High-Fibre Bran Loaf

I made a fresh batch of granola yesterday, so I decided to incorporate some of it into this bread. But since the granola was relatively sweet, I only used half the amount and then added pumpkin seeds to fill in the rest of the amount. I would have also liked to have put in some flax seeds, but I couldn't find them, so they didn't make it into this rendition, but I've recommended them so I remember to try to include them next time.

High-Fibre Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 280g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. warm water
• 250g sourdough discard (optional)
• 1/4 c. butter
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 c. granola (or 1/4 c. granola + 1/4 c. pumpkin seeds)
• 2 Tbsp. flax seeds (optional)
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• 1 Tbsp. wheat bran
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 400-500g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour

Directions

1. Combine the whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, warm water, and sourdough discard (if using) and mix well.
2. Add the butter, honey, granola, flax seeds (if using), wheat germ, wheat bran, and orange zest and mix thoroughly.
3. Gradually work in the white flour until a soft dough forms.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead, working in more flour as needed, for 20-30 minutes.
5. Shape into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise (60-90 minutes).
6. Knock the dough back, divide into two equal portions, and round each one.
7. Cover and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, grease two 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans.
9. Shape the dough balls into loaves and place, seam-side-down, into the prepared loaf pans.
10. Cover and allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
12. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15-20 minutes.
13. Reduce temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake until done (5-15 minutes longer).
14. Allow to cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then turn onto wire racks to cool.

As has become typical recently, this write-up is late. I made this bread several weeks ago, but it's taken me a while to get to the write-up for it.

It was a fine loaf. Very wheat-y. As you might expect from something containing so much extra wheat germ. But it rose well and the flavour was nice. It wasn't special, but it was perfectly serviceable and we've eaten the lot now.

Wheat Germ Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. water
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/3 c. butter
• 1/3 c. molasses
• 4 1/2 tsp. dry active yeast
• 1 c. wheat germ
• 3/4 c. milk, warmed to ~50°C (120°F)
• 600g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 200-300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar, salt, butter, and molasses and warm to ~40°C (105°F).
2. Add the yeast and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the wheat germ with the warm milk and set aside until liquid is absorbed and mixture has cooled slightly.
4. Add the molasses mixture to the wheat germ mixture.
5. Add ~300g of the whole wheat flour and 125g of the white flour and stir vigorously for 150-200 strokes.
6. Add the remaining whole wheat flour and mix very well.
7. Use some of the remaining white flour to dust your work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
8. Knead, working in as much of the remaining flour as needed to form a soft, supple dough. (If in doubt, it's better for the dough to be a bit too loose than a bit too tight.)
9. Continue kneading for another 10 minutes or so.
10. Round the dough and place it in a covered bowl to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes.
11. Knock back, knead a few strokes, divide into two equal portions, and round each one.
12. Cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, grease two 22x12cm (8.5x4.5") loaf pans.
14. Shape the loaves by your preferred method (I like to do a letter fold followed by a coil fold) and place them, seam-side-down, into the prepared tins.
15. Cover and let rise at room temperature for 45-75 minutes.
16. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
17. Bake loaves at 190°C (375°F) for 30-40 minutes.
18. Remove from oven and let cool in tins for 5-10 minutes.
19. Brush crusts with a little butter if desired. (It will give them a light gloss.)
20. Turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling.

This bread gives a very "one of everything I can see in the pantry sort of vibe" while still being a relatively plain white bread. It doesn't contain any whole grains, seeds, or fruit. And yet it has pretty much everything else you could put into a bread in it. In addition to the white flour, salt, and yeast that you would expect in a white sandwich bread like this; it also gets instant potato flakes, dry milk powder, eggs, sugar, oil, and wheat germ added to the mix! Which makes for a fairly interesting loaf even though it doesn't really any visible inclusions.

Hearty White Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 450g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour, divided
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• 1/2 c. instant potato flakes
• 1/4 c. dry milk powder
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 4 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp. instant yeast)
• 125g sourdough discard (optional)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. warm water
• 2 Tbsp. oil

Directions

1. Combine ~250g of the flour with the wheat germ, potato flakes, milk powder, sugar, walt, and yeast and mix well.
2. Add the sourdough discard, eggs, and water and stir vigorously for ~150 strokes.
3. Mix in the oil.
4. Add the remaining flour a little at a time until the dough comes together.
5. Turn out and knead for 10-15 minutes.
6. Round and place in a covered bowl to rise for ~1 hour.
7. Knock back, round, cover, and rest for ~10 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, grease a large (23x13cm/9x5") loaf pan.
9. Shape the loaf by your preferred method and place, seam-side-down, into the prepared pan.
10. Cover and proof for 30-45 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
12. Uncover and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.
13. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake until done (~20 minutes).
14. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

I've almost finished working my way through all the smoothie bowl recipes in the Breakfast Bible. I made this mixed berry one yesterday and tried a variation on the tropical fruit smoothie bowl this morning.

I liked this one, but the smoothie came out very soupy. The Kidlet actually prefers that, but, if I'm going to be trying to decant it into a bowl and top it with things, I prefer a slightly thicker base. If nothing else, it allows the toppings to actually sit on top rather than immediately sinking below the surface.

To be fair, the recipe does call for freezing the banana before blending, which I forgot to do. But I still think it would have been too thin. Maybe feezing both the banana and the coconut milk would do the trick?

I also didn't have any almond milk and didn't want to go out and get a carton just for this recipe.¹ Instead of almond milk, I opted for oat milk with a bit of almond butter stirred in.² And since the Kidlet doesn't like pomegranate anymore, I swapped out the pomegranate arils for some fresh blueberries.

Mixed Fruit Smoothie Bowls

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 c. lite coconut milk, frozen in cubes
• 1 c. frozen mixed berries
• 1 banana, frozen
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. almond butter (optional)
• 1/2 c. fresh raspberries
• 1/4 c. pomegranate arils (or 1/2 c. fresh blueberries)
• 2 Tbsp. shredded coconut⁴
• 2 Tbsp. wheat germ, toasted

Directions

1. Combine the oat milk, yogurt, frozen coconut milk, frozen berries, frozen banana, honey, and almond butter in a blender and purée until smooth.
2. Divide the smoothie between 4 bowls.
3. Top each with ~2 Tbsp. of raspberries, 1 Tbsp. of pomegranate arils (or 2 Tbsp. of blueberries), 1/2 Tbsp. of coconut, and 1/2 Tbsp. of toasted wheat germ.

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¹ Especially since I find myself feeling increasingly concerned about the environmental aspects of growing almonds. I still eat them in moderation, but almond milk seems particularly water-intensive and wasteful. ^Back
2 Which I know is probably not much better than just using almond milk, but... what can I say? I already had a jar of almond butter in the fridge. I haven't had a chance to look into it, but hopefully almond butter is at least slightly less bad water and waste-wise than almond milk. That said, you still have all the ecological impact from the actual almond farming, so... it's probably not great either way.^{3 Back
3} Thinking about this stuff makes me sad and frustrated. I wish everything wasn't so complicated and I wish that it was easier to figure out the consequences of my choices. ^Back
4 I picked up some toasted coconut slices on sale a few days ago, so I just used that here. Either one will work just fine. ^Back

I gave the next recipe in the waffle cookbook a go today. They were nice, but I don't think I liked them as well as most of the others that I've tried so far. They were neither as crispy nor as fluffy some of the previous types. The honey and wheat germ were nice, but they didn't come through super strongly.

I think it would be nice to try making these as 100% whole wheat, rather than using the mix of white and whole wheat flour. I might want to try adding a little more honey next time as well; just to see if I can get it to come through a little more.

Honey-Wheat Waffles

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 c. milk
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 c. wheat germ
• 280g (2 c.) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat and cook until browned (~5 minutes).
2. Stir in milk and honey and set aside.
3. In a separate pan, toast the wheat germ over medium-low heat until darkened (8-10 minutes).
4. Transfer wheat germ to a bowl and mix in flour and salt.
5. Sift in baking powder and stir to combine.
6. Preheat the waffle iron.
7. Beat the eggs in a large measuring cup or medium bowl.
8. Beat the milk mixture into the eggs.
9. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
10. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat until all batter has been used.
11. Serve waffles immediately with syrup, whipped cream, jam, fresh fruit, and/or fruit compote.

This is another parfait recipe from The Breakfast Bible. Or, at least, it's based on one of the recipes in there; I ended up modifying it a fair bit. The original called for pinepple and papaya as the main fruits. I'm not crazy about papaya, so I swapped it out for mango. I also added a bit of shredded coconut because that seemed like it would go well. And a touch of honey because my pinapple was a bit on the tart side. I also just bumped up the overall proportion of fruit a bit. I had about twice as much fruit as the recipe called for, but I didn't end up using it all. I think I ended up using ~50% more fruit than specified in the original recipe, so I've written up my version to reflect this.

I've given ranges for some of the ingredients. Use more or less honey and lime depending on how sweet or tart your fruit is (and how sweet you'd like the finished parfait to be).

Pineapple-Mango Parfaits

Adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• ~2 c. chopped pineapple (fresh, not tinned)
• ~2 c. chopped mango
• 1/4 c. dried currants
• 2-3 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1-2 Tbsp. honey
• 3 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. unsweetened dried coconut¹
• 8 tsp. wheat germ

Directions

1. Combine the pineapple, mango, currants, 2 Tbsp. lime juice, and 1 Tbsp. honey and stir to mix.
2. Taste fruit mixture and add more lime juice and/or honey to taste.
3. Place 6 Tbsp. of the yogurt in the bottom of each of four glasses or jars.
4. Add ~1/2 c. of the fruit mixture to each jar.
5. Top each with 6 more Tbsp. of yogurt, followed by another 1/2 c. of fruit.
6. Add 1 Tbsp. of coconut to each parfait.
7. Top each with 2 tsp. of wheat germ.

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¹ I think fresh grated or shaved coconut would be even better here, but I didn't have any, so I just used dried. Toasted coconut might also be nice. ^Back

These were billed as "whole wheat pancakes", but they've got a whole lot more going on than just a bit of whole wheat flour! The main bulk of the dry ingredients is made up of rolled oats and whole wheat flour, but then you also have wheat germ, oat bran, and sesame seeds as well as inclusions of raisins, walnuts, and apple. I've never had pancakes with sesame seeds in before. It made for an interesting addition. I'm not sure how well they harmonized with the other ingredients, but I found it quite intriguing. In future I might be tempted to swap out the sesame seeds for flax seeds as I think they might complement the other flavours a little better, but the sesame certainly wasn't bad, I just don't think it was optimal.

I also think it would be fun to play around with other inclusions for these. I really liked the rainsins and walnuts, but I felt like they could've done with even more goodies inside. I would've liked more dried fruit and I think a hit of orange would've played very nicely with the cinnamon and walnut already in the mix. I'd be inclined to add a little orange zest and some dried cranberries next time.

Interesting Pancakes

Adapted from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 2 c. milk
• 3/4 c. plain yogurt
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries (optional)
• 1/4 c. walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. sesame seeds or flax seeds
• 1/4 c. wheat germ
• 1/4 c. oat bran or wheat bran¹
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 apple, grated

Directions

1. Combine milk, yogurt, and egg and mix well.
2. Stir in oats and honey.
3. Cover and chill overnight or up to three days.
4. The next morning (or several days later), add flour and baking powder and stir to combine.
5. Stir in oil, vanilla, sea salt, and orange zest (if using).
6. Add raisins, cranberries (if using), walnuts, sesame (or flax) seeds, wheat germ, oat (or wheat) bran, and cinnamon and stir to combine.
7. Stir in apple.
8. Heat pan over medium heat. Oil it if necessary.
9. Once the pan is good and hot, start making your pancakes. Use ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake.
10. Once the underside is well-browned and the sides are starting to look dry, flip the pancake(s) and cook the other side.
11. Once both sides are browned and the pancakes are cooked through, remove from pan and repeat the process until all the batter has been used.
12. Serve pancakes warm with butter, applesauce, and/or maple syrup.

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¹ I didn't remember until after I'd already started mixing up the batter that we'd finally ditched our last little bit of oat bran when we moved. I ended up just tossing in an extra 1/4 c. of oats to make up for the missing bran. Not quite as high fibre maybe, but it still seemed ot work out okay. ^Back

We're running low on bread again and I decided to try out a quick bread recipe rather than making another yeasted bread. Many quick breads lean toward the sweet and are basically cakes in loaf form. This one claimed to be "not too sweet" and appropriate for savoury applications, so I figured I'd give it a go.

The original recipe called for a mix of hard and soft whole wheat flour. I still don't have my grain mill set up yet, so I wasn't in a position to make any soft whole wheat flour. I ended up tossing in a little (white) all-purpose flour and just using hard whole wheat for the rest. The loaf came out very tender and a bit crumbly. I think I'd probably just use all hard whole wheat flour next time. I'd probably toss in an extra egg as well and reduce the water a little bit.

Simple Wheat Germ Quick Bread

Adapted from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 Tbsp. powdered milk
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 c. honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm x 10cm (8"x4") loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, salt, and powdered milk.
3. Sift in baking soda.
4. Stir in wheat germ and mix well.
5. Cream honey with butter.
6. Beat in eggs one at a time.
7. Add dry ingredients alternately with water.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for about an hour.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.
10. Turn out of pan and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

Yet another gem from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. No surprise there. I love these muffins. They're tasty and not so sweet and oily that you feel guilty having a couple for breakfast. My only minor nit-pick is that, recipe as written, I only got 11 (rather than 12) 1/4 c. muffins.

Currant and/or Blueberry Muffins

Slightly adapted from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 1 c. blueberries or steamed/rehydrated dried currants
• 1 1/4 c. soft (pastry/plain/standard) whole wheat flour¹, divided
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/16 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• 3 Tbsp. salted butter
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 c. milk

Directions

1. Prepare a muffin tin according to your preference (papers, grease, grease and flour, etc.).
2. Sprinkle berries with 1/4 c. of the flour, toss to coat, and set aside.
3. Sift remaining cup of flour together with baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.
4. Stir in wheat germ.
5. In a large bowl, cream butter with sugar.
6. Beat in egg.
7. Stir in 1/3 of the dry ingredients followed by half the milk.
8. Repeat, finishing by adding the final portion of dry ingredients.
9. Fold in the flour-dredged berries.
10. Scoop ~1/4 c. of batter into each well of the prepared tin. (This should make ~a dozen 1/4 c. muffins +/- 1.)
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15-20 minutes.

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¹ Soft flour is best for muffins and quick breads, but a harder whole wheat flour (like all-purpose) will work if that's all you've got easily to hand. ^Back