- Heat 2 c of the milk in with the butter in pot, or microwave it for about 1.5 minutes, until quite warm, verging on hot.
- Mix butter and all milk together (the other 1/2 c milk helps to temper the heat so your mixture isn't too hot and kills the yeast; overall, you want your liquids to be warm but not hot).
- Sprinkle in yeast.
- Turn on your machine and mix in flours, salt, and seeds.
- Knead on medium-high speed for about 8 minutes.
- Rise bread in bowl in a warm location for 30-40 minutes, until doubled.
- Shape bread into two or three loaves, in buttered loaf pans. (See notes, below.)
- Rise again in warm place for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 450F near the end of the second rise.
- Bake 35-40 minutes.
- Cool loaves completely on a cooling rack (removed from pans).
- Slice extra loaves and put in bags to freeze.
Recipe by Lindsay Bliek.
The Process
The dough: It is a wet dough and quite sticky, but should be very well kneaded so stretchy like bubblegum (but the seeds will cut the dough as you pull at it). I use an Ankarsrum mixer with the roller attachment and not a dough hook.
After the first rise: I preheat my oven at 350F for a couple of minutes until it’s nice and warm and rise my bread in there. It takes 30-40 minutes, but closer to 40 for me.
Shaping the dough: I choose to make three slightly smaller loaves. So, I cut the dough into three balls of approximately the same size (and some times I do this better than others, ha – you could weigh your dough if you want to be more precise). Then, I flatten the dough out gently, trying not to pop too many bubbles – this is a great job for little hands. I roll the dough up as tightly as I can, place it seam side up in the buttered loaf pan, gently press it down to fill out the pan, flip it over and gently place it back into the pan, seam side down this time.
Second Rise: I do this in my cozy oven, again. I only rise it for about 25 minutes in there, then I put it on top of my oven while my oven preheats to 450F. When the oven is hot, the bread is nicely doubled and ready to pop in for the last step!
And the final product! Be sure to let it cool completely before you slice and freeze it. Of course, you won’t be able to do that for one of the loaves (we never can) and it’s awesome with some butter and strawberry freezer jam or honey. Enjoy!
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