The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Baking - Donna Diegel [40]
4. Turn out dough onto well-floured surface using bread flour, knead it by hand a few more times, and form it into a ball. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let it rest on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, and roll each into a log, tucking ends underneath. Pinch seams with your fingers, and place bread seam side down on the prepared pans. Loosely cover bread with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours or until double in size. Do not disturb bread or expose it to any drafts.
6. Halfway through the rise time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped lightly. Cool on wire racks.
VEGAN VOCAB
Bread flour is a high-gluten flour and is perfect for making breads where chewiness and loftiness are desired. It has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour, making it especially useful in heavier, whole-grain breads where that extra lift in the dough is needed. It’s the gluten protein that, when mixed with water and agitated, creates elasticity and allows more stretch so the carbon dioxide from yeast fermentation is better contained. Although bread flour is excellent for some products, it’s not a good choice for tender cakes and pastries.
Multi-Grain Bread
This multi-grain bread packed with fiber gets its texture and chewiness from cornmeal, oats, millet, flaxseed, couscous, sunflower seeds, rye flour, and buckwheat.
Yield:
2 (9×5-inch) loaves
Prep time:
30 to 60 minutes
Bake time:
30 to 35 minutes
Serving size:
1-inch slice
¼ cup cornmeal
¼ cup rolled oats
¼ cup millet
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup ground flaxseeds
¼ cup couscous
¼ cup rye flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
2 cups warm water
3TB. canola or vegetable oil
½ cup agave, brown rice, or maple
syrup
2 TB. liquid or granule soy lecithin
1 cup grain and seed mix (see the
following Batter Up!)
2 tsp. salt
3 TB. vital wheat gluten
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3 cups bread flour
2 TB. instant yeast
1. Lightly coat 2 (9×5-inch) loaf pans with cooking oil spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, rolled oats, millet, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, couscous, rye flour, and buckwheat flour.
3. In a large bowl, and using an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment on low speed, combine warm water, canola oil, agave syrup, and soy lecithin, or blend with a whisk. Add grain and seed mix, salt, vital wheat gluten, whole-wheat flour, bread flour, and instant yeast, and mix until dough forms a ball.
4. Knead by hand, or in mixer on low speed, for about 5 minutes, adding extra flour as needed if dough is too sticky. Stop the mixer, and push down dough if it starts to ride up the hook. Continue kneading 2 to 5 more minutes or until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a membrane when stretched (like a balloon that doesn’t tear).
5. Turn out dough onto well-floured surface using bread flour, knead it by hand a few more times, and form it into a ball. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let it rest on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, and roll each into a log, tucking ends underneath. Pinch seams with your fingers, and place bread seam side down in the prepared pans.
7. Loosely cover the pans with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours or until double in size. Do not disturb bread or expose it to any drafts.
8. Halfway through the rise time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
9. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped lightly. Cool on wire racks.
BATTER UP!
The grain and seed mix called for in this recipe can be whatever you can find in your pantry. Don’t have millet or couscous? Substitute something else. Be sure to measure the grain mix before adding it to the bread dough. Store any remainder in a sealed