How to Use Seven-Grain Flour in a Bread Machine
Seven-grain flour is very healthful, but also very heavy and dense. Because of this, a bread made solely from seven-grain flour will rise very little. Since it's the rising that makes breads light, fluffy and pleasing to eat, seven-grain flour must be mixed with either all-purpose or bread flour in recipes. Bread flour has a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour. Gluten is what creates the strong frame of the bread that the yeast causes to rise. Its power is activated through the kneading cycle in your bread machine. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Read your bread recipe through, from beginning to end, so you understand how this particular type of bread is made.
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Substitute 1/2 cup seven-grain flour for 1/2 cup of the flour amount specified in the recipe. In future loaves of bread, you can increase the seven-grain content to as much as half the total amount of flour, but be aware that the finished product will be much denser and harder.
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Add seven-grain flour at the same time you add the all-purpose or bread flour to your bread machine. Put all ingredients specified in the recipe into the machine in the order given by your recipe.
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Tips & Warnings
If you haven't ever looked at a loaf of bread while it is being kneaded in your machine, stop your machine and examine it. Play with it in your hands, and stretch it out. Those long strands you see as you stretch it are gluten. It is elastic and strong, and traps the bubbles of carbon dioxide that the yeast releases. That's how your bread rises, and why seven-grain flour cannot be used alone: it doesn't have enough gluten to do this by itself.
To add a greater ratio of seven-grain flour to your bread recipes, but still get a lighter loaf, boost the yeast content of the recipe by 1/4 tsp. Add 1 tsp. of sugar at the same time as you add the yeast. If the recipe already calls for sugar, add the extra teaspoon to the original amount. Sugar helps give yeast a kick-start.
References
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