This is a multi-grain bread that’s lighter than the usual nut-and-seed loaf. It’s a real favorite in my house for its excellent flavor and chewy – but not stiff – texture. The quinoa and oats add healthy fiber and boost the daily protein, so go ahead and slice it up. The bread makes crisp, flavorful toast. And sliced for sandwiches, it makes even the simplest filling delectable. I have some cold roast chicken in the fridge and a ripe tomato on the kitchen counter. Looks like lunch is ready, all I need to do is assemble the sandwich.
Quinoa bread with oatmeal
PrintYield3 loaves
Ingredients
- ½ cup quinoa, well rinsed
- 1 cup water
- ½ cube fresh yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- ¼ cup dark, runny honey
- ¼ cup light, neutral-flavored oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- ½ cup oatmeal
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, and 1-3 cups for later
- 1 egg
- Oats for decorating the loaves
Instructions
- Bring the first cup of water to a boil and stir the rinsed quinoa into it. Cover and steam over a low flame for 15 minutes. Allow the cooked quinoa to cool until just warm. It’s not crucial if it gets cold. If it’s warm, it will make the yeast happy, is all.
- Rehydrate the yeast in the other 2 cups of warm water. To the yeasty water add the honey. (If your honey has crystallized and become hard, warm the jar in a bath of hot water and the honey will soften.) Stir it well to dissolve, but don’t drive yourself crazy: as you stir in the rest of the ingredients, it should dissolve.
- Add the oil, salt, oats and quinoa. Mix well.
- Stir in, by half-cups, the 5 cups of flour. Mix until you have a homogenous, loose mass.
- Cover the sponge with plastic wrap or pop it into a clean plastic bag. Now, either leave it in the fridge overnight or allow it to rise 2 hours at room temperature.
- The sponge should have risen, become light and developed bubbles under the surface at the end of the rising time.
- Stir the sponge down. Add, by half-cups, 1 to 2 cups of flour. Use the lesser amount for a light bread with lots of little holes in the crumb, as in the photo above. For a firmer bread that will hold sandwich fillings, use the greater amount.
- Knead lightly for 1 or 2 minutes, then cover the dough and allow it to absorb the flour for 15 minutes.
- Take the dough out of its bowl and either stretch and fold it, adding sprinkles of flour to dry it out some, or knead it for 10 minutes, likewise sprinkling flour over it.
- Either way, once you are satisfied with the dough, shape it according to your fancy.
- Allow the dough to rise 2 hours.
- Beat the egg and paint the loaves or rolls with it. Sprinkle plenty of oats over the surface of the painted dough.
- Bake at 350° F (190° C). Rolls need 20-25 minutes of baking; loaves about 40.
