Homemade Multigrain Bread - Stelios' recipe

My husband Stelios' father, Demetrios, was, at one time,  the owner of the largest bakery in all of Greece. That legacy has not been lost on my husband who is now in the habit of making bread about every 10 days. He likes to eat most of that bread (when our guests don't devour it or we don't bring it to a pot luck). It's not that I don't love the bread myself, but if I ate it at every meal, like he pretty much does, I would be a million pounds(don't you love hyperbole!) heavier.

He doesn't make just any bread, nor is it the bread his father made. He has settled on a yeast, multigrain, nut bread that can raise the dead. I'm amazed how effortless he makes it seem when he's baking. No drama Stelios!

 

Make sure you'll be home for at least the next four hours before you start this. You won't be working on it all this time, but the bread needs time to rise twice and about an hour to bake.

 

Here's his recipe:

 

Stelios' Multigrain Bread
1 packet of yeast
3 glasses of warm water
1 spoonful of sugar

2 cups all purpose unbleached white flour + 1 cup or more for second rise
1 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/2 of flaxseed meal
1/2 cup of wheat bran
2 teaspoons salt

1 cup of almonds or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 170 F and shut off.
In a large bowl combine the yeast, warm water and sugar. Mix with a wooden spoon to dissolve.

Add all the flours except 1 cup for second rise, add grains, salt and work into a loose dough.  Cover bowl loosely with a towel or parchment paper and place in the warmed over for 50 minutes to rise. Make sure the oven is off!

After it rises, put 1/2 cup of white flour on your counter, the nuts and empty the dough on top. Knead, adding more white flour until you have a firmer dough. This may take less than one cup or a bit more. Use your judgment.

 

Preheat the oven to 170 F. Turn oven off. Divide dough into two pieces and shape into loaves. Make sure oven is off! Place each in an oiled(olive oil works great for this) loaf pan, cover loosely with parchment paper and place in warm oven to rise for about 50 minutes.  

 

Remove pans from oven and preheat oven to 375 F. Place both pans back in the oven and bake for 55 minutes.

Let breads cool in pans for a few minutes.
 
Remove breads from pans and, if you can resist let them, cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled completely, we usually cut the second loaf into thirds  and freeze. Remember, there are no preservatives so if you're not going to eat the breads in the next day or two, freeze them in sections.

It's so hard not to eat it when the bread comes out of the oven. We usually cut an edge each(the crust is amazingly crunchy), drizzle some of that good Greek Kalamata olive oil and some fresh ground pepper and sea salt and dig in with a glass of white wine!

Enjoy!

Maria

Garbanzo Beans over Fresh Mesclun Salad- Bounty from my Garden

I was raised in Cyprus at a time when people grew a lot of their food. My family grew their own olives, oranges, tangerines, lemons, plums, almonds, walnuts, herbs, chickens, my grandma had a donkey and a goat(we never ate the donkey, we rode him and grandma milked the goat). They baked their own breads, made their own halloumi cheese (you haven't lived until you eat freshly made, still warm hallouni cheese.)

They also preserved a lot of their crops. We gathered the olives, loaded them on dad's VW beetle  and took them to the mill for olive oil. Mom made walnut preserves, orange rind preserves, orangeade, lemonade, watermelon rind preserves, cherry preserves. She dried her herbs and kept them in jars for the winter. What can I say? I grew up eating a lot of preserves and olive oil and I love them!

But, I don't live in a Mediterranean climate so I only have a few things growing in my garden. Yet, those formative early years have made me a person who loves to garden and bake.

This week, it's lunch with salad greens from my garden:. I picked them, double washed them, dried them and ate them!

Serves 2
1 can garbanzo(chickpeas)beans drained
1 tablespoon chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups mesclun greens
1 orange  peeled and cut into 8 pieces
4 tablespoons sautéed wild mushrooms
4 anchovy fillets

Place the garbanzo beans in a bowl. Add the onion, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix.
Divide the mesclun greens between two plates.
Top with half each garbanzo mixture. To that add half each of the sautéed mushrooms. Divide orange pieces between the two plates. Place two anchovies on each plate on top.
Grind some fresh pepper and sea salt, drizzle with good Greek extra virgin olive oil (I use Kalamata from Trader Joe's) and serve with some hearty multigrain bread.

 

Kali Orexi as they say in Greece and Cyprus!
Enjoy!
Maria