I don’t make bread very often. It always feels like it will be too hard and labor-intensive. But really, all you need is time (mostly inactive) and practice. This week’s Cook the Book Fridays recipe gave me the chance to flex my bread-making muscles and it was fun!
Multigrain Bread is a delicious, crusty loaf of bread. It uses mostly bread flour, with a touch of whole wheat pastry flour, plus pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, flaxseeds, and poppy seeds for interest. I was happy for the bulk section at Whole Foods this week!
This was great bread recipe. Everything worked for me as written, except I had to add a bit more water to my dough (not unexpected as I often add water to bread recipes due to my dry climate). I really like the technique of baking the dough in a Dutch oven; it give the bread a nice crust.
My bread turned out great! One of the best loaves of bread I have ever made. It is delicious toasted and was also nice for sandwiches. I will definitely be making this one again.
I also caught up on a recipe I missed a few weeks ago: Coffee Crème Brûlée. I love Crème Brûlée but don’t make it very often. I think the last time I made it was for French Fridays with Dorie back in 2011.
What makes this Crème Brûlée special is the addition of coffee and Kahlúa to the custard. It tasted like a cafe au lait! Add that caramelized sugar topping and I was in heaven.
This post participates in Cook the Book Fridays, an on-line cooking group currently making our way through David Lebovitz’s book My Paris Kitchen.
From Scratch 
What a beautiful loaf of bread!
Your loaf is gorgeous! I really like this bread, too, and I’ll be making it again. There’s nothing like a truly flavourful sandwich loaf. And I’ve yet to make the crème brûlée, but your photo is making me want to remedy that soon. 🙂
Although I didn’t make the Coffee Creme Brulée yet (I was in Cambria and my blowtorch was here in Aspen) nor did I make the bread (the high altitude is a bread wrecker), I do intend to make the Brulée soon. What interested me most about this bread recipe was the introduction and mix of seeds. I do make baguettes successfully so may try to add David’s mixture to my next baguette attempt . We have a Whole Foods here also. Your loaf looks beautiful and the sandwich, yummy. No problem suffering through the Brulée, huh?
I’m admiring the tremendous oven spring of your bread. The sandwich looks so delicious. It’s tempting me to make a stack just like that. It feels like food served to you at a local friendly bistro. Well done!
Your loaf looks amazing, Karen. I agree this makes great toast. And now I think I’ll try it for a sandwich. That creme brulee is my first attempt since FFWD too. I think I liked David’s version better. It seemed easier.
Absolutely stunning loaf you baked there! Great looking sandwich too! Wonderful coffee brulee too! I went and got myself two of that brulee dishes!