Mia's Bakes: Wholemeal Rye Bread (Mayer Bread Machine Recipe)

I've recently purchased Bob's Mill dark rye flour and buckwheat flour off iHerb (again!) to try out more variation of wholegrain bread loaves. 

However, it was really disappointing to find that the results were less than acceptable, for my bread turned out extremely short, dense and crumbly-cakey, like they've hardly risen at all. 

My wholemeal-dark rye-buckwheat loaf was made with the flour ratio of 2:1:1 (2 parts wholemeal) and with NatureGlory's organic Bonsoy and though extremely tasty with the distinctive nutty flavour from the addition of dark rye flour, the texture was just.... mehh. 

And then I realised, I might need a change of yeast.

And so, chucking Saf-Instant, I returned to Bake King's Instant Yeast and decided to give my dark rye flour another try. 

Well, I read somewhere saying that rye flour and bread machine doesn't do well together as a rye dough might be too heavy and tough for the bread machine to knead, but... let's just give it another shot!

So for my wholemeal rye bread, you'll need:

150g wholemeal AP flour

75g low-carbs flour

25g dark rye flour 

190ml milk 

3tsp vital wheat gluten

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon powder

21g raw honey

30g unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 small mayer tsp instant yeast (about 5g)

On my Mayer BM, I first added the wholemeal flour to the milk and let it sit for 20 minutes before adding in the rest of the dry ingredients and honey and starting the mix dough function, which will mix and knead the dough for 25 minutes. 

After which, I restarted the machine on multigrain setting and added in my butter cubes. And then about 75g of raisins and a few handful of chopped almonds at feeding point (which I regretted). 

Probably due to the dark rye flour, which made the dough heavier than denser than it would have been as just a wholemeal dough, the BM was unable to knead in the raisins at feeding point and I ended up with tons of raisins left behind in the bread pan and just a few of them sticking onto the surface of the bread. 

The chopped almond did get kneaded a little more into the dough, though still pretty much at the outer rim of the loaf. 

Although still denser and heavier than a refined white loaf, this time round my wholegrain loaf turned out much softer and chewier with the new yeast as compared to my previous bake(s). 

Just a reminder to self, is to add in the raisins during initial mixing whenever I add in dark rye flour to prevent high raisin wastage. 

Do you have a go-to recipe for a yummy wholegrain loaf? Do share them with me!

To get the wholegrain and low-carb flour I've used for this recipe, hop over to iHerb right now! 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Recipe: Cinnamon Wholemeal Oatmeal Bread

If you didn't know, it's been almost 2 months since I embarked on an #eatclean diet (read about it HERE) and I've been avoiding refined carbohydrates ever since, apart from my cheat days. 

And so, I've thrown out all of my white flours (well, actually they expired in my cupboard) and replaced them with organic wholemeal flour and low-carb flour mix (mixture of wholegrain flours) and following the usual bread recipe and bread-making procedures using white flour, these were what I got.

Even though the bread loaf were still relatively soft, they were extremely short (as if my yeast weren't activated), dense and crumbly, like an over-mixed cake. 

After reading up on google, it turned out I either have to adopt the tedious overnight sponge dough method, or add in another ingredient to my recipe, the vital wheat gluten. 

And of course, being the lazy me, I chose the 2nd option. 

And so, here's my recipe for a yummy Cinnamon Wholemeal Oatmeal bread! 

Finally, I got my pretty dome shaped bread instead of the previous flat-tops. The loaf still turned out pretty short as I'm baking a <500g loaf with a 500g/750g bread loaf pan (Mayer Bread Machine). 

The ingredients you'll need are:

240g wholemeal flour

200ml milk

30ml honey 

35g oatmeal (I used quick-cook)

35g unsalted butter

3 tsp vital wheat gluten

(add 1.5 tsp for every cup of wholemeal flour)

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 small mayer tsp instant yeast

(should be around 4.5g) 

First up, I added all the wholemeal flour and milk into the bread pan first, stir slightly and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. 

After which, I added in honey, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten and let it sit for another 10 minutes before I start the machine on mix dough function, which will mix and knead the dough for 25 minutes. 

After kneading, start the machine on wholegrain function (if you're using Mayer 12) and add in soften butter, oatmeal and cinnamon. 

Check the dough after everything is well mixed and add more liquid or flour by the teaspoons if required. 

Compared to a white loaf, a 100% wholemeal loaf is still much denser and heavier, but that's what you should expect from a 100% wholemeal bread. The loaf has a slight cinnamon-honey sweetness to it and if you're a fan of cinnamon, you should totally try this out!

To get the wholegrain flour and ceylon cinnamon I've used for this recipe, hop over to iHerb right now!

Till then,
Mia Foo

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