Oh gosh, have I mentioned how much I love the smell of caraway seeds. I bought a bag at Penzey’s yesterday, and they smell heavenly. I wanted to use them in bread, but I needed to find a 100% whole grain bread, as so many rye bread recipes are made with white flour.
I found what looked like a good recipe on Teri’s Kitchen and I altered it a little bit for my needs.
My Modified Ingredients:
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp warm water
- 1.5 Tbsp olive oil (that’s 1 T + 1.5 tsp for those that don’t have a 1/2 T spoon)
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour (I used 1 cup white whole wheat and 1/2 cup regular whole wheat)
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp rye flour
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
- 2 Tbsp wheat germ (I think that’s what I used. My container wasn’t labeled from Whole Food bulk)
- 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds (meal)
- 2 Tbsp caraway seeds (oh the smell is soo delish)
- 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1.5 tsp instant yeast
Added all ingredients into my Breadman Bread Machine. (note: I am a little worried about my bread machine, it’s really making a loud clanging noise, like marbles are rolling around inside it – I think something is going to give very soon)
The dough is very very heavy, and that could be why the bread machine was clanging so loudly. When it finished kneading and 1st rise in the machine, I dumped the dough onto a greased plastic cutting board. Wow, it was really heavy and thick. I had my doubts that this was going to bake into a tender loaf, but I was hoping for the best.
I gently pushed it down, kneading a couple of times, and patting it into a rectangle. I folded into threes, and then into threes again from the other direction. It was so thick and dry, the dough was pulling apart. Then I pushed down again and shaped it a second time. Dumb yes, and next time I won’t do that.
I managed to create it into a round boule and placed it into my round 2 qt cast iron pot, which was lined with parchment paper. I placed a glass bowl on top of the pot to allow it to rise for about an hour.
I baked in a preheated (counter top) oven at 375° – I preheated using the confection setting, but once the bread was in, I changed it to normal bake setting until the last couple of minutes, and then it was set on confection again.
I think it baked for at least an hour. It took awhile for the internal temp to read 190° – I didn’t think it was ever going to finish.
I was so curious to know if it was a success. I didn’t have much hope since the crust looked so hard, and the dough was so dry and heavy….but I couldn’t resist slicing off a hunk of bread before it cooled. I poured on a tsp of olive oil. Oh yeah, the crumb looked good and it tasted really good. I think I will definitely bake this again.
It’s fairly low in calories, and really rich in fiber! It has lower sodium, compared to commercial breads. I can definitely taste the lack of salt, but it’s still good. I think we’ll get used to it.
ETA morning after: The bread is definitely hard crusted, but has a very tender and dense crumb. I know it was how I shaped it, but it’s easy to fall apart. I am willing to try this bread again and see if I can improve on my shaping technique. And I won’t shape it twice like I did this time.
Funny, looking at my photos this morning, I noticed some “white patches” – I was just reading about the vital wheat gluten, and how you should mix it together with the flour or it can form into chunks. Hmm, I didn’t notice until I saw the photos, but yep, I bet that is what those white spots are. I will remember to mix all the flours and other dry grains together before pouring into the bread machine.
Nutritional Data:
Loaf is approximately 700 grams (or 1.5 lbs)
Makes 16 slices at about 44 grams each
Calories 104.3
Total Fat 2.2 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.2 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 74.2 mg
Potassium 123.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.3 g
Dietary Fiber 3.5 g
Sugars 0.7 g
Protein 4.2 g
Vitamin A 0.1 %
Vitamin B-12 0.0 %
Vitamin B-6 4.1 %
Vitamin C 0.3 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 1.9 %
Calcium 1.8 %
Copper 5.5 %
Folate 2.9 %
Iron 6.0 %
Magnesium 9.0 %
Manganese 47.1 %
Niacin 4.6 %
Pantothenic Acid 2.5 %
Phosphorus 9.0 %
Riboflavin 2.6 %
Selenium 16.1 %
Thiamin 8.6 %
Zinc 5.3 %