Whole Wheat Flax Bread

I don’t know why I don’t make bread more often. It really doesn’t take that much active time if you use a KitchenAid for kneading. It’s just a matter of committing to be home for a few hours. Cooks Illustrated says you get the same results kneading by machine or hand, although I must say that DH was giving me a hard time today, saying that if I really wanted to be “natural” I would knead it by hand. I gave him a pretend kick in the pants and sent him back to the garage to finish brewing his Black American Ale.

FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION CLICK HERE: Whole Wheat Flax Bread

From Simply in Season

3 cups warm water
2 Tbs active dry yeast
3 cups whole wheat bread flour
3 Tbs honey
3 Tbs oil
2-3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups flax seed meal
1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 Tbs poppy seeds
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup flax seeds

1. Dissolve yeast in water and set aside for 5 minutes or until bubbly.

2. Add whole wheat bread flour, honey, and oil and stir until smooth.

3. Add remaining ingredients, using enough bread flour to make the dough smooth and stiff. Knead about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled (about 1-1 1/2 hours). Punch down, divide in half, let rest 5 minutes. Shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans or shape into free form loaves and place on sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise again, about 1 hour. Bake in a preheated oven at 375F for 30 minutes.

Servings: 32
Yield: 2 loaves (guesstimating 16 slices per loaf for nutrition info)

The verdict: The bread smelled awesome just out of the oven. I couldn’t wait to take a bite.

Neither could Nero.

But it was mine, all mine.

And the result was . . . underwhelming. “Not your best work,” DH said. “It tastes like my grains.” As in, brewing grains. It was good, I think it would be a good sandwich bread, but it’s not the kind of homemade bread that’s sweet enough to eat plain. And I must admit the sunflower seeds were a little odd. I tried another slice with honey. Better, but I’m not sure this is my favorite recipe of all time. Still, for all the good flax and stuff that’s in it, it’s not bad.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/32 of a recipe (2.1 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 162.49
Calories From Fat (33%) 53.71
% Daily Value
Total Fat 6.34g 10%
Saturated Fat 0.66g 3%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 149.78mg 6%
Potassium 127.2mg 4%
Total Carbohydrates 22g 7%
Fiber 3.35g 13%
Sugar 1.94g
Protein 5.09g 10%

This post also linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday