Flax Bread Recipe

By chefRob, on January 10th, 2012

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Flax Bread Recipe

Start your year off with this great Flax bread recipe.

The New Year always seems to start with a big thud around here, with the rush of the holidays being over and the partying that accompanies this subsides. Trading in your beer or cocktail for that New Year’s resolution is one that most of us seem to dread. Less drinking, better eating habits, more exercise, more of this and less of that always top everyone’s wish list for the coming year but how much of it do you really follow through with?

I have always been a firm believer in taking baby steps in anything I do, making damn sure that all my peas are in the proverbial pod. And this year is no exception. I always stop drinking (much to the humor of my friends) every January. I eat fairly well but this year I wanted to add a bit into the mix, something to change up the days while I have a bit of time to breath. So this year I decided to reach way back to my roots as a baker (yea I did that a wayyyyy long time ago) and what I came up with was this…that I am going to bake bread every week for the month of January. So for January there will be 4 breads that you can do at home, quickly and easily to impress those around you. Nothing fancy (I’ll leave the creativity up to you) but just 4 basic, rock solid bread to play with.

As I am finishing up work on a project that I cannot wait to open and one day in a haze of training manuals and emails I wondered down to the kitchen 2 days ago here @ BMI and looks at what ingredients I had laying around. 2 cups of flax seeds, half a bag of bread and AP flour, salt, creamed honey, a small amount of sugar, oil and the flax see bread was born. Dust off or debox your new kitchen-aid stand mixer and dough hook and you are a few minutes away from baking some of the tastiest bread you have had, at a fraction of the cost of bolting down to the store to grab some of the prefab loafs that they are passing off. Nothing beats fresh baked bread, right?

So the recipe is pretty straight forward. I ground ¾ th’s of the flax seeds in a blender and soaked the rest in hot water to release the slime. When I was playing with this recipe the first batch I made I cooked the flax seeds for 20 minutes by boiling and then cooling and mixing into the starter. If you do this please remember that you will need extra flour as you have added extra water into the formula.

And so here it is…the first bread recipe of January…Flax bread!

Just a little chef FYI. While I was making the dough I was using handfuls of flour after I used the 4 cups to get the dough where I like it, tacky but not too terribly sticky. While my mind was buzzing with the intricacies of getting a restaurant off the ground I forgot to write down how many…sorry. I have placed a pen in the kitchen and the next loaf there will be no eyeing of the flour. I have adjusted the recipe to account for the handfuls so please add the flour in steps.

Guess that makes you kinda wonder what this “new” restaurant is all about, no?

Flax Bread Recipe

Recipe type: Bread

Author: Robert Conaway

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 8-10

Easy and basic flax bread recipe for you to make at home.

Ingredients

1 packet active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoon honey, creamed and 2t sugar
1 tablespoon oil (safflower or olive)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup flax meal + 1/4c flax seeds soaked in hot hater
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 cup AP flour ++
2 teaspoons sea salt (garnish)
2 teaspoons black pepper (garnish)

Instructions

Heat the water and bring to a simmer. Let temp fall to around 140-150 degrees f.
Place the honey, sugar, salt and oil into the bowl of the stand mixer. Add the water and mix well to dissolve all.
When the water has cooled but is still warm to the tough, add the packet of yeast.
Let the yeast bloom for at least 10 minutes. You want to see a frothy bubbling mass in your water.
Using your dough hook, turn the stand mixer on low and begin to add the flour in easy to handle batches.
When all the flour has been added check to see if you may need a bit more. I added 2-3 more handfuls to get the dough right where I like it. If the dough is to dry just add a bit of water.
Coat a stainless mixing bowl with a bit of oil and place your dough into the bowl, making sure that you rub oil over the entire surface.
Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
After the hour has passed, degas the bread by tapping the bowl hard onto a table or other sturdy surface.
Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 2 minutes by hand.
Place the dough into your bread loaf pan or roll into baguettes and repeat the proof for another hour or until bread had doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees f.
Wet your hands and rub the top of the loaf(s) with the water and garnish with the salt and pepper.
Slash the loaf(s) with a knife and place into the preheated oven either in the loaf pan, on a bread stone or a lightly oiled baking sheet, perforated if possible.
Bake for 20 minutes.
At the 20 minute mark, turn the bread 180 degrees and continue to cook until done.
A baguette takes an additional 20 minutes and a loaf, depending on the size will take 5 or so minutes longer.
To check if the bread is done, remove from the oven and tap. You should hear a slightly hollow sound which means that your bread is done.
Remove from the oven, cook for 10 minutes (if you can wait), slice and enjoy.

Notes

This bread rocks with cheeses like sharp cheddar and emmentaler. Additionally, a nice and fresh fruit preserve and a nice cup of coffee or tea and you have an almost perfect start to your day.

Some additional images;

The baguettes proofing