Ezekiel Bread ~ For the Bread Machine

"Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. Weigh out twenty shekels* of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Also measure out a sixth of a hin** of water and drink it at set times." ~ Ezekiel 4:9-11

*about 8 oz.
**about 2.3 quart

Many people eat of enjoy Ezekiel Bread, the bread best known to have been based on these ingredients given to Ezekiel by God. It's a huge seller at the health food store I work at. Ezekiel Bread is considered the perfect fasting food.

Now, if you've spent any time on this blog at all, you know that I and my family are Bread Heads. :-) We LOVE our bread and it is such a blessing to me that my family's favorite bread is my flaxseed meal bread. That's why, as my family is about to jump head-long into the Daniel Plan life-style, one of the few breads allowed on the plan is Ezekiel Bread. 

From time-to-time, I have made the other Ezekiel recipe I posted several years ago. It's a very good recipe, but it's very dense and, quite frankly, my family has been spoiled by my soft, high-rise bread; and another frank admission ~ since I had to return to work in 2010, I just don't have the time to make all of my bread by hand anymore. I prefer to let my bread-maker do all the heavy lifting (mixing and kneading) while I do the last rise and bake in a loaf pan in the oven. 

So, on a quest for a do-able recipe, I went. I need to have a good bread-maker recipe that my family will enjoy or it's simply useless and wasteful to make something we won't eat. Well, I do believe I found it . . . and of course, as always, with a little tweaking by me. :-) I made my first loaf today and, I have to say, it is quite good. Much softer than I had expected, too. My only disappointment is that it didn't rise as high as I would have liked ~ or rather, as I am used to, as you can see.

 I will probably double or 1/2-again the recipe below the next time I make it. But with that said, I do think my family will really enjoy this bread. I sure do.

You will need: (1 lb. loaf)

~1 c. hot water
~1/4 c. red kidney beans (cooked and drained ~ *short cut: use canned beans, drained)
~1/4 c. lentils (cooked and drained ~ *short cut: use canned lentils, drained)
~1 1/2 TB extra virgin olive oil
~1 1/2 TB raw, unfiltered honey
~3/4 ts. sea salt OR Kosher salt
~2 c. UNBLEACHED white whole wheat bread flour
~1/2 c. millet flour
~1/4 c. spelt flour
~1/4 c. flaxseed meal
~2 ts. yeast
~spray oil (I use grapeseed)
~loaf pan

Directions:

1) layer ingredients in the bread machine in order listed
2) to do entire process in bread machine, use "basic" cycle OR if you will be baking the bread in your oven, use "dough" cycle
~continue for oven baking~
3) when you are down to 10-15 minutes left for your bread machine's dough process, preheat your oven to 350*
4) spray loaf pan with oil; take dough out of bread machine, shape into loaf, place in loaf pan
5) IF DESIRED, lightly sprinkle a few oats or various seeds on top of loaf (sesame, pumpkin, flax, sunflower)
6) bake in oven for 30-35 minutes, until baked through

Let me know how much you LOVE this bread. Enjoy!

Blessings from Ohio . . . Kim<><