Authors: Zoe Francois,Jeff Hertzberg MD
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients (15 page)
Emmer Bread
Emmer is a marvelous ancient grain with a great flavor, but it can be dense in bread. We developed terrific flavor by adding a small amount of white vinegar and beer to the mix. Sesame seeds in the crumb itself make a nice counterpoint to the flavors that develop in the dough. Emmer flour can be ordered from Bluebird Grain Farms. Be sure to order the fine-milled emmer flour (which is milled from whole grain), not “whole grain emmer,” which is the unground whole kernel of emmer.
Makes enough dough for at least five 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.
4½ cups fine-milled whole grain emmer flour
4½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/8 cup sesame seeds, plus additional for sprinkling on top crust
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets (
decrease to taste
)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (
increase or decrease to taste
)
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
4 cups lukewarm water
½ cup any beer except porter, stout, or other strongly flavored brew
2 tablespoons white vinegar
EMMER
is hot among adventurous chefs at top restaurants, who are using it in its whole-kernel form to create incredible pilaf dishes (it’s usually known by the Italian
farro
when used this way). Bluebird Grain Farms also sells emmer in its whole-kernel, unground form; it can be cooked like rice into a pilaf, or tossed into salads. The flavor is marvelous, and the grain is much higher in protein than wheat is—16 to 18 percent compared with wheat’s 9 to 12 percent. Emmer contains gluten, so it can’t be eaten by people with celiac disease, but the gluten content is much lower than that of wheat.
1. Mixing and storing the dough:
Whisk together the flours, sesame seeds, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Combine the liquid ingredients and mix them with the dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4.
The dough can be used immediately after its initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days. The flavor will be best if you wait for at least 24 hours of refrigeration.
5. On baking day,
dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
6.
Elongate the ball into a narrow oval. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough). Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat or a greased cookie sheet without using a pizza peel.
7. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F
, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
8.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with water. Slash the loaf diagonally with ¼-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife.
9.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door (see
Chapter 3
for steam alternatives). Bake for about 30 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf, carefully remove it and bake the loaf directly on the stone or an oven rack two-thirds of the way through baking. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.
10.
Allow the loaf to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.
Cracked Wheat Bread
This bread is all about whole wheat in its many forms. By blending crunchy cracked wheat with white whole wheat and traditional whole wheat, we produced a bread with wonderful texture, great flavor, and lots of nutrition. Because we don’t soak the cracked whole wheat, you must let this dough sit for at least 8 hours before using it. This allows the cracked wheat to soften, and gives the dough more complexity and the desired sourdough characteristics.
Makes enough dough for at least four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.
4 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cracked whole wheat
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets (
decrease to taste
)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (
increase or decrease to taste
)
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
4¼ cups lukewarm water
1. Mixing and storing the dough:
Whisk together the flours, cracked wheat, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Add the water and mix without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4.
Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 10 days.
Wait at least 8 hours to use the dough because the cracked wheat needs to absorb water before it is baked.
5. On baking day,
dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, then elongate into an oval.
6.
Allow the loaf, to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper for 90 minutes. Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat or a greased cookie sheet without using a pizza peel.
7. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
8.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top with water. Slash the loaf with ¼-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife.
9.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door (see
Chapter 3
for steam alternatives). Bake for about 30 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf, carefully remove it and bake the loaf directly on the stone or an oven rack two-thirds of the way through baking. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.
10.
Allow the loaf to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.
Ten-Grain Bread
We both developed a ten-grain bread, at exactly the same time, completely by accident. But whose version to use? We didn’t end up clopping each other over the head with rolling pins. Instead, we combined the two recipes and came up with something we really love. For the ten-grain product, we decided on a nationally available ten-grain hot cereal from Bob’s Red Mill, rather than the harder-to-find ten-grain flours stocked by natural food co-ops. Either will work, but you have to adjust the water if you use something other than the Bob’s Red Mill product.
Makes enough dough for at least four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.
2 cups ten-grain hot cereal (Bob’s Red Mill brand), uncooked
3 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets (
decrease to taste
)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (
increase or decrease to taste
)
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
3½ cups lukewarm water
1 to 2 tablespoons of seed mixture for sprinkling on the top crust: sesame, flaxseed, caraway, raw sunflower, poppy, and/or anise
1. Mixing and storing the dough:
Whisk together the cereal, flours, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Add the water and mix without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4.
The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 10 days.
5. On baking day,
dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
6.
Elongate the ball into an oval. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough). Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat or a greased cookie sheet without using a pizza peel.
7. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F
, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
8.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with water. Sprinkle with the seed mixture and slash the loaf with ¼-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife.
9.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door (see
Chapter 3
for steam alternatives). Bake for about 30 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf, carefully remove it and bake the loaf directly on the stone or an oven rack two-thirds of the way through baking. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.
10.
Allow to cool on a rack before slicing or eating.
Whole Grain Rye Bread
This loaf is not your grandmother’s rye bread, delicious as it was. Most of us who grew up with great fresh rye were eating bread that was very low in whole grains. Our version is bursting with whole grain flavors; it’s a much heartier product than Grandma’s was. These days, U.S. shoppers will find only high-bran rye in stores. Avoid “light” or “medium” rye (which are only available through mail order anyway), and you’ll end up with the very high whole grain result we have in mind here.
Makes enough dough for at least four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.
2½ cups whole wheat flour
2¾ cups rye flour
2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ tablespoons granulated yeast, or 2 packets (
decrease to taste
)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (
increase or decrease to taste
)
1½ tablespoons caraway seeds, plus additional for sprinkling on top crust
¼ cup vital wheat gluten
4 cups lukewarm water
1. Mixing and storing the dough:
Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt, caraway, and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
2.
Add the water and mix without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle). You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you’re not using a machine.
3.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4.
The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days.
The flavor will be better if you wait for at least 24 hours of refrigeration.
5. On baking day,
dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
6.
Elongate the ball into a narrow oval. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough). Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat or a greased cookie sheet without using a pizza peel.
7. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F
, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.
8.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top with water, and then sprinkle with the additional caraway seeds. Slash the loaf with ¼-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife.
9.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf, carefully remove it two-thirds of the way through baking and bake the loaf directly on the stone or an oven rack. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.
10.
Allow the bread to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.