Sesame Loaf

               

I have experimented with the dough many times by adding different flours like whole wheat flour, wholemeal flour, rye flour, rice flour, etc. and ingredients such as cereals, various types of nuts and seeds available to come up with healthy breads which are fragrant and tasty for my family. One of the recent ones that I made was the Sesame Loaf.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of wholemeal flour 
• 1/2 cup of high protein or bread flour 
• 1/4 cup of multi-grain cereal (to bring out the fragrance)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar (You may replace it with brown sugar which I sometimes do.) 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoon of yeast 
• 1 cup of warm milk 
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons of oil (I use corn oil. Sometimes I use pure butter.)
• 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds, roasted
• 1 teaspoon (or more according to preference) of sesame seeds, roasted (for sprinkling the top of the dough)

The method:

• Grease and line a loaf pan 8 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch. Set aside. 
• Put the flours, cereal, sugar, yeast and salt into the mixing bowl. 
• Pour the warm milk into the bowl.
• Break the egg into it.
• Add in the oil if you are using oil. However, if you are using butter, it should be added at a later stage.
• Start kneading the ingredients into a smooth dough. This will take about 20 minutes or slightly more by machine. (It does not matter if you do not have a machine. You may do it manually.)
• When the dough has formed into a ball, add the butter (for those using butter).
• Add the 2 tablespoons of roasted sesame seeds into the dough and knead the dough until the sesame seeds are evenly distributed.
• Grease a bowl with oil. 
• Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and put it into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap. 
• Leave the dough to proof until it doubles in size.
• Once it has doubled in size, remove the dough from the bowl onto a slightly floured table-top. 
• Knead it manually for about 5 minutes. 
• Then form it into a oval shape to fit the loaf pan. (You may also shape them into buns. Weigh the dough and divide it according to the number of buns that you wish to have. I usually divide my dough into 9 parts to obtain 9 buns.) 
• Cover the loaf pan with a wet towel. 
• Let the dough double in size. 
• Pre-heat oven to 175 degree Celsius. 
• Once the dough has doubled in size, wet the top of the dough gently with some water. Sprinkle the 1 teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds on it. 
• Bake the dough in the oven for about 30 minutes. 
• Once the bread is baked, remove the pan from the oven. 
• Remove the bread immediately from the pan and let it cool down on a metal rack. 
• Slice the loaf once it has completely cool down

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