Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Flax and Sunflower Seed Bread

I've been on a hunt for a good whole-grain bread ever since the recipe that came with my bread machine proved to be disappointing. One of my favorite sayings is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, which was exactly what I had been doing with the whole wheat bread recipe that came with my bread machine. Then, someone on my cooking board pointed me in this direction. I overcame my fear of flax, bought some sunflower seeds in bulk at the grocery store, and made some bread.

This is exactly the recipe I've been looking for because it reminds me of the kind of bread I used to buy at the grocery store, with a lot of texture. I had to add a little more flour during the second kneading cycle, but it turned out perfectly. I plan on using it for sandwiches later this week, but our first taste of it was as toast with a breakfast of cheesy eggs and turkey bacon on Sunday morning. This will definitely be my go-to bread recipe from now on.

Flax and Sunflower Seed Bread
source: AllRecipes
Yields 1 1.5 lb loaf

Ingredients
  • 1 1/3 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1 1/3 cups whole wheat bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup flax seeds
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Directions

Put everything except the sunflower seeds in the bread machine in the order specified by the manufacturer. Select basic white cycle, and press start. When the alert sounds for the second kneading cycle, add the sunflower seeds. When finished, let cool 5 minutes in pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool.

5 comments:

ErinsFoodFiles said...

That looks like my kinda bread! And I have flax seeds & sunflower seeds, but alas, no bread machine!

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Looks like a perfectly healthy bread!!

Anonymous said...

This looks fantastic! :)

uncanny said...

You can easily make it without a bread machine... just follow the directions for another bread.

Glad you liked it! That's my go-to recipe. I grind the flax before adding to get added nutrition from it.

Evelyn said...

I finally got around to trying this recipe after, like you, being disappointed in other whole wheat bread machine recipes. We liked it a lot. If I can ever get good at slicing the bread thin enough, this will become my go-to sandwich bread. Until then, it's superb as toast. I used half whole flax seeds and half ground.