Blue Ribbon Winning Whole Barley Sandwich Bread (With Video!)
"I worked on this recipe for years- I wanted a good tasting sandwich bread with the nutrition of barley, one that would be very moist and keep well. I must have done it because so many people have told me that this is the best bread that they have ever eaten! And to top that, I won a blue ribbin and best of division award at the fair this year (2010). I admit that it is a little more work with the extra step of cooking the barley, but if you do as I do and do it in 3 steps when you have time- it fits into anyones schedule! Another bonus is that the dough makes killer hamburger buns as well as dinner rolls. My husband loves it when I make individual sized loafs so he can have a whole loaf to himself!!!!
(For a video series on how to make this bread, go to you tube, Baking Whole Barley Bread video: http://www.youtube.com/user/Sweetgraces#p/u/0/YLmJFXIA1pQ
Thanks!)"
photo by melinderella
- Ready In:
- 1hr 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 14
- Serves:
-
20
ingredients
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Cooked Barley
- 1⁄3 cup pearl barley
- 4 cups water
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Bread Mix
- 3 1⁄2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 1⁄2 cups bread flour
- 1⁄4 cup brown sugar
- 2 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
- 1⁄4 cup sesame seeds
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons instant yeast (SAF Brand)
- 3 tablespoons gluten (Bob's Red Mill)
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On Bread Baking Day (use 1 batch of whole barley bread mix and cooked barley from above)
- 1 1⁄2 cups water (heat this up until very warm- about 105 degrees)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 -2 cup bread flour (add as much as needed to form a dough that sticks together and not to the sides of the bowl)
directions
- Combine the whole barley and the water in a medium saucepan. Simmer on medium heat for about 50 minutes until the barley is very soft- like mushy oatmeal. Pre-cooked barley can be stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake your bread.
- Hint: Make at least one batch of the bread mix- I make up about 4 of these and store them in plastic containers. They will keep fresh for about a month and make bread baking go much faster.
- To make the bread mix, measure out the dry ingredients above and set aside for bread making day.
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Making the Bread Dough:
- Combine the bread mix, the cooked barley, the water, oil, molasses and vinegar into the mixing bowl of your stand mixer (or regular mixing bowl if you are going to knead it by hand).
- Mix together with a spoon to get it blended.
- Now put the bowl on the mixer stand with the dough hook in place.
- Knead by machine for about 12 minutes on medium, adding additional flour a little at a time until the dough sticks to itself and not the mixing bowl.
- Spray a large mixing bowl or plastic container with cooking spray, add the dough (give the dough one more spray and then cover.
- Let the dough rest on the counter for about 2 hours, then either refrigerate for later use or form into loafs, rolls or killer hamburger buns!
- To form two loafs, flour your work surface and remove the dough from the raising container.
- Cut the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, shape into a log- rolling the dough back and forth to smooth the edges as much as possible. Place each dough half into a loaf pan, press it down and let it sit until doubled.
- Heat your oven to 450 degrees. Place the bread into the oven and turn the heat down to 400 degrees. Bake for 40-50 minutes.
- I like to use an instant read thermometer- when the bread is between 195-200 degrees I know that it is time to take the bread out of the oven.
- Let the bread cool and then devour!
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*Note:
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I have been working on this recipe to increase its available nutrition profile. The modifications are as follows:
- 1. For the whole wheat flour, use sprouted, dried and ground whole wheat.
- 2. Make the barley ahead and soak it for 12 hours before cooking in 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar.
- 3. Soak the sesame seeds (they add a wonderful flavor and texture) for 12 hours prior to making the bread- add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the soaking water.
- 4. I have deleted the wheat bran as there was no useful purpose for it and there was no practical way to remove the phytic acid.
- 5. Add 1/2 cup sourdough starter to the dough to increase the acidity and give more rise to the dough.
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Planned future modifications:
- 1. Increase the amount of sourdough starter.
- 2. Decrease the amount of bread flour.
- 3. Decrease the amount of wheat gluten.
- Good luck and email me with suggestions!
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
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I used 1 cup sourdough starter, 50% high gluten WW flour, 50% high gluten pizza flour, no additional gluten, 1 Cup cooked pearl barley, 1/4 c seseme seed, 1/2 cup cracked 9 grain cereal (azurestandard.com) 1/4 c molasses....perfect. -
This made a really delicious bread! I made it just as the recipe said, except that I left out the sesame seeds.
Tweaks
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Luv your recipe. Made one bread *almost* exactly as you posted above and it turned out beautifully. A nice dense, firm, moist, crispy crusted sandwich bread. Slices easily and toasts up deliciously. The only thing I did was save the water from when i boiled the barley (I strained my barely before using it) and used that as my water that you require later in the recipe. Note: my pearled barley took an extra 20 minutes before it became soft enough all the way through. A couple days later I made the second loaf. To the wet ingredients, (split recipe in half above to make a single loaf) I added freshly grated orange peel from a 1/2 of an orange. I squeeze that and added 2 tbsps to the single loaf amt of wet ingredients. I also added 1 tbsp of honey because this keeps mold away - is a natural preservative. And, my family likes sweeter breads. As I did above, I used the rest of the water available that was leftover from when the barley cooked. After straining the barley, I still had enough left to meet the 3/4 cups of water the recipe requires for a single loaf. Once you mix all your wet ingredients, before warming, add 1/3 cup of powdered milk. Make sure the milk powder is dissolved by stirring well with a fork. Then warm all the ingredients in microwave just a bit. Once your wet and dry ingredients are mixing with a dough hook, I added 1 tbsp of soft butter to the dough. Following your directions, keep adding flour until you get a ball that doesn't stick to the sides. Once done, I remove dough from mixer and I added a small handful (1/2-3/4 cup) of yellow raisins manually, right before putting in warm place to rise for the 2 hours. Kneed the dough just enough so the raisins are dispersed. (Don't add via mixer or it will tear them up. In a bread machine, just add as the directions for your machine say for when you add fruits/nuts to a bread.) Everything else you listed in the recipe, I used exactly. This bread came out a bit more tender, a bit less dense, which allowed for the raisins to settle in nicely in the bread. This loaf rose just a bit higher in the 2 hour rise and while cooking as well. Thanks for your recipe - my family liked both versions. I will continue to make this bread regularly. Here's a picture of the two bread's slices compared and a pic of the whole first bread made according to your recipe above (with only a minor tweak.) Looks like although I loaded 2 pics only one is showing and only a portion. If you want to see the pics, just send me a note!
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That would be loaves. Eliminate the sugar.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>We own a small ranch located in Napa, California. We used to be considered odd because we grew most of our food and lived frugally. Now we are viewed as trendy- go figure!</p>
<p>Anyway, we raise chickens for meat and eggs, have tons of fruits and vegetables and do it all without using pesticides or chemicals.</p>
<p>We also cook almost everything we eat from scratch. It takes a lot longer, but ours is the house that everyone wants an invitation to dinner at.</p>
