For some people, it’s a good steak. For me, it’s fresh homemade bread. While I buy commercial bread, it rarely lives up to what I think of as a great loaf, especially sandwich bread. I can get a great ciabbata or baguette nowadays, but a really great sandwich bread – well that’s another story.

This recipe makes two multigrain loaves and it uses both a 10-grain cereal as well as whole wheat and all-purpose flours. The loaves are rolled in rolled oats before the last rising which not only gives them a lovely homey look, but it adds a bit of extra texture and flavor. I generally make my breads completely by hand but this recipe called for using my standing mixer and I thought I would give it a try. I wish you could taste the depth of flavor in this bread between the whole wheat flour and 10-grain cereal and the honey – yummmmmmmmmm! You can keep your Paleo diets. Give ME a really great piece of homemade bread, still warm from the oven.

Multigrain Bread adapted from Olga’s Flavor Factory

Yield: 2 9×5 inch loaves

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups  7 or 10-grain hot cereal mix (Bob’s Mill or I bought mine from http://www.nuts.com)

2 1/2 cups boiling water

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting work surface

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

4 Tablespoons honey

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 Tablespoon Kosher salt

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats

Canola or Grapeseed Oil for the pans

Directions

1. Pour the boiling water over the cereal mix and set aside for about an hour, until it cools to approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit. You can tell if it is the right temperature if you can stick your finger into the cereal and it feels hot but not burning to the touch. During that time, the cereal will hydrate and soften, soaking in all that water.
2. In another large bowl, combine the two flours and the salt together.
3. Once the cereal has cooled, add the honey, melted butter and yeast. Mix to combine.
4. In a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix the dough on low speed, slowly adding in the mixed flours. You can also do this by hand if you don’t have a standing mixer. 
5. Mix for about 2 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside to rest for 20 minutes.
6. Return the bowl to the mixer with the dough hook and knead the bread dough for about 7 minutes, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. If you’ve mixed if for 3-5 minutes and it’s still sticking to the bowl, add 3 Tablespoons more flour. I did not need to add any additional flour. You can also knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface for about 8-10 minutes. 
7. Coat the dough lightly in oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and set aside to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2  9×5 inch bread pans with oil. When the dough has doubled in size, cut the dough in half. Flatten each half of dough into a rectangle and then tightly roll the rectangle into a loaf.
9. Lightly spritz each loaf with water or oil and roll in the oats, just enough for the oats to adhere to the bread. (My dough actually had enough oil on it that I didn’t need to add any additional oil or water.)
10. Place into the loaf pans and set aside to rise until double in size, for another 40 minutes or so. (If your kitchen isn’t warm, it may take longer.)
11. Bake for 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven. When the bread is golden brown on the outside and sounds hollow when tapped with a wooden spoon, it’s ready. Basically when it looks and smells like it’s ready, it is. Cool the bread in the loaf pans for about 5 minutes before taking them out of the loaf pans and onto a cooling rack. You can freeze the second loaf. Wrap it securely and freeze and then simply thaw and serve when you need more bread.