Let me get one thing out of the way here. I’m not one of those people that bakes homemade bread every week. I’m not even one of those people that makes homemade bread every month. And it’s not because I don’t like it; it’s because I like it too much. I have a lot of friends who bake several loaves each week and use it for sandwiches, etc. during the week. And that just doesn’t work for me. Because I don’t bake a fresh loaf of bread and just get it out when I need to make my my kid’s PB&J. I bake a loaf of fresh bread and slice off chunks to slather with butter and stuff in my face until it’s gone. Which is generally about 30 minutes after it comes out of the oven. My family can devour a loaf of fresh bread in a heartbeat, so for us, it’s more of a luxury than a staple! That being said, I love homemade bread. And good multigrain bread has eluded me until now. It’s just way too much effort to collect 6 or 7 different grains and then crack them, etc. I’d rather just run to a good bakery and grab myself a loaf. But I was watching an episode of Cook’s Country a while back and I watched them do the most brilliant thing- start a bread recipe with 7 grain hot cereal mix. Duh! it’s just fresh cracked grains; everything right in one little package. I was scribbling down the recipe from the show when it dawned on me to check my Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook, and sure enough, there was the recipe. My family loved this bread. It’s so super soft and packed with good-for-you grains (so you don’t feel as bad when you dip it in Nutella or something). It’s definitely going to be my new go-to wheat bread.
You can usually find boxes of seven-grain hot cereal mix near the hot cereals in the grocery store. Just make sure you’re getting a hot cereal. Bob’s Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills are two of the best to look for. My normal grocery store was out when I went (figures!) so I ran over to my local WinCo where they have an amazing bulk section, and sure enough, they had both a 7 grain and a 10 grain. The 10 looked like it had quite a bit of corn meal in it, so I stuck with 7 like the recipe called for. Look at all of those great, wholesome grains in there:
such a great shortcut! To soften the grains, you basically create a porridge mixture by soaking them in hot water. The grains soak up all of that water and the mixture thickens, like this:
That’s the base of your bread dough, and to it you’ll add some yeast (rapid rise), melted butter, and honey.
Then goes in a mix of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. CI tested the bread with bread flour as well and found it made the bread too chewy, and all-purpose flour worked best. So if you’re used to using bread flour in your homemade bread, stick with all-purpose for this one.
Also, I feel like woman-of-the-year because I ground my own wheat. I know some of you do that all the time, but just let me have my moment, okay?? 😉 I’ve been loving my Wonder Mill wheat grinder. You can also get a grain mill attachment for your KitchenAid.
When everything comes together it’s a very soft dough. As you can see it kind of looks like cookie dough (but don’t be fooled; that would be sad. Those aren’t toffee bits, my friends.) At this point, cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. I actually love recipes that require things like 20 minute resting periods. It’s just enough time to put all of the dishes in the dishwasher and wipe of the counters, etc.
After 20 minutes, add the salt and then knead with the dough hook on your stand mixer for 5 more minutes. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl, and you can add up to 3 tablespoons of additional flour, but I wanted to show you a picture. I think one the big mistakes people make when bread making is mis-judging what the dough should look and feel like and consequently adding too much flour, which makes bread dry and dense. I know because I did that a lot when I first started making bread! I thought bread dough should have the consistency of say, a thawed Rhodes roll. It wasn’t until I watched a friend of mine do it that I realized generally it should be much, much softer. So notice in my photo that it’s clearing the top of the bowl, but it doesn’t mean it’s one solid blob that’s not sticking at all. It’s still fairly sticky. And keep in mind you will be putting it out on a floured surface so that will add additional flour as well.
After the dough is finished kneading for 5 minutes, scrape it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it a few times and then form a nice smooth ball. Place that ball in a lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic and let it rise until double in size, about 45-60 minutes.
After it’s risen (don’t punch it down!) Gently scrap it out onto a lightly floured surface (I always use my Roul’Pat), divide it in two, and form each into a 9×6 rectangle
Roll it up into a log (preferably an even one, not lop-sided one like mine!) and pinch the edges closed. Spray it with cooking spray or just rub lightly oiled hands all over it and then roll it over some oats sprinkled onto the counter. They stick right on; easy peasy.
Place your two loaves into 2 9×5 inch bread pans. Cover them with plastic and let them rise about 30 minutes. Then pop them in the oven and watch your house suddenly smell like a bakery.
Here’s another great tip for bread making. For a long time I didn’t know how to tell if my bread was done. You can tap on the top to listen for a hollow sound, but that’s never been super accurate for me. You can’t cut into it to check, nor does a toothpick test really work all that well, so I was constantly overcooking bread, or having it turn out dough-y inside. Then I figured out, duh! Use a thermometer! Best way to make perfectly cooked bread. Most average yeast breads like this are done at right around 200 degrees.
Let it cool in the pans for about 5 minutes and then take them out of the pans and cool on a rack. If you’re going to just grab chunks and slather them in butter (uh..who does that? Not me.) then you can rip into it when it’s till a little warm. But if you’re going to use it for sandwiches (and it’s really good for sandwiches) you’ll want to be sure to let it cool completely- at least 2 hours, more if you can handle it. And thanks to a reader for reminding me about this tip: If you plan on slicing bread like this for sandwiches it’s really helpful to have an electric knife. The bread is so soft that it really helps. Or if nothing else, make sure to use a really sharp bread knife.
The inside is the perfect texture; soft and springy, with the perfect amount of grains.
It’s not overly wheat-y or crunchy, it just tastes flavorful and wholesome and the grains are a nice tender texture. My kids ate it right up.
If I was the kind of person who could make homemade bread every week, I would make this one. But alas, I am not. I’m the kind of person who can buy bread at Costco every week. And make this on the weekends simply to eat with butter and jam. Yep. That’s me.
Multigrain Bread
Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup (6 1/4 ounces) seven-grain hot cereal mix
2 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour (not bread flour)
1 1/2 cups (8 1/4 oz) whole wheat flour
1/4 cup honey
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled*
2 1/2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 tablespoon salt
Optional (I omitted): 3/4 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats
*If you’re using salted butter, just decrease the additional salt by just a bit.
Instructions
Place cereal mix in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook and pour boiling water over it; let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to 100 degrees and resembles thick porridge, about 1 hour. Whisk flours together in separate bowl.
Once grain mixture has cooled, add honey, butter, and yeast and mix on low speed until combined. Add flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, and knead until cohesive mass starts to form (*note: some at high altitudes have noted they have not needed all of the flour, go by look and feel and stop adding flour if you need to!) 1 1/2-2 minutes; cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes. Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears sides of bowl, 3-4 minutes (if it does not clear sides, add 2-3 tablespoons additional all-purpose flour and knead until it does. Don’t add more!) continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes. Add seeds (if using) and knead for another 15 seconds. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead by hand until seeds are dispersed evenly and dough forms smooth, round ball. Place dough in large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 45-60 minutes.
Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and divide in half. Press 1 piece of dough into 9×6 inch rectangle, with short side facing you. Roll dough toward you into firm cylinder, keeping roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Turn loaf seam side up and pinch it closed. Repeat with second piece of dough. Spray loaves lightly with water or vegetable il spray. Roll each loaf in oats to coat evenly and place seam side down in prepared pans, pressing gently into corners. Cover loaves loosely with greased plastic and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size 30-40 minutes. Dough should barely spring back when poked with knuckle.
Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until loaves register 200 degrees, 35-40 minutes. Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove loaves from pans, return to rack, and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, before slicing and serving.
Storage: Bread can be wrapped in double layer of plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. Wrapped with additional layer of foil, bread can be frozen for up to a month.
For those without a stand mixer, Cook’s Illustrated recommends: “Stir wet and dry ingredients together with a stiff rubber spatula until the dough comes together and looks shaggy. Transfer the dough to a clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, roughd ball, 15-25 minutes, adding additional flour, if necessary, to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter. Proceed with recipe as directed.”
**Make sure to come check out The Scoop tomorrow, we’re going to be giving away a copy of this Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook!
Questions & Reviews
I made a double batch of this today, yummy yummy. The one thing I did differently was, I only had active dry yeast that needed to be proofed, so I used 1 cup less of water in the grain mix at the beginning and used it to proof the yeast just before adding the honey and butter, and mixed those together, before adding the flours.
This looks terrific, thank you! I am always looking for good side dishes!
Made this today w/ Bob’s Red Mill 7 grain. LOVE the texture! I make bread all the time and thought this was a tiny bit on the salty side. But I’d better try a few more slices just to make sure. (I’ll add more honey next time)
Got another silly question for ya’s. So I went up town and on the back of the jar, it says one packet equals 2 1/4 tsp, so I just opened up a second packet and took a 1/4 tsp from that. I couldn’t find 7 grain so I used Red River hot cereal. I let it soak, but after adding the butter, yeast and honey…I sort of got lost. I wasn’t sure how much of the 41/2 cups of mixed flour to add, so only added it till it looked somewhat like your picture,which was only about half of it…… but then noticed it didn’t say to add any more flour. I added a bunch more,…. anyhow…still somewhat lost. I have it rising, but not sure what sort of brick I may have created.
How much of the flour do you add before letting it rest for 20 minutes.
hopeless at breadmaking..
Debbie.
I had the same problem with mine. I added all the flour it said to but when I was all done it was SO tough so I didn’t continue on with the rest of the steps. I am trying it again adding a little bit more water to the cereal when it soaks and possibly not adding all of the flour either. I used cream of wheat 7 grain cereal. Maybe that wasn’t the right one to get and it soaked up more water than it should have?
You want to make sure it looks like the pictures that she posts. I ended up using about 3/4 cup less flour than called for. I don’t make bread very well, so I was really glad for the pics, otherwise, I wouldn’t have known to stop adding the flour.
I too had this problem. I think I let the cereal soak too long so it absorbed all of the liquid. After mixing in all of the flour, it was very dry and tough. I just added another half cup or so oh hot water so it became sticky like the picture. It turned out just fine.
I too had to add water in the end?? I’m not sure what I did but after I mixed everything together it was just a pile of crumbs. However I added boiling water, maybe a cup, then panicked because I was sure I just killed the yeast. However it worked out and I was able to knead the bread (adding more flour) and it turned out awesome!!
If you make it again, I’d just try to find the right cereal, sounds like that’s where yours got off to a rocky start. Mine was incredibly wet and sticky with the full amount of flour so I’m not sure what is happening with the few people that didn’t need it all. My only guess is that the cereal you used was a different type?
I am in the process of making this with the exact cereal called for Bob’s Red Mill 7 grain, and the exact same thing is happening. I still have at least a cup of flour mixture left that I haven’t added and my dough is tough and forms a ball, not sticky at all. Wish I knew what the problem was and how to fix it!
This looks great. I was wondering about the yeast. Do you have to use bread machine yeast? I do have quick rise in the packets….is that the same? If so, how many packets equal 2 1/2 tsp, or should I just go get the bread machine stuff?
thanks for the awsome recipies…
Debbie.
I do not have a bread machine and I only had active dry yeast. I made this bread and it turned out awesome…too awesome can’t stop eating it. I just followed the steps on the back of the active yeast jar to prepare the yeast. Then after the 7 grains were ready I mixed together all of the wet and dry ingredients. I kneaded the bread for about 20 min, I had to add about 2-3 more cups of flour to keep it from sticking. The bread turned out great, I will be making this again and again!
This bread is so delicious! I made it this afternoon and it disappeared.
I’ve baked a lot of bread but haven’t been happy with any of the multi-grain recipes I’ve tried. This one is a total winner. Hooray!!!
Thanks so much.
This bread is great! We had it with our dinner tonight and it was so good. My 6 year old said it was the best bread she ever tasted 🙂
I made this bread today and it turned out great! It was easy and my whole family loved it! Thanks for sharing!
This looks very much like a recipe I use. I make bread at Christmas and give it out to neighbors with jam from the previous season.
Wow, that looks really good. Thanks for including a picture of the inside view too. That’s the best shot! Since I have all the different grains at home already, I’m wondering if I could create my own 7-cereal mix. Any idea what quantities to use them in to simulate the store bought cereal mix?
I’m really not sure, sorry!
Great post! Might just make this.
By the way,
Yummy!! I love making homemade bread! :))
This looks good. I am going to attempt to make this in my bread machine today. I didn’t find 7 grain cereal, so I got 10 grain hot cereal instead. I hope it turns out as good as yours looks and sounds! LOL
Amelia, how did the recipe turn out with the bread machine? What modifications and settings di you use? Thanks.
It was good. I used 1/4 teaspoon less yeast sine I live at high altitude. I will have to make it by hand just to see the difference (if there is one) to figure out any possible modifications.
Re: making it by hand. I’m currently abroad and my Bosch didn’t make it with me, but we still love home made bread! I have been making my breads by hand for a couple of months now, and just finished this recipe. I put in only 3 cups of the flour, and then turned my soft dough out onto my remaining flour, let it rest, and just gradually incorporated the remaining flour into the dough as I kneaded. I just let it be a little sticky on my hands and counter and nothing bad happened 🙂 A general rule of thumb is if kneading by hand, double the amount of minutes kneading, so get ready for an arm workout!
Made it tonite. HUGE HIT. And I don’t make bread, so your pics were so helpful! I can’t stop eating it. With butter.
I just tried this recipe tonight with home milled white winter wheat berries. It was moist, delicious, and felt so hearty. Thank you Sara! This is the first recipe I’ve been able to successfully make with my new mill!
I made this bread today! I have tried many recipes, but this is fairly easy and the dough was so easy to work with…I used sunflower seeds in the dough!! Thanks for our new go to sandwich bread recipe! Also, can’t not wait to hear you guys at the Arlington Time Out for Women. 🙂 I bought everyone in my family your cookbook for Christmas this year! Love the recipes, keep them coming!
This looks amazing! I’ve never made multi-grain bread but now I am definately going to try! And I’m just like you, our bread is gone in minutes when I make it, or when grandma makes it, or when neighbors give us bread for Christmas! Last Christmas my son totally ate a whole loaf of bread as an after school snack! I’m so proud…..
I love your site!! Santa brought me a Kitchen Aid mixer and I do believe this will be the perfect recipe to try my hand at ‘real’ bread making! I don’t think we’ll have to worry about how to keep the leftovers fresh and I don’t think it will quite make the 2 hours cooling time either! Thanks for sharing and all of the wonderful tips!
I want a slice of this bread with jam please and thank you! 🙂
Yum! I’ve tried many of your recipes and people always want to know where I got the recipe from! Going to give this one a try too. You are best best “go to” food/idea website! Keep it up!!
This looks amazing. I have similar recipe that I do that use’s Bobs Red Mill 10 grain cereal…but this looks more moist. Can’t wait to try.
Looks so delicious!
Wonderful. I love the shortcut. Cant wait to try this recipe. Looks delicious.
Thanks for the great recipe. If I grind my own flour should I use hard or soft wheat, or a combination of both?
I’m right there with you on the “loving bread too much” bandwagon. My mom won’t let herself own a stand mixer or food processor because she doesn’t want to be tempted to make bread. We’re so bad. Really, so bad.
Sara, I couldn’t believe your post today! My husband got me a wonder mill for xmas! I tried a couple of recipes, but only succeeded in making tasty bricks 🙂 I’m going to try your recipe tonight. Do you have any tips/tricks for working with fresh milled wheat flour as opposed to commercial or do you use a certain website/book for good recipes and techniques using fresh milled? Thanks so much! I love your blog and just bought your wonderful book. 🙂
I got a GREAT tip about working with whole wheat from a man that used to manage K-Tec sales for the intermountain west. He said to always add 1000mg of vitamin C when using freshly ground wheat. It seems grinding the wheat gives off a certain enzyme and the vitamin C kills the enzyme without harming the texture of the bread. I’ve been adding 1000 mg of Vitamin C to every batch of whole wheat bread I make and it really does make a difference. Buy my Vitamin C at the $ store and just crush the cheap tablets between two spoons and add a little hot water to ensure they’re dissolved. Add the ‘vitamin C’ water right to the recipe when starting the recipe. It really does work….try it !
This bread has the very best texture! Our rural grocery store only had the five grain cereal, but it worked out GREAT!
So Im just in the process of making this. Did u add all the flour mixture? I didmost of it and I think I put too much in! Or did u add until u got it how you wanted it? So excited for this one!!!
I have a similar recipe that I LOVE!!!! It is SUPER easy to make, and I’ve been wanting to add the oats on the outside (just for looks of course 🙂 I will have to roll it in oats just like yours! Looks great 🙂
http://delightsbites.blogspot.com/2011/08/oatmeal-bread_05.html