bread

Remember the line about asking a guy for the time and he answered with a lecture on how to make a watch! This is my entry in that genre.

Tomorrow I'll show a formula (bakeries I worked in did not have "recipes") for a very simple bread with just 4 easy to find ingredients.


“Arline’s Whole Wheat Bread”: makes 3 1 ½ pound loaves

Put in mixing bowl:
3 cups warm to hot water (I make it 3 ½ and I use it as hot as it comes out of the tap)
½ C raw oats (either Old Fashioned or Quick)
2 T of Honey (I use good old black strap molasses and close to half a cup)
2 T yeast (I buy it in pound blocks at the grocery store, by the package it is spendy)
Since the bowl is cold along with all the ingredients that hot water does not stay hot.
Let it set while you do the next step.

Combine in largw bowl (use it later for proofing)
½ C VitalWheat flour (available in health food stores, though I buy it at my huge market bulk food section. It is a very high gluten flour. If I did not have it I’d use that much more of AP flour)
1 C All Purpose or better yet Unbleached Bread flour (Ok we are wimps, but 100% whole wheat bread makes better bricks than bread)
1 ½ C whole wheat flour
1 T salt

Mix all of those together dry. The point is that the VitalWheat will make horrible clumps if a bunch of it gets wet, so mix them all together while they are dry.

Put that dry mix in with the wet (use a paddle mixer, save the dough hook for a bit). The mix will be fairly soupy. Add:
2 T cooking oil (applesauce will work too). Mix for 3 or 4 minutes at medium speed.
I often add ½ C of raw, unsalted Sunflower seeds at this point.

Change to the dough hook and add whole wheat flour. At first you can put in a fair amount at a time, but once it gets doughy be more careful, it is not too hard to get too much flour. The dough should make a ball and should clean the sides of the bowl as it mixes. Mix 3 or 4 minutes.

Dump it out on a table top that is lightly floured. Kneed the dough a minute or so. You can slap it around pretty good and pound it, good for frustrations. The dough should smooth and soft to the touch. Put in a large greased bowl.

I turn the oven on 170 for one minute only and leave the oven light on. Proof for 30 minutes.

Arline puts it in the pans at this point, but I punch the bread down and let it rest another 10 minutes.

I have a small spring scale, so I weigh the dough to make sure I have the same size loaves, but you can guess pretty well. Mould into loaves and put in greased pans (I have used spray oil, but lately have gone back to using margarine and a brush. I grab a hunk of dough and slap it on the work surface pretty hard. That lengtens the dough. I fold the two ends in and carefully roll into loaf shape. Big bubbles in the final bread means that it was not rolled tightly.

Put back in the oven and proof for 20 minutes. The loaves should double in size. It is also possible to over proof. The bread will “kick” a bit more when the oven heats, especially the way I work it.

I don’t take it out while the oven is heating. When the dough is proofed to size, I turn the oven on to 350, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, depending on how much I want the crust to be crusty.

Take out of the pans, and cool on a cookie rack or a wood cutting board. It is legal to slice off the end and put a bit of real butter on it for a quick taste! When it is cool slice with a bread knife and put in a bag. I prefer not to put bread in the refrigerator. I think it turns it to concrete. A loaf will last about 5 or 6 days (in our climate) before it starts to spoil. If it takes longer than that to eat a loaf, freeze half of a loaf for later. Frozen bread thaws very nicely.

If you want to make bread by hand (no mixer) I’ll give a few tips if anyone wishes. BTW, that kneading is good for the shoulders and pects!