Quinoa Wheat Bread (No Bread Machine)
1 cup whole quinoa (uncooked and rinsed)
2 cups warm water (just nuke it, 50 seconds per cup)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar (give or take, as desired)
.25 oz of active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
1 teaspoon salt (I used sea salt)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 cups all-purpose bread flour (all-purpose)
1-2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional)
1/2 cup of rye flakes (optional, exchangeable for oats, etc..)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
In a small bowl combine 1 cup warm water with yeast and sugar, stir. (It's supposed to get "frothy" but mine didn't, it did have some 2-D tar-pit-like action going on though: white circles growing in diameter and shrinking again).
Rinse quinoa (I just filled a bowl with water and strained it twice).
In a large bowl mix salt, whole wheat and bread (all-purpose) flours, and quinoa.
Add yeast, sugar, and water (from step #1, for those of you who confuse easily) to the large bowl as well.
Mix with your (clean) hands, Add the second cup of warm water ONLY as needed (I only used 2/3 of the second cup of water). Mix until moist dough has formed.
Knead on a floured surface (I washed my hands at this point, then put liberal amounts of flour on them) for about 5 minutes
Put the dough (it will still be sticky) into a different large bowl that has been coated with the oil (you can use other oils, I just like sesame). Cover with a dish towel, do not use cling wrap.
The dough should be fine on the counter but I slightly warmed my oven (140F) and just left it there for two hours. If your oven doesn't go that low, like mine, just set it at the lowest temp and leave it on for a couple minutes, make sure to turn it off before it gets too warm. 'Too warm' means uncomfortable for you to have your hand in the oven. Having a digital temp helps. You can use less time, but my dough took those two hours to rise, it more than doubled in size.
When the dough is done rising, knead for a minute or two. It will noticeably shrink, don't freak out.
Lightly flour the bottom of the pan (I used a cookie sheet) you'll be baking your bread in. Make your dough into the shape you want, you can make a single loaf, multiple loaves, or rolls. I made large two leaf shaped loaves, and rolled out a small chunk of each loaf into a thin, doughy string (about the circumference of a pencil, like Play-Doh) and wound it over the top of my loaves, yes it did flatten when i cooked it, but you could still see it and it was pretty =)
Add the rye flakes or oats on top, again this is optional.
Bake at 400F for 20-30 minutes (I baked mine for 20, because I hate when bread is so hard it scrapes your mouth up).
SO HOW'D IT GO?
The recipe reads "All purpose bread flour (all-purpose)" Which is it, Bread flour or All-purpose flour? I read the reviews and I didn't see any comments about it. There's a marked difference between the two, so I'd like some clarification before I make this. The pics look beautiful!
When I made this I used AP unbleached flour. I would suspect using bread flour would be no different, maybe a little fluffier. I doubt it matters
The recipe reads "All purpose bread flour (all-purpose)" Which is it, Bread flour or All-purpose flour? I read the reviews and I didn't see any comments about it. There's a marked difference between the two, so I'd like some clarification before I make this. The pics look beautiful!
I have to admit I hate quinoa. I mean hate it. BUT this great was edible. However I will say that if you do what i did and make it with a dark color quinoa it might still be crunchy because dark (red) takes longer to cook. either way it was okay. I also ground up 3t pumpkin seeds, 3t sunflower seeds, 3t flaxseeds, 1t sesame seeds and added it to the mix. I also only used about 1 1/2 cups of water. I also brushed it with a little nd milk waterdown with equal parts water. It made a nice crust.
Its not a huge bread, not like you'd find the store so I can see where people might be getting that from. But I let mine raise in the bowl for 2 hours after first knead, it tripled in size. I punched it down, kneaded and formed into two loaves, I let them raise again coverd in the pans for 2 more hours. They got a bit bigger but not much. Either way Its great. I got two loaves out of it, 32 slices total. Its an amazing protein type bread when you add all the extra seeds. Only suggestion I have is that it coulda used... something. Maybe double the salt or some kinda herbs because it was a bit bland. Next time I make this I'll try to add some herbs and use white quinoa and ill tell you how it goes.
But overall I'd get it like 4.5/5, it was a lot better then i thought it would be.
This was really yummy! I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the white, and it turned out great! I only used 1 Tbs oil for the bowl, though...Maybe I didn't need as much because of the size of it?
I like the uncooked quinoa in the bread, but I've gotta add that because it's uncooked, the body can't digest it. Which I would think would mean the protein won't be digested, either. :(
I didnt have any quinoa so tried this with amaranth, it was really yummy but it didnt cook the amaranth. It was really crunchy but it was kinda like poppy seeds or something, not a bad crunchy. I will try again, I think its a great idea ;)b
Mmmm this bread is super yummy :)>>> I didnt read the directions all the way through and didn't realize that the oatmeal flakes were for the top of the bread, so I mixed the oats in, but it gave it an even yummier taste! I think next time I'll try making it completley whole wheat though...anywhos thanks for the recipe!!
Just had to update you . . .
THIS BREAD IS FRIGGIN GOOOOOOOOD!
And full of protein! YAY!
Mmm . . . I just finished baking this and my kitchen smells good!
A couple things: I gave the dough a second raise, letting it sit for an hour after I shaped the loaf. Letting bread dough raise twice gives the final product a more mellow flavor. I used some soy milk as "glue" to stick the rolled oat flakes on to the loaf to make it pretty. Also, once the bread came out of the oven, I melted a spoonful of earth balance and brushed it on the crust. That keeps the crust nice and soft.
The bread is cooling in the kitchen right now . . . and I can't wait to have a slice! It looks sooooo nummy.
You don't have to cook the quinoa, I have no idea why, but its not like crunchy/crispy in the bread or anything. Maybe it semi-cooks in a moist/warm environment? No clue =/
It can be omitted, but then it's not quinoa bread anymore, plus quinoa is a REALLY good source of iron (according to my nutrition textbook, which I'm suspicious of, since its a suspiciously good source, typo maybe?)
And yeah, it does come out pretty dense, but it's filling =)
And it's not bad with pb & j, either
I tried this, and I didn't cook the quinoa. It came out with a good taste but it was a bit flat. I did as the recipie said, I let it rise for two hours then kneaded but then I let it rise again for about 3 hours before baking and it never really rose that high. So this is a pretty dense bread, but it tastes good though.