Sunrise Flour Mil – la petite kitchen

I am looking at this recipe for the first time in a while and realize it is over 10 years old! Time to freshen it up a bit. I found this recipe in a magazine by Cooks Illustrated and now I have it in the Cooks Illustrated Baking book as well. But just in case I loose both sources (anything can happen) I like to have it on my blog site. I also like it here for my family and friends to refer to. So lets set to and freshen it up with new photos! And new thoughts on flour’s.

A lots happened in the last 10 years, (probably for you too, right?) especially in the past year. In a nutshell, I now live in Heaven Alabama. No, its not really named Heaven, but I’m pretty sure it sits right outside the gates of. Of course, come August I might be thinking its sitting right outside the gates of the other place, when the heat and humidity kick in. We can feel some kicking in the air starting in as its in the high 80’s with equal parts humidity. But THANK YOU JESUS For Air Conditioning!

I’ve recently received a shipment of fresh milled heritage grain wheat from Sunrise Flour Mill. I had been eyeballing their site for a while, trying to rationalize buying more (and pricier) flour when I’m baking less then ever. I saw it was Heritage grains. That sounded promising. And organic. Always a plus. They not only sold flour but the whole wheat berries for you to grind! Plus, plus they labeled the bags when the wheat was milled and packaged!

Then when they were giving away a bag of flour with every order, I mean it would be the height of stupidity to not take advantage of that, right? I’m not that stupid!

My wonderful next door neighbor, Betty Lynn has a flour mill she generously offers for my use, so I bought some white wheat berries for milling. White wheat berries makes a soft whole wheat good for pancakes, cookies, coffeecake, brownies, etc. If I want, can blend that with red wheat to make bread flour. Red wheat is a stronger wheat that is used to make bread. Now these berries and the other wheat flours from SFM are heritage grains. That means you are getting the wheat that they grew like in Little House on the Prairie times.

Up in that photo is the 7-grain cereal I’m using for this bread, red whole wheat, white wheat berries, a bread blend of red and white whole wheat bread flour and heritage grain white all purpose flour. For this recipe I am using the all purpose and the red whole wheat. They say they use a technique to grind the wheat that was used in the 1930’s, grinding it finer, so less cutting sharp wheat bran to be cutting up the gluten strands we are trying to create.

These are not to be confused with ancient grains. Ancient grains would be Einkorn or spelt for example. I have Einkorn berries (a Christmas gift) that Betty Lynn ground up for me too. Einkorn is the first known type of wheat the ancient Egyptians used. Or so they say. Its harder to make bread with. Not impossible, but its like learning bread making all over again. So I tend to mix it in with other grains. (Just today I mixed up a batch of Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with 50/50 Einkorn and White Whole Wheat. As an experiment. Will keep you posted. Its ‘marinating’ in the fridge until tomorrow).

But why use heritage grains? I mean, don’t I like the Wheat Montana all purpose flour I’ve been buying in big 10lb sacks from Walmart? Yes, I do! But, I also like the idea of using grains that fed our men and women going into WWII. The breads people ate before more advanced hybridization, pesticides, glyphosates, etc. that caused lots of people to become allergic to it. Why should bread make us sick? As a baker, I want to know! And have been studying for some years. Anyway, Heritage grains, like ancient grains, are easier to digest and, for people with wheat sensitivities, this can be an answer to prayer. Similar to ancient grains, but easier to work with. I had to try it!

(So far there are no Genetically Modified wheat on the market. In Linda-land, of skittles and rainbows, may it always be so.)

Here is the recipe for Multi-grain bread. This makes 2 loaves. Eat one/freeze one. Or give one away. Or for those bigger families, just stand back and throw sticks of butter at the mobs.

If using a brad machine for mixing, cut the recipe in half. (hahaha! I meant ‘bread machine’ but instead of correcting, it made me think of a machine that makes duplicates of Brad Pitt, so I kept it, because, Brad Pitt…)

1 1/4 cups-6 1/4 oz.) 7 grain hot cereal mix (I have use Bobs Red Mill 7 grain and more recently Sunrise Flour Mills 7 grain.)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups (15 oz.) all-purpose flour (Bobs Red Mill, King Arthur, Sunrise, Arrowhead mills. Please avoid store brands)
1 1/2 cups-8 1/4 oz. whole wheat flour
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled (calls for unsalted, but I never have that around.)
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp salt
3/4 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (Optional)

also optional: Using potato water from unsalted boiling of potatoes or a couple of Tbsp of left over mashed potatoes or 2 Tbsp potato flakes. If using, add in with the honey and butter.

Place the 7-grain cereal in a large bowl and pour the boiling water over it, stirring occasionally. Let it sit for about 1 hour, making sure it is not more then 100 degrees. (use your instant read thermometer) If you are using a standing mixer, put the cereal mixture in that mixing bowl.

Once it has cooled, you can add the melted and cooled butter and honey and yeast. Mix it in. (I like using my Danish whisk for this step)

In another bowl, mix the whole wheat and all purpose flours together.

You are going to add the flour 1/2 cup at a time. I start mixing in with the Danish whisk, shifting to the standing mixer when the going gets tough. If doing this by hand, you can use the whisk, switching to hand kneading.

Add the flour until the dough makes a cohesive ball. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. This is Important my sweeties! Its call autolyze and it gives those whole grains time to absorb the liquids. They take longer to do so then all purpose flour. Like getting behind an old, doubled over person using a cane, going up the stairs. They take longer and you just have to be patient.

Now you add the salt. (thought they forgot this ingredient, huh? Salt is a yeast inhibitor and I guess they wanted to give the dough a chance to rise without it. DO NOT leave out this ingredient, or you will be sorry. This is the voice of experience speaking here). Knead the salt into the dough and continue kneading with the mixer for for 6-8 minutes. If using mixer and dough is not leaving side of the bowl and looks too sticky, add a little more flour, 2-3 tbsp at a time and continue mixing. If kneading by hand, knead longer, at least 10 minutes, until it feels bouncy.

During the last minute of kneading add in the sunflowers or pumpkin seeds. (Unless you are out, in which case, don’t worry about it.)

Transfer to a floured work surface to continue kneading by hand, dispersing the seeds throughout the dough and the dough forms a smooth, taut ball. I like to finish the dough off on the counter with my hands. I get a feel for how the dough is working. Too wet? Too dry? Just right? Add a mist of water or flour as needed.

Cover the dough in the bowl with plastic wrap. I usually spray the dough with an oil spray first, then cover with plastic or a plate over the bowl. Let it rise about 45-60 minutes, until about double in size.

Spray 2 -8 x 4 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. (Or rub Crisco shortening in them. I tell you, Crisco is the best for greasing pans although probably not for much else. The loaves practically leap out of the pans).

Transfer the dough to the floured board you used earlier and cut in half. You can weigh it at this time with your kitchen scale to get even measurements. I didn’t do this yesterday. I just held them up and went “yeah, hmm, okay, ” and consequently ended up with a big loaf and a little loaf.

Pat each half into roughly a 9 x 6 rectangle and starting at the 6″ side, roll up ‘tautly’. Pinch the ends down. I take the sides of my hand and kind of push the ends down and tuck in as needed.

Before putting in the pan there is one last step. The oats.

Sprinkle the oats onto a plate. Brush (or spray) some oil, water or a fork beaten egg white into the shaped dough and roll in the oats. (Or you can use oat bran, wheat bran or nothing at all.)

Place your shaped oaty dough into the prepared loaf pans, turn the oven on to 375 to pre heat, cover the loaves again with plastic wrap. Let them rise 30-40 minutes. Pop into the oven when they have risen, not quite double and bake for 35-40 minutes. Do not, I repeat, do not get busy typing on a blog and ignore the timer when it goes off. If you do, you may have over browned loaves. Not the end of the world, but still.

They should read about 200 degrees on your instant read thermometer. (if you do not have one, click on it to see why you can’t live without this) Run a knife around the edges of the loaf and tip them out of the pans, putting them on a rack to cool. Let them cool before slicing or it will mush up when you cut. Most all bread is that way. Let it cool as much as much as you can stand. Then slice, butter and ummm!