Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Norwegian Bread Recipe

Ever since I moved by myself I have been making my own breads. Then when I moved here I got lost in the flour ails at every grocery market I would visit. I just couldn't figure out what was what of the flours. Two years later my mom came to visit. She doesn't know a single word English, but she is a amazing at baking and she can look at a flour and smell it and tell exactly what they are. So now I can finally bake my own breads again.
This is my supply. Yes I am being a little thrifty reusing my oat containers to hold my bran.
My recipe makes a little over 5 breads.
I start by boiling 1 1/4 cup of hard wheat berries in 4 cups of water for about one hour. If they are soft enough for me to eat one, then they are done and I can add more water till I have about 12 cups of water at the right temperature for the selected yeast. It will say on the yeast package what temperature to heat the water too.
2 cup old fashioned oats or quick oats
2 cup mix of wheat and oat bran
1 cup flax seeds which you can choose to grind, but I don't.
2 cups of 7 grain mix, I get mine at my local health store.
3 cups of whole wheat flour
2 packages of dry yeast
5 lbs of all purpose flour
This all gets mixed together in a big baking bowl before I add the water and berries mixture.
Stir it together, it will be very thick and sticky. Add more all purpose flour till it is firmer, but still sticky. I tried to take a picture to show what I mean, but it is a little hard to describe. To avoid getting to much of the dough sticking to my hands I rub my hands in oil every now and then and I always coat my dough in oil when I am done kneading it.
Then I cover it loosely with plastic and kitchen towels and set it to rise for a few hours. Every now and then I will check on it to push it down a little if it is looking like it is going to escape the bowl.
The next picture shows it after it has been pushed down twice and I am ready to work with it again.
On a flour coated surface I take the whole dough and kneed it for about 5 minutes. Then I divide it into five loafs that I put into my oil coated bread pans. I got the two red ones at IKEA and I love them.
I let them rise again for about 20 minutes. Right now I use a convection oven and I put the breads into the oven while it is cold and I set it to 410 degree Fahrenheit.
When the breads are starting to get brown on top I will take them out of their pans and put them back in the oven again. That makes them nice, brown and crisp all around.
They are done when they have a nice brown color and a hollow sound to them when you knock on their crust. I love to serve them fresh out of the oven with butter and raw honey. So yummy.
Please tell me how they turn out if you try them and please enjoy.

I am linking up to the following parties
Show and Tell Green
Blue Cricket Design is also hosting a giveaway for Button of Hope.

4 comments:

HippyChick said...

Wow! That's a lot of bread! But it sounds yummy! I'm afraid to try such a big recipe...any way I can break it down to one loaf??? Thank you for sharing! :)

HippyChick said...

Okay, so I've decided to cut your recipe in half and try it because your bread looks so beautiful and yummy! But I need to know where you buy your hard wheat berries and 7 grain mix at. Could you please tell me? Thanks! :)

Marianne said...

I buy mine at Manna mills in Mountlake Terrace. You can find them at pretty much any store that sells things in bulk. Same with the 7 grain mix. It is usually used for breakfast hot cereal. It contains among other sunflowerseeds, oats, and who knows what. Just use any mix for hot cereal that you find.
As for dividing my recipe, I don't know how to do that. I have never tried. I like making a lot and then just freeze them till I need them.

HippyChick said...

Awesome! Thank you!!! :) I can't wait to make it! I have to wait until Sunday, though, because my mom-in-law is letting me borrow her bread pans so I will have enough to bake the dough in as I only have one bread pan.