Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire

I loved this bread last time, but I had to admit that it was a bit heavy and dough-y. I wondered if it had any thing to do with the extra flour that I had to add while kneading. The instructions said to sprinkle in flour if needed and that it should be soft and pliable "tacky, but not sticky". It took a lot of flour for me to get there.

This time, I decided to let the KitchenAid do the kneading, because the machine would be less tempted to add flour than I would be. The book says that even if you use the KitchenAid, you should do the last minute or two yourself. At that point, it was a little sticky, but nothing like what I had experienced before. I added a little flour and kneaded for a few minutes.

The first rise and the shaping were uneventful, but the second rise seemed to go very quickly. After about an hour, it looked perfect, but I hadn't heated the oven yet, so it had to wait. As soon as I was sure the oven was ready, I threw the bread in.

When the bread is ready, the recipe says its internal temperature should be at least 185-190 degrees. Last time, I checked after 40 minutes and it was 195 and rising. This time, I checked after 40 minutes and it was 203 and rising. I left it out on the rack to cool. It's hard to wait an hour (preferably 2, according to the book) but I did.

Oh wow. It's lovely inside. Much airier and nicer than before. I don't know for sure that it's because of the flour and kneading experiment, but that's my guess. If I'm brave enough to do all the kneading by hand next time, I think I'll use the dough scraper until it loses some of its stickiness, and then try to add just enough flour towards the end.

I left off the poppy seeds off the top this time. They drove me crazy last time, flying everywhere anytime I touched, moved, or cut the bread. I don't miss them.

• Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart, p. 187-189)