Seven-grain Peasant Bread – Country Living

1. In small bowl, cover millet and amaranth with boiling water; set
aside to soak for about one hour. Drain.

2. In small bowl, combine 1/4 C warm water, the yeast, and brown
sugar; stir to dissolve yeast. Let stand until foamy-about 5 minutes.

3. In large bowl, preferably of heavy-duty electric mixer, combine 2 C
bread flour, the whole-wheat, rice, oat, and barley flours, the cooled
millet and amaranth, kamut flakes, and the salt. Add remaining 1 1/4 C
water, the maple syrup, oil, and yeast mixture to flour mix- ture.
With wooden spoon or dough hook of mixer, stir until a soft dough
forms.

4. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead dough, adding as much of
remaining bread flour as necessary to prevent sticking, until smooth
and elastic-about 5 minutes.

5. Wash, dry, and oil mixing bowl. Place dough in oiled bowl, turning
to bring oiled side up. Cover with clean cloth. Let dough rise in
warm place, away from drafts, until double in size-about 1 hour.

6. Lightly oil large baking sheet. Punch dough down. If desired, set
aside 1/4C of dough to form decoration for top of loaf (see Note). On
floured surface, shape dough into 9-inch-round loaf. Place loaf on
oiled baking sheet. If desired, add decoration to top. Cover with
clean cloth and let rise 45 minutes.

7. Heat oven to 350’F. In small bowl, combine egg and milk; brush top
of bread with egg mixture. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until golden
brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped on top. Cool bread on wire
rack at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Note: To make wheat-sheaf decoration for top of bread, roll out
reserved dough to a 7- by 3-inch rectangle. Score a cross-wise line 3
inches up from one 3-inch edge. Measure and mark points on line 3/4
inch in from each long side. With a sharp knife, cut from marked
points to corners and remove triangle of dough from each side. Cut a
1 1/2-by 3/8-inch strip of dough from one of the removed pieces and
place it crosswise over scored line to make a tie. Tuck any remaining
removed dough into bottom of loaf. With knife, score lengthwise lines
on wheat sheaf. Place wheat sheaf on bread. With point of scissors,
snip rows of points at top to resemble wheat heads and spread out in
a fan shape. To make grape-leaf decoration, roll out dough to
1/4-inch thickness. With grape-leaf cookie cutter or homemade
cardboard pattern of grape leaf, cut out as many leaves as possible
and arrange on top of loaf. With fingers, roll bits of remaining
dough to make stems and ten drils; place on top of loaf. Tuck any
remaining dough into bottom of loaf.

Country Living/Jan/94 Scanned & fixed by DP and GG —–