Baking & Pastry Project #10 - Sunflower Honey Bran Bread
Happy Mother's DayWhile my husband and I were engaged, we had a discussion about whether or not we'd like to have children and how many. My husband came from a large family and informed me he'd like to have enough kids for a ball team. Somewhat stunned, I asked him what kind of ball team. He smiled and said, "Baseball." Laughing, I told him I'd agree to enough kids for a beach volley ball team, but not baseball. He smiled and said, "Great! How many people are on a beach volley ball team?" Smirking, I said, "Two."
Mother's Day is a great day for me. We were married for almost 7 years before we had our first child, a son. As soon as he could manage it, he started moving and still is at 13 years old. He's working towards his brown belt in karate now. Three years later, we had a daughter, although my dearest husband was hoping for another boy so he could talk me into having a third baby. She started life by watching her brother move and trying to mimic every physical challenge he made. At 10 years old, she loves to dance, ride horses and is still following her brother by taking karate.
I didn't do the whole pregnancy thing well, needing lots of bed rest, trips to the doctor and the hospital. I got an ambulance ride during rush hour traffic around the beltway in Virginia to the Fairfax County Hospital with our son. Our daughter decided life was quieter and more comfortable inside my body rather than in the labor and delivery room. So she got to spend ten days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, while she adjusted to a life of breathing air. When we got her hospital bill, all we could think of was "Thank the good Lord for health insurance."
So today is very special to us, because in spite of all the challenges, we have two awesome kids. We love watching them grow, change and develop inquiring minds. It's shallow of me I know, but I think it's pretty exciting to have another set of muscles in the house. No more cranky jar lids that have to wait for my husband to get home. Not to mention my great joy in finding out that my daughter absolutely loves to wash dishes. I'm sure the thrill of picking up new chores and other odd jobs will fade for the kids, but for us, it's pretty cool.
Today's bread is a delicious Sunflower Honey Bran Bread. It's a very verstile bread, as I've used it for sandwiches, croutons and even as a base for the filling of the breakfast pastry I made for Mother's Day.
This recipe has both roasted and raw sunflower seeds. Grind the raw sunflower seeds to make the meal for this bread. When you grind the seeds, add some of the flour mixture to grinder to help absorb the oil and to keep from making sunflower seed butter.
Originally made with bread flour, the protein content was 47.97 grams per 100 grams of flour. While the gluten free version has 47.75 grams of protein per 100 grams of flour.
Recipe
Yield: 1 loaf
3.1 Tb/45 g brown rice flour (4.05 g)
3.1 Tb/45 g sweet rice flour (2.7 g)
3.1 Tb/45 g arrowroot starch (0.13 g)
4.2 Tb/60 g raw sunflower seed meal (9 g)
3.8 Tb/55 g millet flour (6.32 g)
.47 cup/110 g white bean flour (23.65 g)
1.8 tsp/9 g chia seed meal (1.89 g)
.63 tsp/3 g agar agar powder
2.9 Tb/42 g rice bran
3.1 tsp/15 g instant dry yeast
1.8 tsp/9 g sea salt
2.9 Tb/42 g roasted sunflower seeds
1.59 cup/378 ml whole milk, room temperature
2.1 Tb/70 g honey
1.4 tsp/21 g sunflower oil
1. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Pour in the honey, milk and sunflower oil then stir together. Sprinkle the parchment paper with sweet rice flour and place the bread dough in the center of the paper. Shape into a round ball and score a slash down the center of the top of the dough. Cover and allow to rise for 1 ½ hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 435 degrees F/225 degrees C. If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven at the same time on a shelf in the top third of the oven. Gather an oven proof bowl that can hold water and a squirt bottle filled with water for steaming your bread. Place the water bowl on a shelf in the bottom third of the oven. Brush sunflower oil over the top of the loaf and sprinkle with sunflower seeds.
3. Remove the stone or brick from the oven and slide the parchment paper with the loaf onto the baking stone. Squirt the sides of the oven with water and the top of the bread. Then bake for 30 minutes. Prop open the door of the oven and allow the bread to cook for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven, then let the bread cool about 1 ½ hours before cutting.
Notes:1. White Bean Flour – You can purchase white bean flour from
Barry Farm or you can grind your own using a coffee grinder. Make sure to sift your bean flour before using to make sure any bits that weren’t ground are removed
2. Chia Seed Meal – You can purchase chia seeds from
Barry Farm and use a coffee grinder to turn them into meal.
3. Rice Bran - You can purchase rice bran from
Ener-G Foods. You could also try the baking aisle at Whole Foods, that's where I purchased my box.
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