Make It Homemade: Multigrain Bread

I've been baking my own bread for two years. Once we made the switch to homemade bread, we never looked back. I generally make white bread using either the Artisan Bread recipe or this recipe, Real Lovin' Bread. If I want to make the bread "healthier", I sub in a few cups of white whole wheat flour. Now that I'm proficient at white and wheat bread, I wanted to try some other types of breads so when my friend Megan posted her recipe for Mighty Multigrain Bread I knew I had to make it.

After checking out the grains I needed at the grocery store, I decided to wait and order the ingredients from Azure Standard. At half the price and twice the volume, it was the way to go and I now have enough millet to last until my kids graduate from high school. I was unable to find any cracked wheat so I just left it out and added a bit more millet and steel cut oats. I also forgot the wheat germ!

I did make a few small changes to the recipe. First, I substituted honey for the brown sugar and just made sure to watch my water ratio to make up for the added moisture from the honey. I ended up using the same amount of water and flour as called for in the recipe, though. Then during the second rise, I only let the dough rise for about 30 minutes because I wanted the crumb be more on the dense side.  I only made one loaf and froze the other half of the dough for later.

This is a delicious bread and nice change from white or wheat. My three year old doesn't care for the "nuts" in it, but the rest of us love it. I didn't find the bread any more difficult to make than any other recipe I've tried -- it just requires a lot more ingredients! But they are worth effort!