Seven Layer Seven Grain Bread

I absolutely love bread, and the more whole grain/nuts/seeds/etc there is in it the better.

I also love sandwiches, but they do present a few inconveniences:

- you are committed to one size sandwich - 2 slices of bread plus filling - or multiples thereof, unless you go to the trouble of making a half sandwich
- every time you want a sandwich you need to drag out all of the ingredients, which tends to make me slack off, so I end up with boring, simple sandwiches
- many sandwiches are better toasted, which adds another level of inconvenience

So I invented a bread with sandwich style ingredients baked right into it. It's already nice and toasty on the outside, and you can cut whatever size piece you want from it. I used 7 grain cereal to give it a pleasant texture, and added a whole lot of herbs and vegetables to keep it interesting. There's an almost infinite number of things that could be included between the layers of bread.

Step 1 Ingredients

1 tbsp honey
1 1/4 cups water just a bit warmer than bathwater
Bottled water is better than tap (because chlorine kills yeast) and water from boiling potatoes is better than bottled water. I used water from boiling potatoes.

1/2 cup steel cut 7 grain cereal
Other numbers of grains would work as well, this is just my preference.

1 packet bread yeast
1 packet rapid rise bread yeast
Keep your yeast in the fridge to make it last longer.

2 tbsp olive oil plus more for brushing

2 cups (or more, depending on humidity) white flour
Unbleached is better, but any white will do. Don't be tempted to replace it with wheat flour or you'll bake a brick, (though you could get away with replacing half a cup or so).

1 tsp salt

Fillings:
This is what I used, but you can put almost anything into it, as long as it's something you would be willing to eat before baking (what I mean is that deli meat is okay, but raw turkey is not).

pepperoni (I used what was left in a package which was enough for one layer)
1/2 onion
2 roma tomatoes
dried rosemary
shredded mozarella and parmesan
fresh savory, basil, tarragon, and thyme
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
salt (sea or kosher salt are best) and pepper

Slice the tomatoes and onion as thin as is reasonable, slice the garlic as thin as possible. Thoroughly wash the fresh herbs and pull the leaves from the stems. Discard the stems.

Comments

[larvan]

I made this bread on the weekend and it was delicious. But I do have a question as I am really new to bread making. What is the difference between bread yeast and rapid rise bread yeast. I didn't have bread yeast, so I used active and instant yeasts. 2 packets sounded like a lot but I did it anyway. It turned out but did I do it right or was it just luck! Thanks for this. Really great idea!

[sunshiine]

This looks really good! Thanks for sharing your hard work.

[dapper135]

The one thing I'd be a bit concerned about with this recipe is the 1-2 hours to let the dough rise. If people put meats other than cured sausage, etc., there is a chance it could be a breeding ground for bacteria during that time. It would be a little more work, but the bottom layer could be separate and then, just before baking, arrange the refrigerated meat onto it, assemble the whole thing and then bake it. That would be safer.

[dvivster]

Is it possible to substitute whole wheat bread flour for the white flour?

[technoplastique]

I would only substitute part of the white with whole wheat unless you've done a lot of baking with whole wheat. White rises more easily (at least in my experience), and this runs the risk of becoming very dense if it doesn't rise enough. Try a partial substitution the first time, if it still works substitute it all!

[dvivster]

Thanks so much!

[WildBYonder]

Thank you so much for going to all the trouble it took to put this great idea on the website! It sounds sooo healthy and will not be boring! I'm looking forward to trying it soon. Thanks once again!

[technoplastique]

I love convenient ways to get more veggies into my food, and there's something magic about seven grain (both the texture and feeling full for longer.) I hope yours turns out delicious!

[mcd76]

Just made this for pregnant sister. She devoured it and begged me to make another one with roast beef, turkey and ham. I prepared it, but not in time to cook it. This one is all mine. She thinks you should have called it a loaf of sandwich though.

[technoplastique]

I'm glad you both got to enjoy this! I haven't made it for myself in a while, but roast beef seems like a great way to go... *Starts searching for a grocery store that is open late*

[Hippie_Eater]

Wow! that looks nice, I was wondering about mine containing nothing but cheese, garlic and MEAT, lots of meat - ham, roast beef and maybe some pig's 'rib-eye'. Maybe make it pizza-sized..... if I only had a bigger pan.

[technoplastique]

That should totally work, but like I just edited in, be sure that everything is pre-cooked. There's no way to be sure meat would cook to a safe level in half an hour if it started raw, and the bread probably couldn't take much more than 45 minutes in the oven. Otherwise go ahead - I'd weight the meat to the bottom where's it's likely to get hottest - but otherwise it sounds delicious! And randomly - do you eat like a hippie or eat hippies?

[Myself]

I'm salivating just looking at it... very nice! There's some text overlap between steps 4 and 5 but it's not confusing. I'm thinking about cilantro and shredded jalapeño peppers, which really mellow out when baked...

[technoplastique]

Thanks for pointing that out - it was a copy/paste error but it should be fixed now. I know what you mean about jalapenos - I'm not much a fan of them raw but baked they're really nice. You could even do it 'taco influenced' by switching the pepperoni for cooked ground beef and replacing a half cup of flour with corn meal. Corn meal in bread gives a fabulous texture that might really complement those changes.....

[cpotoso]

This looks truly phenomenal! I will try it for sure. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!

[LasVegas]

Wow! That looks great!

[HamO]

DEEEEElicious!!!

[JakeTobak]

That looks REALLY good.