Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, Take 1
Scheidt and I have a $7-loaf-of-bread addiction: Mediterra's rosemary olive oil bread. On occasion, we'll set for a $5 loaf: their multigrain ciabatta. This is great in the summer, when we can pick up a loaf or two or seven at the Farmer's Market in the Strip. It's more difficult in the winter, when Whole Foods is a blustery drive away, and I haven't scraped my car off for three days. And any time of year, this addiction gets a little expensive.*Hence, my 2010 experiment: can I get into a habit of making bread at home?
Admittedly, it's just an exchange of one addiciton for another. I love to use the dough hook. I find its spiral path eerily transcendental and I can lose minutes at a time watching it spin. Read: Scheidt will find me zoning out to the dough hook, with the same look on my face as our cat Pepe has when she's licking the inside of the laundry hamper.**
Whoa, I just zoned out writing about the dough hook. That is some powerful stuff.
This is attempt #1 at a homemade, mostly whole wheat sandwich bread. Never one to settle, I combined two recipes - the whole wheat sandwich bread and basic white bread from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice,*** and a recipe from the bread mavens at King Arthur Flour. I wanted a one-day bread that used mostly whole wheat flour. I edited out crazy things like instant mashed potato flakes (ne'er shall they pass through my door) and overly specialized flours, and added some white bread flour to up the gluten ante.
The result of my experiment was more than acceptable for a sandwich loaf: a tight crumb, clean whole wheat flavor, a decent rise, and no bitter aftertaste thanks to the addition of orange juice. It smelled amazing. It's very filling, too - one slice along with my eggs and bacon this morning, and I was stuffed.
On the downside, it was a bit chewy and dense. I also love honey flavor, so next time I'll replace the sugar with honey (and probably more of it). I'm thinking I may bite the bullet next time and use an overnight soaker, as Reinhart suggested. Your comments are welcome. I want to nail bread this year, so please leave your suggestions!
(Mostly) Whole Wheat Sandwich BreadFirst attempt - adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice and King Arthur Flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
One packet (1/4 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water (plus additional if needed)
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (2% or whole)
1/2 cup orange juice
5 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons butter, melted, divided
2 teaspoons honey
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flours, yeast, nonfat dry milk and sugar just until combined. Add water, milk, orange juice and 5 tablespoons melted butter. Switch to the dough hook (YAY!) when the dough starts to come together and overwhelm the paddle. Add more water, by teaspoons, if the dough seems too dry - this might be especially needed in winter. Knead with the dough hook for 7-8 minutes, until cohesive and soft but not sticky. It should pass the windownpane test, but mine didn't, though I had kneaded it for almost 10 minutes. Your comments here are most appreciated!
Lightly butter a bowl. Gather the dough into a neat ball, put it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 60-90 minutes, until it looks slightly puffy.
Lightly butter a 9x5 loaf pan. Turn the ball out on the counter and press it "flat" - it will still be very poofy - to a square about 7 inches wide and as long as you make it. Working from the short side, roll the dough into a cylinder. Pinch the crease about every 1/2 rotation. Pinch the final seam closed with the back of your hands and gently rock the loaf on the counter to even it out, but don't taper the ends. Place the loaf into the loaf pan. The ends of the loaf should touch the pan to ensure an even rise. Tent the loaf loosely with buttered plastic wrap and let rise an additional 75-90 minutes, until it has crowned over the rim of the pan by about 3/4 inch.
Near the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the loaf uncovered for 10 minutes, then tented with foil for at least 30-35 minutes more. The bread should register 185-190 degrees F (though mine only registered 175, and was totally baked). Turn the bread out of the pan onto a rack.
Warm the honey and remaining 2 teaspoons melted butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Brush over the finished loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven. Cool completely before slicing.
*Not that I'll let that get in the way all the time, Mediterra.
**Pepe really loves to lick the inside of the laundry hamper. And plastic bags. And the shower curtain.
***For the record, this book is even more transcendental than the dough hook. If you are remotely interested in bread, you should buy it.
Bread looks good, and I have no input because if I can't dump it all into my mom's bread maker, I'm most likely not trying. But more than anything I'm glad to know that my cat is not the only one. My cat, Chandler, licks plastic bags and the inside of the shower curtain! Yay! Let's start a support group!
January 19, 2010, at 12:54 PMLooks like the loaf needed a little more time proofing in the pan before going into the oven.
Also looks like it was cut while still warm - tearing in the crumb. Doing that lets steam escape can create a dry texture. Let it cool before cutting. I know, I know, warm bread...
If this si something you think you'll do regularly, consider a starter for flavor.
January 21, 2010, at 11:53 AMYou asked for some pointers on Twitter, so I'll see what I can do...
I can think of another local food blogger who would probably have some better pointers than me, but I'll throw out some of what I've picked up over the years.
1) Light starch and/or fat could soften it up
Ironically, adding something that seems dense: like potato matter (I use starch) or even dry non-fat milk powder can lighten it up a lot. If you look at recipes for a white sandwich loaf, they tend to include potato starch and butter/milk. I suspect something along those lines would help with the "chewy" texture you mention.
2) A second rise can be magical
I actually end up going through three rise cycles when I make bread: primary and secondary in my rising bin, and another 45 minute rise after shaping. I've even gone completely nuts and let it rise overnight in the fridge. That actually leads to a remarkably soft and airy dough.
3) The dreaded window pane test
You mentioned the window pane test on Twitter. Rheinhart loves to go on about this one, and I don't know what he's talking about. Unless you're using 100% high gluten bread flour, it's really hard to ever get a window pane. To get at least somewhat close, I would recommend a fairly wet dough: a little more wet and sticky than you think is right.
There's a trade-off with wet dough: on one hand, a really wet dough makes for excellent gluten development; on the other, it makes for a dough that can be very hard to work with. That said it's usually not that hard to knead a wet sticky dough to a point where it's somewhat easy to work with. Sometimes it's even useful to take it out of the mixer and kneed by hand.
Along those lines, I actually got a tip from one of the bakers at Allegro Hearth to think about flouring my hands and not the board when dealing with a sticky dough, and that's proven to be good advice.
4) An overnight soaker/starter
This will have the most impact for breads with a minimal number of extras. When you're working from just flour, water, salt, and yeast then an overnight starter can do wonders for flavor development. The more honey/sugar/molasses/egg that you add to the picture, the less you'll notice the difference.
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Once again brevity appears to be an unobtainable goal.
January 21, 2010, at 10:56 PM