Spiced and Seeded Multigrain Loaf & A Giveaway
Ingredients
Instructions
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1Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C).
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2Combine spelt and rye flours, corn grits, steel cut oats, nuts and seeds, sugar, salt, baking soda and spices in a large bowl. Drain and rinse millet and set aside.
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3Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour kefir/yogurt in, then add the millet. Mix by gradually incorporating flour into the kefir in a circular motion. You should end up with a very soft dough that's not too sticky. Turn the dough onto a well-floured working surface and gently roll into the flour. Shape into a round loaf.
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4Place the loaf onto a well-oiled baking surface - a cast-iron pan or tray. Alternatively, put the dough into a well-oiled or lined loaf pan. Slice the top surface of the bread a couple times and sprinkle with nuts and seeds of choice. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the crust is golden. The base of the bread should sound hollow when you tap on it.
Before I tell you about this bread, I want to mention that we are hosting an amazing giveaway for one KoMo grain mill this week, so be sure to read on for the details – it’s a beauty!
I have a friend who inspires me to no end (hi Ira!). When she comes over, we sit at my kitchen table for hours, exchanging stories and drinking way too many cups of tea. My husband is always amazed – what can we possibly be discussing for that long? Ira formally studied Ayurveda and has an amazing wealth of knowledge when it comes to a good wellness routine, so there’s one answer to his question. We can go on and on about things like oil pulling, abhyanga, herbs, Tibetan rites, and food, always food. She is one of those cooks who is just naturally really good at it. As in, every one of her ‘recipes’ sounds as if she threw a bunch of things together, always eyeing and never measuring, but the result is devastatingly delicious every time.
The idea for this bread comes from this magician of a friend, who prepares something similar weekly. It falls into the category of soda breads, which is a lower maintenance breed of bread that rises with the help of baking soda instead of yeast. The approach here was to make a ‘complete’ loaf of bread, full of freshly ground flours, grains, seeds, nuts, and aromatic spices. It’s not a traditional loaf, being more dense, nutritious and filling than your basic sourdough – one slice goes a long way. I feel okay about making a simple sandwich with it for my eight year old’s school lunch, knowing that she will stay full throughout classes and an after school activity after eating it. It’s special and it’s powerful. Make it, and you will have a dependable accompaniment to any one of your meals throughout the week.
This week, we are hosting one of the most exciting giveaways we’ve ever done. It’s for one KoMo grain mill from Pleasant Hill Grain – a beautiful, electric stone-grinding appliance for dry grains and beans, which I used/talked about in last week’s recipe. I utilized it to grind the wheat and rye for this bread, and baking with the super-fresh flours it produced was such a pleasure. I talked in depth about the benefits of stone grinding in my previous post, but basically, stone grinding preserves all of the grain’s nutrition and produces the most delicious flour. The mill itself is almost a museum-worthy object, skillfully crafted in Austria. I truly can’t wait for one of you to get a hold of this beauty.
To enter the giveaway, Pleasant Hill Grain asks that you like their Facebook page, visit their website and leave a comment here with the product(s) you like from their offering – they will appreciate your feedback. The giveaway is for U.S. 48 Contiguous States only and open until 9/22/16. Good luck ;)
- 2 cups sprouted/whole spelt flour
- ½ cup rye flour
- ¼ cup corn grits/polenta
- ¼ cup steel cut oats
- ½ cup mixed chopped nuts and seeds (ex: walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, chia and poppy seeds), plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds - freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds - freshly ground
- 5 cardamom pods - freshly ground
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup millet - soaked overnight
- 1 ⅓ cups plain kefir or yogurt
- neutral coconut oil or other vegetable oil for oiling the baking surface
- Preheat oven to 400° F (200° C).
- Combine spelt and rye flours, corn grits, steel cut oats, nuts and seeds, sugar, salt, baking soda and spices in a large bowl. Drain and rinse millet and set aside.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour kefir/yogurt in, then add the millet. Mix by gradually incorporating flour into the kefir in a circular motion. You should end up with a very soft dough that's not too sticky. Turn the dough onto a well-floured working surface and gently roll into the flour. Shape into a round loaf.
- Place the loaf onto a well-oiled baking surface - a cast-iron pan or tray. Alternatively, put the dough into a well-oiled or lined loaf pan. Slice the top surface of the bread a couple times and sprinkle with nuts and seeds of choice. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the crust is golden. The base of the bread should sound hollow when you tap on it.
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