Cabin Baking: Flaxseed Bread

Stovetop toast with homemade flaxseed bread.

We ran out of bread and wouldn’t be going to town for a few more days, so I decided to make some for our breakfast toast. I didn’t want to wait for my sourdough starter to work, so I tried a recipe for flaxseed bread I'd saved from an old Our Canada magazine.

Flaxseed Bread

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup whole-wheat flour
1 ½ to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg (1/4-oz) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups milk
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ teaspoons butter for topping
½ cup ground flaxseed
½ cup whole flaxseed

Directions:

Add warm milk mixture to dry ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine the whole-wheat flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour, ground flaxseed, whole flaxseed, yeast and salt.

In a saucepan, heat the milk, brown sugar, honey and 2 tablespoons of butter. Add to dry ingredients when it has cooled to just warm.

Stir in enough of the remaining all-purpose flour to form a firm dough.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. I had to add about ½ cup extra all-purpose flour during kneading to keep the dough from sticking to the breadboard.

Knead, let rise and test.

Place in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat all side of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. I used the wonderful King Arthur dough rising bucket that my friend Jeanne gave me.

To test the dough, use your fingers to indent the surface. If it doesn’t spring back, it’s ready to punch down.

Form into a loaf.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a loaf. I’d already cleaned my breadboard so I used a piece of plastic wrap taped to the counter for easy cleanup.

Place it in a 9X5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Let the loaf rise again.

Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the pan to a wire rack. Melt remaining butter and brush over the bread (optional). Then let cool before slicing.

I like the slightly sweet nutty flavour for our morning toast. Topped with some of my homemade grape and plum jam, it was perfect with our morning fruit.

And for an added benefit, we could stay home instead of running to the grocery store in town. -- Margy