Make a Fresh Multi-grain Flour at Home!

  I use Multi-grain flour in most if not all of my baking, so I thought it would be good for those of you who plan to follow my blog to know what I put in my flour, and how I make it.    I heard or read somewhere once that grains are not meant to be eaten alone.  That each grain has different nutrients and properties that compliment other grains.  So by mixing grains you get more nutrition, enzymes, and even flavor than eating just one grain can provide.  I have been doing alot of research online trying to find the source of that information, and have come up empty handed.  But it was one of those things that just felt right to me when I learned it.  And immediately I started using more grains, mixing them in everything, and enjoying them.   For me there is really no rhyme or reason for which grains I mix, but I will give you a couple successful mixes that I have tried just so you know that if you mix these particular grains you will have good results.
     Also keep in mind that these grain mixes really only work with baked goods such as sweet breads, cookies, cakes, etc.  There are completely different rules for mixing grains when it comes to gluten breads because there has to be enough gluten in the grain in order for the structure of the bread to develop properly.   So anytime I put up a recipe calling for Multi-grain flour, you can be sure that you can use almost any flour combination.   For breads I will put up specific flours and substitutes as well as amounts so as to keep the grain ratios properly balanced.

     While I do have a nice Nutrimill grain mill for large batches of flour, I prefer to use my Vitamix to grind the mix.  There's a couple reasons this works out better.   One is that all the grains are not uniform in size, so if I were to put them in the Nutrimill, it would have a hard time putting out a nice consistently ground flour.   Secondly, for this small of an amount it is much quicker in the Vitamix.
For this batch I used the following grains:  Amaranth, Buckwheat, Quinoa, Millet, Sorghum, Oat Groats, Rye, Kamut, & Spelt.   I did 1/4 C. of each grain, which filled the container to just over 2 cups.

I only purchase small amounts of these grains at a time because I use them collectively in small amounts.   I will do several batches all at once if I'm planning to bake a lot that week.  But I still do them in the Vitamix because of the consistency issues with mixing grains.   I suppose I could grind each grain separately, but that would produce more flour than I needed, take longer, and be hard to get a good mix.   The blender mixes the grain as well as grinds it.  As you can see, I am left with a beautiful white flour.

This is fantastic in sweet breads, cookies and cakes.   I used this specific batch in the Multi-Grain Banana Oat bread I make, and let me tell you, it was mouth watering!  The only other flour I put in the bread was Coconut flour.  Which obviously isn't a grain, but it increases the protein content of baked goods as well as ads vitamins, and a bit of sweetness.

     As I said before you can really use ANY of the grains in any combination and just experiment.   When I don't have 9 or 10 different grains around, I usually just do 1 C. of Wheat, 1 C. of Brown Rice, and 1 C. of Oat Groats in the blender and use that as my basic multi-grain flour.  I have used that combination in Pancakes and waffles and we LOVE IT!  

You can add in some Barley, or whole organic popcorn, any variety of rice you want to try, or whatever you have around.  It all makes good flour.  I DO try to buy organic and non GMO where practical, but it can be quite expensive.  I would say if you are going to buy one thing Organic, Non GMO, make sure its your corn.  Corn is so screwed up with all the genetic modifications they have tried on it, that if its not ORGANIC and non GMO, I don't trust it.

Light, fluffy, Whole Wheat Quick Bread

10 1/2 c. Whole Wheat flour
1 T. Dough Enhancer
1/2 c. raw sugar or honey
1 Cup Applesauce
1 T. salt
3 T. SAF Instant Yeast
1/3 Cup + 1T. Coconut Oil
3.5 Cups hot water




I always use fresh ground flour.  I have a Nutrimill wheat grinder which is a dream.  So before starting the recipe I grind my flour fresh.











I used a Bosch Mixer which makes this recipe pretty much a no-knead recipe, because the machine does all the work for you.
(See video clips at the bottom of this post.)





Add 8 Cups of the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients, including sugar (but not honey) to the mixer first, and pulse to blend.
Pour the water in a large liquid measuring cup, and then add oil to the water.  pour in over dry ingredients and ad honey (If your using it) and Applesauce.

Replace splash ring on bosch and turn on to speed one until ingredients are basically blended.  You want to keep adding flour slowly until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl, as well as pull away in the center.  You may or may not use all of the flour.  This is where the trick comes in.  You need to have an "eye" for what the right amount of flour is.  I have included a couple of videos to help you with this part.  The dough will still look fairly sticky.

Once the dough starts to pull away, then you start your timer for kneading.  Approx 6-7 minutes on speed 2.  Do the check for Gluten development (see video tutorial)

Wipe down counter and pans with coconut oil.   Dump dough out onto greased counter and shape loaves, place in pans and cover with a dish towel.

Let rise 30-45 minutes until bread has risen above the edges of the pan. Warning:  Do not over rise, or bread may fall.   If it does fall, remove the dough, knead breifly, reshape and let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until deep golden brown.    Makes 3-4 loaves depending on the size of the pan.

Now I was thinking too that I'd like to have a bit higher loaf.  This bread was light and fluffy, and did rise sufficiently, but if I divide the dough into thirds instead of fourths I would have a bit larger loaf that would be better for Sandwiches.  So I will do that next time and ad the photos.

Also I am including some clips of different stages of the dough so you can tell what its supposed to look like.  The first clip is where the dough starts pulling away from the sides.  Second I show you how to check for a "dough window" to be sure the gluten is developed enough.