Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked white quinoa, rinsed
- 2 ¼ cups water
- 8 cups whole wheat flour, don't pack the flour in the measuring cup
- ⅓ cup vital wheat gluten, optional, see note
- 1 ½ tablespoons instant yeast
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 2 ¼ cups milk, lightly warmed (about 110 degrees F)
- ¾ cup room temperature water
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup oil, canola, vegetable, avocado
Instructions
- Combine the quinoa and 2 1/4 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Cover and let cook for 10-12 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, remove the lid, stir the quinoa, and let it stand for 10-20 minutes.
- In a stand mixer, combine the wheat flour, gluten, yeast, and salt. Mix.
- Add the milk, 3/4 cup water, honey and oil. Continue mixing; the dough will start out looking very crumbly and come together in a stiff mass. That's ok! It will soften as the quinoa is added.
- Spoon in the warm quinoa while the mixer is running. Gradually add all the quinoa and any excess water (there shouldn't be much; most of it should have absorbed in the quinoa).
- Continue to mix until the dough comes together and forms a soft ball of dough that clears the sides and bottom of the bowl. If for some reason (and this can depend on elevation, humidity, temperature, etc), the dough is sticky and wet, gradually add 1/4 cup of flour at a time until it forms a ball of dough that clears the sides of the bowl - but avoid adding extra flour unless you really need to.
- Let the dough knead for 7-9 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl or container, cover, and let it rise until double.
- Lightly punch down the dough and portion into three equal loaves, about 32-35 ounces each. Form the dough into loaves by patting each piece into a thick rectangle and rolling it up, pressing with the heel of your hand to get rid of air bubbles and form a taut loaf.
- Place the loaves in greased 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Let rise, covered, until 1-inch above the rim of the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and gently turn the loaves out on to a cooling rack to cool completely. Brush the tops with butter while still warm, if desired.
Notes
Whole Wheat Flour: my preference, always with whole wheat bread, is to use white whole wheat flour. Red whole wheat flour may make the bread more dense and hearty (not a bad thing, just a fair warning).
Wheat Grinding: here's a quick post on wheat grinding and deciphering the different varieties of wheat.
Vital Wheat Gluten: I like using the vital wheat gluten as it helps to develop the natural gluten in bread made with 100% whole wheat flour and makes for a super soft, fluffy loaf; however, it is optional (others in the comments have already made this bread without it and have reported back with good results). If you decide to leave it out, think about increasing the kneading time by a couple minutes.