There are just so many different ways to make multi-grain breads, and several different bread-making methods to consider. The neat thing about bread is that it isn't just one thing... I'd also have to ecco rhome410 about milling your own grains/seeds/beans if you are this interested in the healthy aspect of it. It's THE only way to get the most available nutrition. It will also save you a lot of money - especially if you make all your breads - which I do. The price of grains is typically much lower than purchasing the flours. Breadmaking is full of little "rules", along with all the exceptions to the "rules". Knowing the rules will help you troubleshoot the old question, "WHAT HAPPENED?". In fact, "Artisan Bread in 5-Minutes a Day" is a complete contradiction to generally held bread science. A general rule: Adding anything sharp (DRY multi-grain cereal blends, nuts, seeds, flakes I mill at home, etc.) at the BEGINNING of mixing/kneading can result in the gluten strands being cut by the these things. As rhome410 said, she uses a sponge method (soaks a portion of the liquid/flour/yeast, so the dry chopped grains soak up hydration during the sponge. Other recipes will have you add hot water to these grain mixtures to soften them. There are ALWAYS options in the world of bread. I like the added "crunch", so I generally add them late in the kneading. Home-milled flakes are just smashed grains, and they are thicker than commercial old-fashioned oatmeal. Commercial oatmeal is tempered with steam to soften the grain, then it's run through the roller mill. When you make your own flakes you don't temper the grain - you mill it dry. I have a bread recipe that uses steel-cut oats. I'll try to find and post it. You can also make the steel-cut oats into oatmeal and make the recipe I've linked below for Cooked Oatmeal Scones. When making breads by hand I add the gluten-containing flour to the liquids FIRST, and beat the dickens out of that mixture to develop the gluten while the mixture is still in the bowl (adding flour a little at a time and mixing it thoroughly with a Danish Dough Whisk). Then I'll add any non- or low-gluten flour. They don't require the work that gluten-development in wheat flour does. Non- or low-gluten flours just needs to be incorporated. Adding oatmeal is great. If the recipe has you add it early in the process, it will be pulvarized and well-incorporated by the time the loaf is done. You'll have little evidence of it, unless you add some to the top of the loaf just before you bake it. If you add too much oatmeal or oat flour, the bread will be moist, doughy and crumbly. You can also make your own oat flour by running oatmeal through a blender or food processor until it's flour. I make oat flour by milling oat groats. I wouldn't add any more than 20% oat flour to a bread recipe or you'll compromise the texture and crumb. Different grain flours contribute different textures to breads. Dough that has rye flour in it is characteristicly sticky. People tend to continue to add flour to overcome the stickiness and often add too much and end up with a dry dough and a "brick" for a loaf of rye bread. I use rye for all kinds of things, not just breads. It's an under-used flour in my books. It works well in baked goods that don't need a lot of gluten development - like quick breads and cookies. I suspect the "When Pigs Fly" - seven grain and pumpkin seed bread is made mainly with bleached or unbleached bread flour (possibly whole wheat flour) with a portion being either 7-Grain flour, or 7-Grain chopped grain mixture. It comes both ways. Pumpkin seeds can be whole/chopped/pulvarized. I tend to mill sesame seeds (flax as well) I add to breads. (I add flaxmeal to EVERYTHING!) You don't get any of the nutrition unless they are cracked - either masticating or milling them. It's just easier to mill them to assure they are easy to digest. Bob's Red Mill has a 10-grain flour available. You have to be careful using these multi-grain/seed/bean flour combinations because they include non-gluten and low-gluten ingredients. You need a major portion of the flour to contain gluten (flour derived from wheat) and only a small percentage to be from non- or low-gluten flours, or the bread won't rise like you are accustomed to when you make white bread. I don't add WHOLE grains in the form of a wheat berry or an oat groat. They are added either by being milled into flour, coarsely chopped, flakes or sprouts. I like to add whole amaranth seeds to quick breads as an easy addition. They look like golden poppy seeds and add a lot of great nutrition and crunch. I also add amaranth flour to breads. I mill it in a seed mill. This particular mill does those tiny seeds and oily seeds like poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax, teeny-tiny Tef and amaranth, etc. I can easily substitute 1/2 c. of the flour in the recipe with 1/2 a cup of amaranth flour without too much trouble or changes in the bread texture. That's another way to get multi-grain breads. I use quinoa in cooking, not baking. Quinoa is coated with saponin and you have to wash it very well before using it or it's bitter-tasting. So if you want to mill it into flour you have to wash it and then dry it before you mill it. Not worth the bother in my books. You chance messing your mill up if the grain isn't completely dry when you mill it. Lots of cooked cereals, like cooked quinoa, can be added to bread recipes. I'd also suggest following recipes that include multiple grain mixtures or grain flours in them, before striking out on your own and making your own substitutions. I'd suggest as much studying as you do baking. You can probably get these books at your local library, or have them get them through Inter-Library Loan. - The first 100 pages of "CookWise" by Shirley O. Corriher. That covers a lot of what you need to know about making bread in general. - "The Splendid Grain" by Rebecca Wood. It explains grains and how they are used. For instance, you can make your own rice flour in a coffee/spice mill, but which rice is best for baking? Short- and medium-grain rice are best for baking. Long-grain rice is best for dredging or thickening. Short- and medium-grain rice flour can be used for dredging/thickening, as well as baking. -"The Pleasure of Whole-Grain Breads" - by Beth Hensperger Other little-known rules, like adding ascorbic acid powder to recipes for yeast bread that contain whole wheat flour or wheat germ. Ascorbic acid powder counteracts the negative effects of Glutathione (found in the wheat germ), which breaks the gluten bonds - which accounts for so many short-squatty loaves of 100% whole wheat bread. Ascorbic acid (1/8-t. per loaf) helps prevent gluten bonds from breaking down, helps sustain the leavening during baking (more oven spring), and helps promote yeast growth. I've been studying bread science, milling, and grains for years, and am still learning all the time. Welcome to the club... -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: COOKED Oatmeal Scones

I'll have to disagree with Linda on this one - but she's at a bit of a disadvantage not having the entire recipe. The recipe is designed for dry wheat berries and the amount of hydration is designed for that in order to give the kernels of wheat a chance to absorb water during the 24-hour rest in the refrigerator. What you could do instead is to sprout, then completely dry the wheat before adding it to the recipe. I don't think sprouting will be necessary or will contribute all that much because the fermentation during the 24-hour rest in the refrigerator will accomplish much the same thing. Be sure to let us know how this recipe works out. I may need to flake some rye and give it a try myself. Ironically, I just stirred up a 1/2 recipe of "Whole Grain Rye" from the same book and I added a little whey from my homemade kefir. The lactic acid and lactobacilli from the whey will help break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins found in whole grain and whole grain flour. PLUS, the soaking (during refrigeration) increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in the whole grains and whole grain flours more available. About adding apricots.... Vollkornbrot traditionally doesn't include dried fruit, not saying it couldn't be added.... A recipe for Hutzelbrot would be a better choice for that. -Grainlady

lakeguy35: Have you tried this? (copied & pasted from another thread on ginger cookies) RE: OMG Old Original Annie! Posted by loves2cook4six (My Page) on Thu, Jun 4, 09 at 18:03 lynda The ginger is really easy. It's a siple syrup with 3 parts sugar to three parts water and 1 part sliced ginger. Directions: Peel the ginger and slice it into rounds about 1/8 inch thick. For every cup of ginger slices, bring 3 cups water and 3 cups sugar to a boil in a large sauce pan. When the sugar is completely dissolved, add the ginger and boil for 45 minutes, until the ginger is sweet and tender. Drain the ginger, reserving the liquid. Place the ginger on a rack to dry for 30 minutes, then toss it with enough granulated sugar to coat. Let it dry on wax paper and then store in an airtight container. Boil the reserved liquid until it is reduced to a syrup with a consistency somewhere between maple syrup and honey. This will intensify its flavor. This syrup can be used for pancakes, waffles, or ice cream, and is an extra bonus for making your own candied ginger. The ginger is delicious eaten as candy, and can also be used in recipes calling for candied ginger. If you don't want to make it yourself but don't want to spend a fortune for it, look in an Asian grocery store, where the price will be much less than it is at the supermarket. Notes: The left over syrup can be strained and stored in the fridge. It's great over ice cream and can be added to Jams etc Sorry, don't mean to hijack anyone's thread. Rusty

Boy, what a challenge... I'd take the Polenta Pizza Crust mixture and make small rounds (about the size of an English Muffin), and see if you get better results making individual-sized pizza crusts. You might try baking them in a slow oven to dry them out, THEN in a higher oven to crisp them up and brown them. Have you tried converting a baked corn tortilla into a pizza crust (if that's a corn-based food you can have), or even converting a pancake? I remember making low-carb pancakes and using them for a wrap for sandwiches and a "crust" (base) for pizzas. How about a blender batter made with cornmeal, dairy, oil, salt and making a crepe-type shell. Here's a recipe from "An Introduction to Whole Grain Baking" - by Sue Gregg (www.suegregg.com). Blender Crepes Stage 1 1. Place in blender, cover and blend at highest speed 3-5 minutes: 1-1/2 c. warm filtered water 2 T. whey or cultured milk, (optional) (you can drain whey from plain yogurt) 2/3 c. whole grain - choice (soft white wheat, Kamut, spelt, barley, brown rice, millet, oats (whole oat groats), etc. (Grainlady note: you could probably use coarse corn meal.) 2. (DO NOT BLEND YET) Cover and let stand at room temperature several hours, or overnight. Stage 2 3. Add remaining ingredients except eggs and blend briefly until evenly blended; add eggs; cover and continue blending on highest speed for 1-3 minutes: 1 T. melted butter, extra-virgin olive oil, or melted coconut oil 1 t. honey (for fruit-filled or snack crepes) 1/2 t. cinnamon (for fruit-filled or snack crepes) 2 T. unbleached all-purpose flour, optional* see note below 1/4 t. salt 2 eggs 4. Preheat seasoned crepe pan over moderately high heat until drops of water sizzle gently in pan. 5. Grease pan as needed. 6. Pour about 3 T. batter into hot pan, quickly tilting pan to swirl the batter evenly across the bottom of the pan to the edges. Stir the batter before making each crepe. 7. Bake until browned at edges, about 1-2 minutes. Loosen along edge with shish kabob or party stick. Lift gently with fingers, loosening from pan carefully as you turn it over to bake on the second side. * (Grainlady note) If you have a grain mill, you can substitute milled bean flour for the all-purpose flour or use flaxmeal. I suggest using small white beans because they have the mildest flavor when added to baked goods. I've done a lot of food experiments using bean and chana dal flour (I mill them into flour myself). ----------------------------- Cookies from these ingredients... I have a recipe for corn meal cookies (NO flour), but they take a lot of sugar. What are you using for a sweetener? Can you use Stevia or low-glycemic agave nectar? I bet you could work out an oatmeal cookie. It's probably possible if you use powdered shredded wheat as the flour substitute - since that's essentially what it is. Can you have eggs? If not, substitute tofu for the eggs. Good luck - necessity is the mother of invention! -Grainlady