Have I mentioned how much I love The Bread Baker’s Apprentice? It’s such a wonderful cookbook. If only I was home more, I would bake bread all the time. This is the second bread I’ve made from this book.
I finally found some free time to make this bread, which I had picked out a long time ago as the second bread I wanted to make out of this book (the first was marbled rye). Amy tested the bread out a while ago and loved it.
I made my soaker on Saturday, and then set about making the bread on Sunday. I used milk instead of buttermilk (room temp). I had to add a lot of flour to the dough to make it just tacky (Amy had the same issue). My first proof was less than successful. Maybe too cool in the kitchen? I let it rise an extra 30 minutes, then shaped the dough. When I checked on it after an hour, it had barely risen. I decided to use my microwave as a proof box (I don’t know why I didn’t do this in the first place). After boiling some water in the microwave, I put the shaped dough in to rise. Finally after two more hours (double the time in the recipe), it had risen sufficiently for baking. It smelled wonderful when it came out of the oven.
This bread is perfect sliced and toasted. I was going to add some honey, but it was just so good plain. I think it would be good for sandwiches too.

• Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire (The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, p. 187)