While homemade bread is one of the things I bake the most, I had never made anything quite so delicious as the Whole Wheat Mountain Bread I recently discovered in the supermarket bakery section.
I tried a loaf because it was on clearance and was immediately hooked. Unfortunately for us, buying bakery bread is a luxury unless it is half-price, and if anyone could make it at home, I could. So, here is the result of my experiments. I would like to give credit to Vintage Kitchen, since my version is mostly based on their recipe.
One of the keys to the flavor in this bread is its long fermentation – in other words, this dough takes its naps seriously.
This whole wheat mountain bread dough will need about 4.5 hours total of rest time, across all stages. There are 4 waiting periods…but believe me, it’s worth it! I like to start this bread first thing in the morning so that I can take my moments during the day to keep the process moving.
The dough itself is very simple and the flavor is amazing when you get done.
Since I often have to stop what I’m doing in the kitchen anyway to tend to the small one, its actually helpful that this dough needs to rest often.
I usually bake one of these loaves free form on a baking sheet, but since I currently only have one sheet pan, I bake the other in a 9″ springform pan and it also turns out great.
Make sure that the dough is completely relaxed before you form it into loaves! If you poke the dough with your finger and the ‘belly button’ stays, then it is good to go. If it bounces back at all, it needs more rest time.
While the finished loaf has a close texture, it is light and fluffy at the same time. It is packed with flavor, nutrients and is one of my favorite ways to use bran cereal!
Whole Wheat Mountain Bread
Ingredients
Soaking:
- 1/4 c. yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 c. bran cereal (flakes, buds, etc)
- 1 T. ground flax seeds or flax meal
- 1 T. any other desired seeds
- 1/4 c. honey
- 1 c. whole wheat flour
- 3/4 c. boiling water
Sponge:
- 3/4 c. warm water
- 2 t. active dry yeast
- 1/4 c. dry milk powder
- 1 c. whole wheat flour
Dough:
- 3 T. olive oil
- 1 T. salt
- 2 c. all purpose flour
Dusting:
- 1/4 c. ground bran cereal
Instructions
- Combine all of the dry "soaking" ingredients.
- Add the boiling water, mix well and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the "sponge" ingredients.
- Let rise until about doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Add "dough" ingredients and mix well.
- Knead with a dough hook on medium high until dough clears the sides of the bowl.
- Let rise 1-2 hours, until almost doubled.
- Divide the dough in half and form into round loaves.
- Dust a baking sheet with ground bran cereal (or cornmeal/semolina if you prefer) and transfer your loaves to the sheet.
- Let rise another 1-2 hours. Loaves will not double, but will be fully relaxed and dough should not be springy when touched.
- Bake at 400* for 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350* and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until nicely browned and loaves sound hollow when tapped.
Notes
- This bread is very versatile in terms of additions. You can add a tablespoon each of toasted sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds or anything else you please.
- If you are fancy and happen to have bread flour, you can totally use it instead of all purpose flour.
- In place of the ground bran flakes for dusting, you can use cornmeal, semolina or something else similar if you please. I found using un-hydrated cornmeal adds too much to the grit factor for me.
- If you don't have dry milk powder (I always use only the yellow can of 'whole'), you can substitute one of the cups of water for milk instead. 1/4 c. of milk powder is the amount used to make 1 cup of whole milk.
Did you buy bran cereal just to make this bread and now have more than you know what to do with? Great news! I also have a delicious Bran Muffin recipe for you to try!
