Whole Wheat Flax Seed Bread

I think I just found my favorite whole wheat flax seed bread recipe. And I came up with it almost all on my own. "Almost" because I started off with Honey Oatmeal Bread from KingArthurFlour.com which I baked into Oatmeal Flax Seed Bread using half whole wheat flour and half bread flour. From that, I left out oatmeal all together, upped flax seeds and the whole wheat flour portion and made Flax Seed Bread Made With Whipping Cream. This time, I made the bread even healthier by substituting olive oil for whipping cream, reducing the sweetener and using all whole wheat flour.



The bread came out perfectly domed, crunchy and at the same time soft. It's not as sweet as the past loaves which is perfect toasted for breakfast.



Ingredients

• 2 oz. flax seeds


• 8 oz. hot water


• 12 oz. whole wheat flour


• 1/4 oz. vital wheat gluten


• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 2 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast


• 1 oz. light tasting olive oil


• 1 oz. agave nectar

Directions

1. Soak flax seeds in hot water for about 10 minutes while letting the water cool down.


2. Mix flour, wheat gluten, salt and yeast together in a large bowl. Add flax seeds and water, olive oil and agave nectar. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together.


3. Knead by hand on a lightly flour surface or right in the bowl for 8 minutes with 5 to 10 minutes pause in the middle. After the pause the dough will become more manageable.


4. When the dough is smooth, ball it up and let rise in the same bowl covered with plastic wrap for about an hour.


5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface (I used a silicone mat), flatten and roll up into a log shape. Crimp the seams including both ends. Drop into a greased loaf pan and cover loosely with a plastic wrap. Let rise until the dough dome about an inch over the pan - about an hour.


6. About 15 minutes before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 400 degrees.


7. Put the bread into the oven. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Bake for 35 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool for at least an hour on a cooling rack before slicing.

Flax Seed Bread Made with Whipping Cream

I bought a pint of whipping cream to make some frosting but never got to it. For weeks I used a few drops of it here and there. Sometimes in my coffee, sometimes in steel cut oats or my breakfast quinoa pudding. I needed to come up with new ways to use the pint and figured I would replace butter in this bread recipe with whipping cream and see what happens.



These pictures were taken in my kitchen with hardly enough light to see anything so they don't really do the bread justice. It came out very wonderfully soft with light texture and a nice crunch from flax seeds. It also rose very beautifully. Good thing I wrote down what I used. This is definitely a recipe to make over and over again (when there's cream in a house and you don't want to drink it all.)



Ingredients

• 5 oz. hot water


• 2 oz. flax seeds


• 7 oz whole wheat flour


• 3 oz. bread flour


• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt


• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast


• 2 oz Agave nectar


• 5 oz whipping cream

Directions

1. Soak flax seeds in hot water for about 10 minutes.


2. Mix whole wheat flour, bread flour, salt and yeast in a mixer bowl. Add Agave nectar, whipping cream and soaked flax seed.


3. With a hook attachment, run the mixer at low speed for 7 to 8 minutes until the dough pulls away from the bowl.


4. Ball up the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour until it doubles.


5. Grease a loaf pan. Grease the same plastic wrap. Gently turn out the dough and stretch the surface while forming a loaf. Place in the pan, cover loosely with the greased plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 more hour or until the dough rise just above the pan.


6. About 15 minutes before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes. After the first 30 minutes, check if the bread is brown enough. If it is, cover with foil to prevent over browning. When it's done baking, turn out from the pan onto a cooling rack and let cool for at least an hour before cutting.

Whole Wheat Bread with Flax and Oat Bran

I'm a little bit obsessed with making yeast bread lately. During the past couple of weeks, I baked a loaf of King Arthur Flour Classic 100% Whole Wheat Bread which turned out so delicious that I didn't have time to take any picture before the whole loaf was gone. I also baked a loaf of no-knead rosemary bread from my tiny rosemary plant on my window sill. I need to experiment with the proportion of liquid/flour/herb a little more before posting the recipe here.



I also baked Peter Reinhart's Oat Bran Broom Bread from his amazing whole grain bread cookbook. The reason he called it broom bread was that it has so much fiber it could clean you up...



The instructions to make the bread were on two pages - not including picture. They involve making a soaker (soaking grains and flour in water and salt) at least 12 hours in advance, a biga (fermenting minimal amount of yeast with flour and water) for at least 8 hours ahead. Then all are kneaded together with additional flour, liquid, oil and sweetener (I used Agave nectar) before 2 rises. I won't even try to write down the whole process (which is actually simple - it just requires a bit of planning) in this post.



But if you are serious about baking wonderful 100% whole grain bread, get this book. The bread came out soft and flavorful even with all that fiber from oat bran and ground flax seed. And with additional fat and sugar, the bread didn't go stale as fast as leaner bread. Five days after baking, the bread was still pretty good toasted.

Red Quinoa Pudding

I have a friend staying with me for a few nights. She's doing an elimination diet to see if her skin will clear out. She doesn't eat dairy and wheat. I made this quinoa pudding for breakfast rather than my usual oats or yogurt so that she can eat with me.



I don't know why I don't make this more often. I tastes so good and it's good for me. It's probably the highest protein breakfast ever (aside from eggs.) The original version is here.




Ingredients

• 1/3 cup red quinoa or not red


• 1 cup water


• 1 cup soy milk


• A pinch of salt


• 3 tablespoon Agave nectar


• 1 egg


• 1/2 vanilla bean


• 1/2 cup or more blueberries or other fruit

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium high heat, boil quinoa with water and salt for about 10 minutes stir occasionally.


2. Reduce the heat to low and add soy milk and scraped vanilla bean. Cook for 10 more minutes. Take care not to let soy milk boil over.


3. In a small bowl, beat Agave nectar with an egg. Slowly add about 1/4 cup of cooking liquid to the egg. Whisk in to temper. Add this back to the saucepan. Stir vigorously for a couple of minutes.


4. Turn the heat off. Serve with fresh berries. Make barely 2 servings.

Oatmeal Flax Bread

My house guest from last week left me an eighth container of quick-cooking oats when she moved out. When I saw it, my brain went wild with all the possibilities. I could make oatmeal cookies, crisps, raspberry bars, coffee cake, muffins, etc. I don't stock up oatmeal for this reason. I would go crazy baking stuff - turning healthy food into not so healthy but super yummy baked goods.

I decided to make bread. Honey Oatmeal Bread.



The problem was that I didn't have enough oatmeal. I didn't have honey, applesauce or instant mash potato flakes. And I wasn't going out to buy them just for this loaf of bread. So I followed the recipe as much as I could with things I had in the apartment. I replaced honey with Agave nectar, skipped apple sauce and potato flakes, upped the amount of liquid and added flax seeds. The bread came out super soft with beautiful thin crust and full of flavor - as a result of 3/4 stick of butter and lots of sweetener. I flopped the whole batch into a loaf pan and it rose way above the rim which resulted in funny looking loaf. I'll have to divide the dough next time and make a few rolls out of it.



Ingredients

• 8 oz. warm water


• 3 oz. quick cooking oats


• 1 1/2 oz. flax seeds


• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast


• 2 oz. Agave nectar


• 3 oz. melted butter


• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt


• 5 oz. bread flour plus more for kneading and shaping


• 4 1/2 oz. white whole wheat flour

Directions

1. Soak oats and flax seeds in warm water for 20 minutes.


2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is wet.


3. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Rest the dough a couple of times between kneading. Add more flour if the dough is too wet. By the end, the dough should be springy and smooth.


4. Let the dough rise in a clean and greased bowl. Cover tightly with a plastic wrap. For about 1 1/2 to two hours until the dough doubles in bulk.


5. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Lightly stretch it out and fold into third onto itself to form a loaf shape. Crimp shut the seams.


6. Let rise again in a greased loaf pan for about 1 1/2 hours until the dough domes above the pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.


7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees about 15 minutes before the dough is ready. Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack and let cool for about 1 hour before cutting.

Flax Seed Bread

I don't care that flax is not the wonder grain I thought it was. I decided I like how weirdly slimy and crunchy it feels in my mouth. This bread tastes like it's good for you. It's dense, yeasty, with the flax seed crunch that makes me chew forever. Maybe this should be called macrobiotic bread since it makes me chew more. I have a need to chase all the seeds with my teeth whenever I take a bite of it.



I adapted the no-knead bread recipe to use 200 grams whole wheat flour, 200 grams all purpose flour and 100 grams flax seeds with 375 grams water. Flax seeds really benefits from the 18-hour fermentation in this recipe (plus it's too hot to knead anyway.) They softened and became weirdly and flavorfully slimy.



I have made this in a loaf pan at lower temperature to produce softer sandwich bread. But I think the dutch oven version which made crusty and chewy bread is definitely prettier and more delicious.

Whole Wheat Flax Bread

I'm trying to add more flax to my diet for its anti-inflammation property. My latest annual blood test showed that I have higher inflammation in my body than normal. It must be all those knee and rotator cuff injuries. This Whole Wheat Flax Breadrecipe from KingArthurFlour.com is perfect.

This bread taste healthy. But not in a bad way. It's substantial but not too dense. It's soft and nutty and a tiny bit sweet - perfect for toasts and sandwiches.



I substituted a few items in the recipe and converted it into weight. If you haven't got yourself a scale, get one this weekend. Just for the dishes that you don't have to clean from one baking, it is already worth its price.



Ingredients

• 10 oz. warm water


• 1 oz. Agave nectar


• 1 3/8 oz. ground flax seeds


• 10 oz. traditional whole wheat flour


• 4 1/4 oz. bread flour


• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt


• 1 teaspoon instant yeast

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. After everything is combined, turn onto floured counter top and knead until you get smooth dough. It took me almost 10 minutes but I'm a slow kneader. I didn't have to add any more flour or water but you might need to depending on the condition of your kitchen.


2. Ball the dough up, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in bulk (just a little over 1 hour.)


3. Gently deflate the dough, and form into loaf by stretching the dough surface. Let rise a again in a greased loaf pan, covered with plastic wrap until the dough rise above the pan (another hour.)


4. 30 minutes before the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning the bread out into a cooling rack. Let cool for at least an hour before slicing.

Raisin Black Sesame Bars

Hopefully within a few months, I will be on my way to a brand new apartment with slightly more spacious kitchen. Until then, I'm on a mission to use all the dry ingredients I currently have in the cupboard and to not buy any new ones. Starting with a jar of Tahini (from making hummus in 2007....), a bag of raisins and a lot of black sesame seeds.



After hours of browsing, I found Benne Seed Raisin Bars on Epicurious.com According to the site, benne == sesame. I modified the recipe a little by reducing butter to 3/4 cup, sugar to 1/2 cup and using a mixture of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. The bars came out just sweet enough but not too sweet. They were crunchy with a nice contrasting texture from sprinkled sesame seeds. These could be energy bars in disguise with all the protein and fiber from sesame and raisins.



Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature


• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar


• 1 egg


• 3/4 cup Tahini (ground sesame) or use unsweetened peanut butter


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 cup whole wheat flour


• 1 cup raisins


• 1/2 cup black sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 11x7 inch baking dish. I used 2.2 qt Pyrex dish.


2. With an electric mixer or by hand, beat butter and sugar together until combined. Add an egg. Whisk until well blended. Add Tahini, salt and vanilla extract. Continue beating until smooth.


3. Add all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Stir until combined. Fold in raisins.


4. Pour the mixture into greased pan. Sprinkle generously with black sesame seeds. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan. Cut into bars and store in cookie jar (not airtight - the cookies will lose its crunch in airtight container.)

PS. I'm still alive. Apparently 3-year-old Tahini is not poisonous.

Wholewheat Bread with Oatmeal and Flax Seeds

My life is so awesome... I just received my brand new camera, a Canon SD1100. I love it. It's just like my old one except better - lighter - and slimmer. And I baked the best and softest 100% whole grain bread. Nothing makes me happier.


Look! No red tint and no need to crop out red strip!

I borrowed Peter Reinharts' Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor from the library. Read the whole thing cover to cover in 3 days. The book introduced the idea of delayed fermentation, just like no-knead bread, but with a twist. I want to call it delayed double fermentation. He suggested that flour with a bit of salt be fermented separately from yeast to let enzymes develop flavors from the flour and grains, while at the same time small amount of yeast and flour are fermented for a long time to develop gluten and different set of flavors.



I prepared this loaf of bread in two nights. The first night mixing and fermenting. The second night combining, kneading and baking. The result was the softest home-made whole grain bread. It's amazingly flavorful and tender.

I might have to buy this book. I already started my second recipe from the book: wholewheat raisin bread. Can't wait to bake it tomorrow night.

Blueberry Flax Muffins

I adapted this recipe from Flax'N Apple Muffins on the side of Hodgson Mill ground flax seed box. The muffins came out delicious. I was impressed. I have to look for more recipes from their website. I love that they have the same amount of flour as fruit (1 1/2 cups each) plus 1/4 cup of flax. The muffins are very lightly sweetened with Agave nectar.



Ingredients

• 1/4 cup ground flax seed


• 3/4 cup wholewheat flour


• 3/4 cup all purpose flour


• 2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1 egg


• 3 tablespoons light tasting olive oil


• 1/2 cup milk


• 1/4 cup Agave nectar
  
• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries - unthawed (I used frozen wild blueberries from Trader Joe's.)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin pan.


2. Whisk flax, wholewheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a clean, dry bowl.


3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, oil, milk and Agave nectar together until well blended.


4. Stir the wet ingredients onto dry with no more than 10 strokes. Fold in blueberries.


5. Drop by tablespoon onto prepared muffin pan. Bake for 18 minutes. Let cool for a minute in the pan. Remove from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.

Quinoa Risotto with Peas

Still had more Quinoa left from the last risotto and breakfast Quinoa pudding. So I decided to make some more risotto except that this time I was not as prepared. No leftover wine, no mushrooms, no bacon, no nothing - just frozen peas and lots of butter. So that's what I used.

The dish came out a little sweet from the peas and a bit buttery. I was glad I used butter and not olive oil here.



Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter


• 1 onion - chopped


• 5 cloves garlic - crushed and chopped


• 1 cup Quinoa


• 1 cup vegetable broth


• 3 - 4 cups water


• 2 bay leaves


• 2 cups frozen peas


• Salt and pepper


• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Melt butter in a pan. Add garlic and chopped onion. Stir until the onion becomes slightly brown. Add Quinoa and bay leaves. Alternately add broth and water 1/2 cup at a time after the liquid was absorbed.


2. When Quinoa is cooked (the grains become clear without opaque middle), add frozen peas and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes more until peas are heated.


3. Sprinkle with parmesan right before serving. Make 2 -3 servings.

Red Wine Quinoa Risotto with Mushrooms and Bacon

Encouraged from my last cooking success, I tried something more exciting and complicated this time. I had a leftover red wine from the Middle Age and a box of Quinoa. So I figured I would try making risotto with them. A whole grain version of risotto.

And it turned out really good! Maybe it's the bacon, garlic and cheese combination. Maybe it's just me. I'm hungry all the time so everything tastes delicious.



Ingredients

• 1/2 onion - chopped


• 5 cloves garlic - peeled and chopped


• 3 strips bacon - diced


• 1 cup Quinoa


• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock


• 1 cup red wine


• 2 cups water


• 1/2 pound of mixed mushrooms - cut (I used a combination of Cremini, Shitake, and Oyster mushrooms. They came in a mixed mushroom package from Trader Joe's.)


• 1 teaspoon dry oregano


• Salt and pepper


• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a large pot or deep pan, cook bacon on medium high heat for half a minute until bacon fat coats pan's bottom. Add garlic and onion. Let cook and stir occasionally until the onion starts to brown - about 2 minutes.


2. Add red wine and Quinoa. Let cook until bubbly. Add vegetable or chicken stock. When the dish comes to boil, reduce heat to simmer. Add oregano.


3. Add half a cup of water at a time when Quinoa absorbs all the liquid. Let simmer for about 20 minutes or until Quinoa becomes clear without white center.


4. Stir in mushrooms. Cook for 30 more seconds. Turn of the heat. Stir in grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.


5. I would sprinkle chopped spring onion or parsley before serving but I didn't have any. I think it will give a nice crunch and refreshness to the dish.

Quinoa Pudding with Banana

New food. Some grains called Quinoa. It supposedly is very high in protein and fiber. It must be good for me. I must try. The box's instructions suggested using it instead of rice. So I'm making rice pudding - but with Quinoa.

Rice pudding.

With all the eggs and cream, that would defeat the health benefit of any super grains, wouldn't it? I wanted to make something that I can have for breakfast - not for dessert. So I must substitute. I started from this rice pudding recipe from Simple Recipes which already sounded five times healthier than most of the recipes I found on the Internet.

And I got this - my new favourite breakfast:



Ingredients

• 1/3 cup cleaned Quinoa


• 1 cup water


• 1 cup soy milk


• 1 egg


• 3 tablespoons Agave nectar


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1 banana

Directions

1. Boil Quinoa in a cup of water in a saucepan for about 10 minutes or until the grains are almost cooked and water reduces.


2. Reduce heat to low and add soy milk. Cook for about 10 minutes more. Stir occasionally.


3. In a small bowl, beat egg with Agave nectar and vanilla extract and add to the saucepan. Stir vigorously until all the ingredients combined. Cook for a few minutes more.


4. Sprinkle ground cinnamon over the pudding and stir to combined.


5. Cut the banana into small pieces and stir into the pudding. Make 2 - 3 servings.