50% Whole Wheat & Flax Bread

Another day, another loaf of bread. But before I get to that recipe, I got a shot of C's borscht and what it looks like when she makes & cans it. As you might recall from my previous post, I deviated from her recipe's instructions and got a different-looking soup. Here is what hers looks like, in a 1L jar. Isn't it pretty?


Now, onto the bread.

I adapted this recipe from my Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook book, where I also go the milk bread recipe from. I don't like 100% whole wheat bread; I don't like the texture and my stomach has a hard time with that much fibre. So I cut the whole wheat flour in half and also added about 1/4 flax seeds, which I had hanging around my freezer.

50% Whole Wheat & Flax Bread (adapted from Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook, page 463)

1 tbsp instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white bread flour
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp barley malt syrup (or honey)

Directions here. And this is what she looked like:

The original recipe called for 2 tsp barley malt; I have no idea what is meant by that - whether they're talking about a powder or a syrup or what. I've had a jar of barley malt syrup kicking around since I made bagels a couple years back, so I use it whenever I get a chance. It adds great colour & flavour to bread.