10 Grain Sandwich Bread

"How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?” 

― Julia Child

When I was little I used to beg my mother to buy Wonder Bread. All the Canadian kids ate Wonder Bread with peanut butter and jelly or Bologna and mustard. We always had rye bread with caraway seeds for toast or Italian Bread that  was sliced at the table and you always had to go to the store that day if you were eating it at dinner. I remember the time she did buy Wonder Bread for me just to shut me up. I was fascinated by how you could pull off the crust and take the slice and roll it into this cigar shaped length of dough and eat it. How could something baked revert back to it's pre-baked state!?  That was end of of that, and my mother never bought it again. Today, I know she was right and although my favourite breads are rustic loaves that have thick crusty outer shells and soft "holey" insides I do like to create simple sandwich breads like this one from time to time. I first made a bread like this when I had some leftover Red River Cereal and I was wondering what to do with it. Red River Cereal is a porridge, similar to oatmeal. It is a hot cereal, made of wheat, rye and flax produced in Canada.

I used a 12 grain hot cereal that needs to be cooked first and then used .

You will need:

Cereal:

• 1/2 cup dried cereal
• 1 1/2 cups water
• pinch salt

Sponge:  

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp regular yeast
• 2 tbsp honey

Dough:

• the sponge after 2 hours
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• cooked cereal
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour

Step 1: prepare the hot cereal according to the directions on the package. I used 1/2 cup cereal poured into 1 1/2 cups boiling water, stir, add a pinch of salt and turn down heat to simmer for 10 minutes with a lid on. Once cereal is cooked turn off heat and put into a bowl to cool. 

Step 2:  prepare a sponge. In a medium sized bowl add 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1 cup all purpose flour, 2 1/4 tsp regular yeast (or 1 package if you buy the yeast in the envelopes) and 2 tbsp honey. Stir and cover with plastic wrap for 2 hours. This is what it should look like after 2 hours. All bubbly and  foamy. It is obvious that this yeast is active and good. Always check dates to make sure your yeast is fresh.

Step3: take the sponge and add 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 egg and cooked 10 grain cereal and mix well. I also added some dried cranberries to the mix (1/2 cup) add 1 tsp salt, 3 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour. I mix in the bowl until I need to turn out mixture on the counter . Knead the dough until all flour is absorbed and the dough is no longer sticky to the touch. I like to knead it 5-10 minutes to develop a nice smooth dough. Cover and let rise 1-1 1/2 hours in a warm spot. It should double in size. 

Step 4: flour the counter and remove the dough from the bowl. Only add as much flour as necessary to avoid sticking to the counter and divide the dough in half. Roll dough into two log shapes and place in oiled/buttered loaf pans

Step 5: let rise again for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size- they should fill the pans when ready.

Step 6: bake 350 degrees for approx 50 mins. or until they are the colour you like. I like my sandwich bread more on the lighter colour because I know I will be toasting the bread or using it as a soft sliced bread. You watch the colour - bread is normally done when the bottom sounds hollow if you tap it. I remove from the pan right away - Let cool to at least slightly warm before slicing although it is hard to resist! 

The smell is better than your favourite perfume! Intoxicating....Mmmmm.