Multigrain Bread

The other day, Spud wanted French Toast for dinner. 

Now, Soft & Chewy Italian Bread makes a fantastic French Toast, but I wanted something a bit heartier if sugar covered bread was going to be our dinner.

I decided I wanted to make a nice multigrain bread, especially since I was serving stew that night and French Toast was for the next night.

Problem: most multigrain breads out there start with a base of 7 (or 9 or something) grain cereal mix.

Who has that stuff on hand?

So I decided to adapt a recipe for honey wheat & oat bread, toss in any grains I found in my cupboards and make my *own* multigrain bread. 

It was a very dense bread, and the kids weren’t overly thrilled about the deeply browed crust when I served this with stew, but it made AMAZING French Toast the next day!  Like, the best!

By the way – I also thought it was amazing the with stew (or on its own with butter) the kids just got worked up about the crust!

Multigrain Bread

Adapted from Completely Delicious

1 cup warm water (about 115 degrees)

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1 cup milk

¼ cup honey

¼ cup butter, melted & cooled

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

½ cup cornmeal

¼ cup ground flax

¼ cup sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg + 1 teaspoon water, whisked together (optional)

Place the water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir to mix.  Allow the mixture to sit until foamy.

Add the milk, honey, butter, oats, cornmeal, flax, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, whole wheat flour, and salt.  Use the dough hook to stir the mixture.  The dough should come together but still be somewhat sticky.

Knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for a bit until the dough is slightly less sticky.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and set in a warm, draft-free area for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into a rectangle that is about 9-inches wide.  Roll the dough into a tight cylinder and place into a greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.  Cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow the loaf to raise for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk together the egg and water.  Brush all over the top of the bread.  Sprinkle with oats, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds, if desired.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the top is deeply browned (your children may accuse you of burning the bread, even though you didn’t), and the loaf reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees.  Remove from pan and cool for 30 minutes before slicing.