Cheesy, Salty, Sweet Multigrain Goodness

Amazing gourmet grilled cheese sandwich

One of the reasons I wanted to buy my KitchenAid stand mixer was the dough hook attachment.  I had envisioned myself making loaf after loaf of delicious wholesome breads, forsaking store-bought breads forever!  Well, that didn’t happen.  Even with the stand mixer, bread making still proved to be a bit of a chore.  That is until I stumbled on this recipe from Cooks Illustrated.  This bread gets its start from a multi-grain cereal mix so there is no hassling with putting together the various grains, it is already done for you.  This recipe produces a soft, artisan style bread like what you would get at a bakery and the stand mixer does all the heavy lifting.

Multigrain Bread

1 1/4 cups multi-grain hot cereal mix (I used Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain because I couldn’t find 7-Grain)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups all-purpose flour (not bread flour)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup honey
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 1/2 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats or quick oats(I used steel cut oats)

Instructions
Place cereal mix in bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and pour boiling water over it; let it stand, stirring occasionally, until the mixture cools to 100 degrees.  It should look like thick oatmeal.  This will take about an hour. Combine flours in separate bowl.

Once the cereal has cooled, add honey, butter, and yeast and mix on low speed until combined.  Add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, and knead until loose dough starts to form, about 1 1/2-2 minutes; cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes.  Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears sides of bowl, about 3-4 minutes.  You may need to add a little flour, but no more than a tablespoon.  Continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes.   Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and knead by hand until the dough forms a smooth, round ball.  (Next time I make this, I am going to separate the dough into two balls at this point.  I think I lost some of the airiness of the bread when I separated it into two balls after it had risen.) Place the dough in large, oiled bowl; cover tightly with plastic and let it rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 45-60 minutes. 

Before rising...

After rising!

Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and divide it in half.  Gently press one piece of dough into a 9×6 inch rectangle, with the short side facing you.  Roll the dough toward you into a firm log, tucking it under itself as you go.  Turn loaf seam side up and pinch it closed with your thumb and forefinger.  Repeat with the second piece of dough.  Spray loaves lightly with water.  Roll each loaf in oats to coat evenly and place seam side down in prepared pans.  Cover loaves loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.

Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bake until the loaves register 200 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 35-40 minutes.  Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.  Remove the loaves from pans, return the loaves to the rack, and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, before slicing and serving (if you can wait that long;  me, not so much).

Slice with a serrated blade or electric knife to get even slices.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, just combine the cooled cereal mixture with the other ingredients until you get a “shaggy” textured dough.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth round ball.  This should take about 15 -25 minutes.  Frankly, I think eliminating that task alone is worth the purchase price of a KitchenAid stand mixer.

Sandwich makings!

I used this bread to make one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had.  I used Thomasville Tomme cheese from Sweet Grass Dairy ( www.sweetgrassdairy.com ), prosciutto and quince paste.  You get the creamy texture from the cheese, the salty bite of prosciutto and a sweet kick from quince paste, all on this delicious, toasty bread you made yourself.  I’ll take two please!

I get this paste in the deli at Publix.  It is delicious with cheese.