Whole Wheat Foxtail Millet Multi-Seed Bread

Yesterday, a friend of mine who regularly follows my blog and my facebook pages - artbysusmitha and veganosaurus - asked me why there has been a lack of activity on my blog and I decided it was time for some action.



I made this bread a few weeks ago. I quickly clicked some pics and typed out the ingredients but this laziness causing cloudy weather and busy life in general has been getting in the way of me completing the post, until now.

I started out to make a regular whole wheat, multi-seed bread but at some point I got the idea of putting broken foxtail millet in there and I must say, it was a brilliant move! Sometimes bakers knead chiroti rava/sooji (fine semolina) into the dough to get an interesting texture. But rava is one of those nutrient-less carbs and I wanted to make this bread with whole ingredients, that's why I decided to use the millet rava instead.



The millet gives the bread an excellent texture! And don't even get me started on the delightfully crunchy, browned crust. Mmmmmmm.

The next time I make this bread, I will turn a portion of it into Rusk. I'm sure that the millet will give it the perfect kind of crunch. It's been so long since I made Rusk. Just the thought of it is making me want to bake right now.

The procedure of making this bread is pretty basic. If you're making bread for the first time, you can watch my step-by-step video tutorial for making basic bread dough to get a general idea about yeast frothing, kneading, etc., and then make this Whole Wheat Foxtail Millet Multi-Seed Bread using the ingredients and recipe below.



Whole Wheat Foxtail Millet Multi-Seed Bread

3 C Wheat Flour
1/2 C Broken Foxtail Millet (Navane Idli Rava)
1 tsp Sprouted Fenugreek Powder (optional)
2 T Flax Seed Powder
Mixed Seeds - Melon, Black Sesame, White Sesame, Poppy
2 T Wheat Berries - soaked in hot water for 15-30 mins and drained
2 T Coconut Oil + 1 tsp for greasing the mixing bowl
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar (white vinegar can be used instead)
1 tsp Salt
1/4 C + 2 T Sugar
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
3/4 C Soy or other Vegan Mylk
3/4 C Water
Optional - Vegan Yogurt mixed with Corn Starch (Corn Flour) to brush on top of the bread

Mix the water and soy mylk and heat them together in a pan.

Add 2 T sugar and stir to dissolve

Let the liquid come down to lukewarm temperature.

Sprinkle the active dry yeast onto the liquid and keep aside for 10-15 minutes, allowing the yeast to froth and bubble.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, place 2 C of the whole wheat flour with broken foxtail millet, sprouted fenugreek powder, flax seed powder, remaining 1/4 C sugar, salt and 2 T coconut oil.

Mix everything together with your fingers, rubbing the oil into the flour.

Make a deep well in the centre and once the yeast mixture is frothed and ready, pour it into the well.

Add the apple cider vinegar and mix everything with a fork to get a sticky dough.

Add as much of the remaining 1 C whole wheat flour as required, a little at a time, and mix with your hand to get a rough ball of dough.

Knead in the seeds and wheat berries.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead well to form a smooth, elastic dough.

Grease the mixing bowl with the remaining 1 tsp of coconut oil.

Place the ball of dough into the bowl and swirl around to coat it with oil on all sides.

Cover the bowl with a large plastic bag and place it in a warm/sunny spot.

Allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

After the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down and transfer to a floured surface.

Knead very lightly and shape into desired form (loaves, buns, rolls...anything you like).

I wanted to make mine into a braided loaf but it expanded so much in the baking tray that the shape got changed. haha

Cover again with a plastic bag and allow to rise in a warm place for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 190 C. Optionally lightly brush the top of the bread with the vegan yogurt and corn starch mixture.

If you've made loaves then bake in the preheated oven for about 50-55 minutes, if it's rolls/buns then 35-40 minutes will do.

Allow the bread to sit in the hot oven for 10-15 minutes after it's done.

Take the tray out and allow the bread to cool down in the tray for 1/2 an hour, then transfer to a cooling rack and let it cool down some more.

It's okay to slice the bread if it's a little warm but *do not slice into the bread while it's hot!!!*

The bread tastes great served with some hot soup/stew or just dipped in some garlic olive oil.

Since it doesn't have any additional spices, it even tastes yum with jam.

Enjoy! :)