Multigrain bread extraordinaire

I just love multigrain breads. There's just something about all of those grains melding together into one loaf, but still keeping a little bit of their individuality (is that a word??). I have made many different multigrain loaves, and one of my favorites is Rose Beranbaum's loaf from the Bread Bible. I am always up for a new recipe so I thought I would try Peter Reinhart's multigrain bread extraordinaire from BBA. I did change the grains to Bob's Red Mill 10 grain cereal, because that is my favorite. Same amounts though.

This is the grain soaking overnight in a jar with water (soaker). A soaker is used to help break down the grains before being put into the dough. I guess that makes sense.

The next day the dough was mixed. I didn't have any brown rice cooked so I added left over white rice instead. The dough was very sticky, and I probably added little too much flour (you know that is the hardest thing to resist).




The dough turned out very nice and supple after 10 min in the mixer on medium speed. It even past the dreaded windowpane test for just a second or two. The grains that I used were still very visible in the dough, but that is the way I like it.



The dough registered 79 degrees F, which was within Peter's range. I put it in a greased bowl to rise until doubled, about 90 minutes.

Next, I placed the dough in a large loaf pan (BTW, Peter explains how to form most loaves in BBA), brushed the loaf with water and sprinkled with poppy seeds.


I covered the pan with plastic wrap and let it rise until about an inch over the top. Meanwhile I preheated the oven to 350F. The dough doubled in half the time, about 45 minutes, and I baked it on the middle shelf for about 40 minutes until it registered 190F on the thermometer.



This loaf turned out to be very good. Everyone really enjoyed it. Actually I am thinking about making this one of our sandwich loaves for the family. Wouldn't it be nice not to have to buy anymore factory produced, run-of-the-mill, bland bread from the store? I have to go back to the real world now...