Bread Baking Brouhaha - Five Grain Bread with Walnuts

Well, I have joined another baking group. I have become a member of the Bread Baking Buddies, hosted by Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups. I figure that I'd hit it off with Tanna, being that we have almost the same name (minus the "e"). It is fate!

I always say that cooking is my first love, and baking is my mistress in which I have a passionate affair. Well, if that rings true, then bread baking is like my bitter ex who keeps calling me in the middle of the night and hanging up and keying my car. Bread baking and I do not get along, which is why I wanted to join this group. I want all three of my loves to co-exist peacefully, a kind of culinary "Big Love" if you will. And I hope I will.

For my first foray into this polyamorous world was a Five Grain Bread with Walnuts. This bread is chock-full of healthy grains and heart-healthy walnuts. I noticed that some of the bakers said that the flavor was light on the walnuts, so I increased the amount to two cups of chopped walnuts, and I am glad I did, as the flavor really came through!

My boyfriend (who would now like to not be the anonymous "boyfriend" but instead be referred to by his name, Jack) went out of town for the weekend, and I wanted him to return to an apartment filled with the smells of freshly baked bread. My mom used to bake bread when I was younger, and there is nothing like the warm scent that fills the air as the bread bakes in the oven. I remember standing on my tippy-toes at the counter as my mother would carefully lift the bread out of the oven and place it on a rack to cool. I would place my small hand just over the warm loaf and let the heat penetrate my skin as I breathed in deeply to take in the aroma, waiting patiently for the moment when my mother would bring the bread knife to the loaf. I would listen for the cracking sound as the knife cut through the crust and sawed out perfect slices of warm bread. I would eat the bread plain, as I wanted to taste the pure flavor and relish in its warmth, with the contrasting hard and soft textures of the crust and dough meshing perfectly in each bite.

OK, that's a lie. I don't remember my mother baking bread at all. I know she did, and I know it was good, but I didn't really have those memories. I just remember her rum-raisin ice cream, which, to this day, brings Hagen Daas Ice cream to shame. It's awesome. I've just been reading a memoirs about Ruth Reichl and Jaques Pepin, and they always have these amazing descriptions of their memories of food, so I want to make my own memories, dammit! What if I want to write a memoir one day???

OK, I won't go all James Frey or Holocaust-Survivor-Who-Fell-in-Love-With-the-Woman-With-the-Apples -Although-It-Never-Really-Happened. I don't need Oprah reaming me out on national television.

Anyway, I carefully followed this recipe using my stand mixer. The dough was extremely wet and sticky, so I decided to take it out and add more flour, kneading by hand. When the dough was smooth and no longer sticky, I set it in a Pyrex bowl and let it rise. After an hour it was as high as the ceiling! I was so excited. I split the dough again and let it rise again - one in a loaf pan, the other in a round Pyrex dish. Again, it rose! I was thrilled! "This bread thing may actually work out!", I thought. I sliced patterns into the dough and it deflated immediately, taking with it, my dreams of perfect bread.

Regardless, I placed the bread in the oven and waited. After 35 minutes, I removed the bread from oven and tried to remove it from pan. The loaf came out easily, but the color was rather gray and dull. It wasn't looking good. I then tried taking out the rounded loaf. This is what happened.

Not looking so good, at all.

I soldiered on, hoping that the loaf would still make it through the battle. Ten more minutes in the oven. I said a small prayer.

Jack returned from his trip, walking into the apartment as I was photographing my bread. "Did you make that?" he asked, incredulously. "Yes," I replied, hesitantly.

"Can I try it?"

I slowly handed him a slice of bread, watching intently as he bit down. His eyes opened wide. "Baby!" he exclaimed.

"Really???" I asked, surprised.

"Baby, you should be proud of yourself! This is so good! Baking a cake is easy (umm, ok?), but you actually made bread!"

I did! I did make bread! And it was good!

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Nod
Five~Grain Bread with Walnuts

Adapted from The Italian Baker Carol Field

Makes 2 9 X 5-inch loaves

2 cups walnut pieces

3 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast or 1 1/2 small cakes (27 grams) fresh yeast

¼ cup warm water

3 cups water, room temperature

3 3/4 cups (500 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cups (125 grams) oat flour or finely ground rolled oats

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 grams) rye flour

1 cup less 1 tablespoon (125 grams) whole-wheat flour

¾ cup (125 grams) brown rice flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 grams) salt

Toast the walnuts for 10 minutes in a 400° F oven; then chop in a food processor fitted with the steel blade or with a sharp knife to the size of a fat rice kernel. Do not grind them finely.

BY HAND:
Stir the yeast into the warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in 3 cups water. Mix the walnuts, flours, and salt and stir 2 cups at a time into the dissolved yeast, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. The dough should come together easily. Knead on a floured surface, sprinkling with additional all-purpose flour as needed, until firm, elastic, and no longer sticky, 8 to 10 minutes.

BY MIXER:
Stir the yeast into the warm water in a mixer bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in 3 cups water. Stir in the flours, walnuts, and salt with the paddle. Mix until the dough comes together. Change to the dough hook and knead for 3 to 4 minutes at medium speed until firm and elastic but still slightly sticky. Finish kneading briefly by hand on a surface floured with all-purpose flour.

BY PROCESSOR:
Make sure your food processor can handle the volume of this dough. Even when done in 2 batches, there will be 4 cups flour to be processed. Stir the yeast into the warm water in a small bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Place the flours and salt in a food processor fitted with the dough blade and process with several pulses to sift. With the machine running, pour the dissolved yeast and 3 cups cold water through the feed tube as quickly as the flours can absorb it; process until the dough gathers into a ball. Process 40 seconds longer to knead. Knead in the walnuts by hand on a surface floured with all-purpose flour.

First Rise.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Shaping and Second Rise.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. The dough should be moist, firm, and noticeably elastic, if slightly sticky. Cut the dough in half and shape each half into an oval loaf to fit a loaf pan. Place the loaves in the oiled pans (preferably glass), cover with a heavy towel, and let rise until truly doubled and fully above the tops of the pans, 1 to 1 ¼ hours.

Baking.

Heat oven to 400° F. Slash a pattern in the top of the loaves. One baker in Milan cuts the shape of a stalk of grain on the top; elsewhere bakers make 3 parallel slashes. Bake 40 to 45 minutes; bake the last 5 to 10 minutes out of the pans on a baking stone or baking sheet to brown the bottoms and sides. Cool completely on a rack.

Comments

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Congratulations on making bread - mine deflated too, so no worries. I think this is supposed to be a denser bread, thanks to the lower gluten content. It looks just like mine did (I worried too).

Posted by: Caitlin | February 23, 2009 at 08:39 AM

Teanna, we're in the same Buddy class! I made this bread too, and had some issues, but boy isn't it good? Especially with cheese (I just had some for lunch). Check out the Bread Baking Day event too - this month it's Bread + Potatoes, and you have until March 1 to post. I've got the link on my blog.

I laughed about bread baking = bitter mistress. Well, it looks like you're getting along better now :) Glad to know Jack by name!
Nancy

Posted by: Nancy (n.o.e.) | February 23, 2009 at 01:14 PM

Teanna Your bread crumb looks excellent. So delighted to hear how Jack's eyes lite up!! That's got to be a good score.
This is not the easiest bread to do because it is so dense. You are flying with this one. Probably just needed more butter in the pyrex.
I see Nancy's note on the BBD on Potato bread. Potato breads are totally different, much lighter texture and sooooo good. Mine's in the oven rising now.

Posted by: MyKitchenInHalfCups | February 23, 2009 at 02:45 PM

How funny! I love your post. Bread baking is fun. I love it.

Posted by: pinkstripes | February 23, 2009 at 05:02 PM

Great job on this bread! Great you have such enthousiastic taster!
Shame it got stuck, but in the end it's the taste that matters right! Thanks for baking with us.

Posted by: Lien | February 24, 2009 at 01:20 AM