Whole grain Kamut Bread with Teff and Black quinoa (Herb and Spice loaves 101)

Kamut Point. Right here.  If you have no idea what that word means...I'm going to give you the simple words:  Kamut is the ancient Khorasan variety of wheat. Now you're smart.  Kamut is 1/3 longer than regular wheat and high protein. Kamut is the name that is registed by the man who started farming it here in America back in the early 50's when his son sent him 32 grains of the wheat from Egypt where it was found, reportedly, in a tomb. It must be grown organically, have a protein range of 12-18%, be 99% free of contamination varieties of modern wheat and 98% free of all signs of disease. Even though this wheat variety contains gluten, it has been found to be more easily digested by people with slight allergic tendencies to modern wheat. Excellent for making pasta and bread because of that protein! So I use it for bread on a regular basis. It's remarkably awesome!

Whole grain bread need not be dry, lifeless and flavorless. On the contrary! It should be boldly going where you mouth is and full of so many grains that they sing and dance on the surface of the loaf! So...I added Teff. Teff is a grain the comes to us from Ethiopia.  It takes 150 grains of teff to equal one grain of wheat in size. So they're small...yet they pack a nutritional punch! Lots of fiber as you can well imagine. 2 grams per ounce of grain (That's almost 10% of your daily  needs in one ounce baby!). Plus...there's a high amount of quality protein and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper. For more nutritional facts on Teff, look here .   
I also added some cooked black Quinoa. I used it yesterday in the cool salad Here. 

Today I'm going to show you how to take a magnificent dough like this and transform the flavor of almost any loaf INSTANTLY by rolling in herbs, spices, nuts, seeds...basically anything you want! It's remarkable! I think you'll fall out of your seat...if you are cool and baker-like.


 Whole Grain Kamut bread with Teff  and black Quinoa

2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup cool water (not cold, but cool to the touch)

 5 Cups Kamut® flour

1/3 cup whole grain teff

2/3 cup cooked black quinoa 

2 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup lukewarm water

2 T honey

1/4 cup oil


Flavor agents:

2T lemon zest (Optional)

1T fennel seed (Optional)

Black pepper to taste (optional)

Directions:Dissolve the yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl make a well in the mixture. Dissolve the honey in the 2 1/4 cup water and add the oil of your choice. Pour the liquid and the yeast mixture into the well of flour. Stirring from the center, first combine the ingredients to make a smooth batter, then fold in the remaining flour from the sides of the bowl, mixing them together into a soft dough. Soft dough is the key!! Add the teff and quinoa. Since the whole grain flour takes a while to absorb water, wait 10 minutes--then evaluate the dough. Add water or flour if more is required, but do this slowly as it will probably take less flour than you think. If you want really good bread--best keeping quality, flavor, and rise--knead the dough about 600 strokes without adding any more flour. The dough should remain soft and should become elastic and smooth. Rest whenever you want, but aim for 600 strokes. This is about 6 minutes on medium speed in a Kitchen-Aid mixer. This may seem like an amazing and outrageous requirement, but after many hundreds of loaves, I'm convinced that thorough kneading makes the critical difference. As you continue to work the dough, toward the end of the kneading, it will become lustrous, utterly supple and elastic. It should actually be white if you look closely, with brown bran flecks clearly visible against pale gluten. Form the dough into a ball and put in an un-greased crock or food grade food storage bucket. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or a lid and allow to ferment. At about 80 degrees, this will take 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. Wet your finger and poke it into the dough (called the ripe test). If your finger goes in without very much resistance and the hole remains when your finger is removed, the dough is ready to be punched down. For best results, do not wait until it sighs and collapses when poked. Gently press out the accumulated gas. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured table and keeping the smooth surface, carefully unbroken, deflate the dough by pressing it with wet or floury hand from one side to another.

 Turn the dough out onto a lightly moistened table (yes I use water instead of flour at this point. It keeps the dough moist!) keeping the smooth surface, carefully unbroken, deflate the dough by pressing it with wet  hand from one side to another. Cut it in half and form each part gently int a round ball, still preserving the smooth surface on the outside. Roll dough into a rectangle and fold into thirds.  Now...this is where I get creative. Today I made the bread into a lemon fennel bread by adding a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest and 1 1/2 tsp of fennel seed at this stage. 

I gently press the flavor agents into the dough.

Then I form the loaf accordingly...in thirds.

Roll, pinch, and form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan (standard size only! 8inch by 4 inch--or loaves will be squat-ty). Loaves should take 35-45 minutes for their final rise (called proof)--I cover them with a loose gallon size bag. Make sure the surface doesn't get dry or the top crust will separate from the loaf when baking. I gently drizzled this loaf with lemon infused olive oil and sprinkled the top with more fennel and lemon zest.  

I made some plain bread, some with fresh Herbes de Provence and sea salt as well. You can make any kind of bread from a plain dough using this method! Again, be sure to cover and let raise until doubled before baking.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. When oven is hot and only then, place loaves in the oven. If all has gone well, the loaves will arch over the top of the pan, touching the sides all the way up! The dough feels spongy but not soggy. Place in hot oven. After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until internal temperature is over 175 degrees (can be measured with a chef style meat thermometer). Allow to cool before placing in a bag. Keeps 3-4 days if you kept the dough soft.


There you go. One crazy cool idea from a crazy cool chef! 
Let me know how your bread is coming along folks! I'd love to help in any way I can! Look at some of my other bread basics here:


basic bread recipe 
5 day bread dough


freezer rolls {and doughs}


There you go.
Your friend, 
Chef Tess