Robin’s recipe of the month: Quinoa and Flax Bread

Author Alexandra Stafford from Bread Toast Crumbs

Serves: 2 x 400gram loaves

 INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 cups bread flour (512 grams) preferably unbleached
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
  • ½ cup (100 grams) red quinoa (although can be any quinoa, just looks cool with the red)
  • ¼ cup (46 grams) flaxseeds (can substitute any seeds)
  • 2 cups lukewarm water (to get perfect lukewarm, mix 1 cup boiling water with 3 cups cold tap water)
  • ¼ cup neutral oil such as sunflower or canola
  • Softened unsalted butter, for greasing

METHOD: 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast

Add quinoa and flax seeds and toss to coat.

Add the water, followed by the oil.

Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed, and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball.

Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1.5 hours, until the dough had doubled in bulk

(Chefs tip… put your dough bowl in your microwave (on-off) with an open cup of boiling water to make a nice damp environment for the yeast to grow)

Set rack in the middle of the oven and heat it to 220oC

Grease 2 x 1 litre Pyrex or glass oven-safe bowls with the softened butter – be very generous

Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.

Using your two forks and working from the center out, separate the dough into two equal pieces. Use the forks to lift each half of dough into a prepared buttered bowl.

If dough is too wet to lift with forks, lightly grease hands with oil, then transfer each half.

Do not cover the bowls.

Let the dough rise on the countertop near the oven (or another warm, draught-free spot – my grandmother used to put her rising bread in the bed, under the duvet, where us kids used to keep it warm for her) for 10 to 20 minutes, until the top of the dough just crowns the rim of the bowls.

Transfer the bowls to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 190 oC and bake for another 17 – 20 minutes more, until golden brown all round

Remove the bowls from the oven and turn loaves onto cooling racks.

If the loaves look pale, return to the bowls and bake for 5 minutes more.

Let the loaves cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. it’s very tempting.