Multigrain Bread

What with rising costs of rice, people have suggested eating potatoes. Why not bread? Yes, OK, wheat prices are on the up as well, but I love bread and sorely miss it every time I travel. Real bread, that is. Not the fluffy air filled Asian or Japanese variety. Real bread, without improvers, emulsifiers, preservatives. The sort that has real good mouthfeel, satisfying crunch of crust, moist chewy insides.
I decided I would make real bread weekly so that I would always have the real thing. Dusting off a recipe sheet, I went into a flurry of flour and made a dozen loaves in a fortnight. Practice makes perfect. Fortunately there were friends and relatives to fob off the edible end results. The not so good ones became oven baked crisps and breadcrumbs. My kitchen counter, espresso machine, living room and shoe rack acquired a fine coating of high gluten bread flour - which fortunately got blow away recently by the seasonal NE Monsoon blowing in from wash area.
My current favourite is Multigrain Bread, my own variant on a great Basic White Bread recipe.

Multigrain loaf (makes 2 x 1lb loaves)

• 4-4.5 cups bread flour
• 0.5 cup multigrain berries, mod ground*
• 1 sachet dry yeast
• 1 tsp flaxseed meal
• 2 tsp salt / 4 tsp kosher flaked salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water (blood temperature)
• 1.5 cups cold water**
• * mix equal amounts unpolished rice, wheat and rye berries
• ** it is so hot in Singapore that cold water allows a nice slow rise resulting in an even crumb

1. Wake up the yeast with warm water and sugar (abt 5-10min)
2. Mix all dry ingredients together, form well in centre
3. Add yeast, mix in enough water to form a soft dough
4. Turn dough out onto floured surface, adding more flour as necessary to make it workable. Knead till smooth and elastic, about 10-15min. Form into smooth ball.
5. Lightly grease a large bowl, place dough into it, turning over once to give a coating of grease
6. Cover and let rise till doubled in size (about 2h)
7. Punch down dough, turn out onto floured surface, divide into 2 equal portions
8. Gently roll or spread out each into a rectangle, as long as the baking tin
9. Roll up like a jelly roll, tucking ends in
10. Place into greased and floured baking tins, cover and let rise for another 1.5h (or overnight in fridge)
11. Heat oven to 220C (preheat x 15min at least)
12. Place loaves in, baking at 220C for 15min then 200C for another 15-20min
13. Turn out onto baking rack. If done, loaves should sound hollow when tapped undersurface
14. Cool thoroughly before slicing
15. If a nice crust is desired, spray oven sides and bottom with water when putting loaves in and midway through the baking process.