Playing in Tanna's Sandbox

If you have been following the Bread Baking Babes journey of bread making and fun, you know that Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups is our ringleader, calling us to play with bread and experiment with flours and seeds and techniques and then maybe even find a nice bottle of wine to go with that bread. This month Tanna invoked spring by inviting us to play in her sandbox and make a delightful loaf, Granary Bread. This is actually a sort of trademarked bread since there is a company in England that sells Granary Bread flour. The recipe calls for malted wheat flakes, too. Who knew that those flakes would be difficult to find?

A little sidebar on my month might be helpful here. Sweetie has been ferrying me around since late February because I finally had cataract surgery and the new glasses I will need in order to be safe to drive won't get to me for a while yet. I've also had a series of minor illnesses, so he was a trooper and actually hunted for the malted flakes for me...from store to store, with help from their workers. I really appreciate his help and am grateful that he did find some lovely crimped barley flakes, which made a lovely loaf. Barley malt syrup added the malt note and I had a bag of King Arthur Irish whole meal flour which I used, too. 

It may not have been the same as what I would get with the Granary flour, but it made a delicious loaf. Slices were awesome toasted and made great sandwiches, too.

Thank you Tanna for a wonderful recipe! All you potential Buddies, this is a great bread to have in your playground, too. Bake it up, take a photo or two and send an e-mail to Tanna before the 29th to be included in the round-up.

Be sure to check out the beautiful bread made by my fellow Babes:
Bake My Day  -  Karen
Blog from OUR Kitchen  -  Elizabeth
Bread Experience  -  Cathy
Girlichef  -  Heather
Life's a Feast  -  Jaime
Lucullian Delights  -  Ilva
My Diverse Kitchen  - Aparna
My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
Notitie van Lien - Lien

I enjoyed making the Granary Bread but goofed when it came time to put it in the oven. It had a really nice dome over the top of the pan, but when I scored the top with the lame, the top deflated and didn't re-inflate in the oven, so the top was lop sided. Otherwise it was great - nice crust and moist close crumb inside, with lots of grain flavor.

Granary-Style Loaf

Recipe By: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/granary-style-loaf-recipe#reviews
Yield: 2 loaves

Summary:

This is a bread beloved by the British. We call it "granary-style" loaf because Granary Flour is a proprietary brand sold by a specific company in England. But it's reasonably easy to replicate by the savvy bread baker. Here's our version, close to the English, a full-flavored bread with a hint of sweetness and a bit of crunch.

Ingredients (this is the list that I used, not the original...go to Tanna'ssite or King Arthur for the original):

2 cups lukewarm water

1 to 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup

1 cup barley flakes

1 cup King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup KA Irish whole meal flour

1 scant tablespoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 teaspoons salt

2 to 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose
1 cup KA 9-grain bread

Directions:

1. Pour the 2 cups of water into a mixing bowl. Stir in the barley malt syrup, barley flakes and white wheat flour plus whole meal flour. Mix in the yeast, and allow this sponge to work for 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Stir in the butter or oil, salt, 1 cup 9-grain flour and about 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose or bread flour. Add flour slowly until you have a shaggy mass that begins to hold together and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured or lightly greased work surface, and knead until it's cohesive. Give it a rest while you clean out and lightly oil your bowl. Continue kneading for several minutes, adding only enough flour (or oil) to keep the dough from sticking to you or the work surface.

4. Return the dough to the bowl, turning to coat all sides, cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rise until it's doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Gently deflate the dough, cut it in half, and shape each half into a log. Place the logs in two lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch bread pans. Allow the loaves to rise, covered, until they're about three-quarters of the way to doubled.

5. Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf registers 190°F. Remove the bread from the oven, remove it from the pans, and transfer it to a wire rack to cool. (I took the bread out of the pan and placed it in the oven for another 5 minutes to get a good crust on the lower part before putting it on a rack to cool.)