With all the cooking that has been going on around here there is one thing that is a constant in my kitchen. No matter what else I’m cooking, I bake bread twice a week, rain, shine, or otherwise. And although I experiment with different types of artisan breads my sandwich bread recipe has remained fairly constant for decades now. It makes 6 loaves or in my case 3 loaves and two pans of raisin sticky buns!
Into my Bosch bread mixer (can also be done by hand which I did for years)
5 1/2 cups warm Water
2/3 Cups organic Canola Oil
3/4 Cup Honey
Mix slightly then add…
3 TBSP Yeast
Let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes (till it gets puffy and foamy)
While yeast is proofing mix...
2 TBSP Salt (slightly less if using sea salt)
1/2 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten
1 Cup of Flour (here is my flour mix recipe…you can also use 100% whole wheat but it will be slightly more crumbly)
Add this to the yeast mixture and mix.
Then add...
12 – 13 Cups Flour (knowing exactly how much comes with practice. Some will depend on the exact amount of water you put in, the moisture content of the flour, the humidity of the kitchen…but this will get you close.)
Mix thoroughly then knead for 10 minutes.
When it is kneaded put it in a large bowl (or in my case a large pot with lid) cover and let rise until doubled.
Punch down and make into loaves, sticky buns, rolls or whatever you are craving at the time.
Let rise again until the bread is 1 1/2 to 2 inches above the rim of the loaf pan.
Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees. Here is where I’m a bit of a dork…I’m not sure how long to bake it. I have never set a timer (although I will try to next time so I can report back) but I’m guessing about 25 minutes. I can tell by the color and the sound when I thump it if it is done (it will sound hollow)…sorry for not being more precise.
Remove from oven, cool on wire rack. I always put butter on the top crust when it is hot.
Eat and Enjoy!
If you want a step by step in-depth tutorial with pictures… go to bread baking part 1 and part 2 on my blog.
Looks good, I’m more of a sourdough kind of person so that’s what I make weekly. I do make sandwich bread like this on occasion.
I just mixed up a batch of your grain mix, I’ll be trying some sourdough english muffins tomorrow morning and some sourdough bread over the next couple days.
I wish my family would like sourdough…but no matter how many times I’ve tried it they wrinkle up their noses, hubby included.
Bunch of pansies, lol!
LOVE English muffins! Kim
You can add some baking soda to cut the “sourness” of the sourdough (which is why sourdough English muffins don’t taste like sourdough, nor do my pancakes).
The aging of the dough also affect the sourness. Sometimes I retard mine in the attic (when it’s cool) for 3-4 days to make it really sour, if you don’t retard overnight it’s less sour (at least in my experience).
Keeping the dough warmer during rising also lessens the sour taste of sourdough, which is why I usually make mine cold and retard for several days in the attic (when it’s cool).
You can also feed the starter the night before you want to use it but triple/quadruple it. That makes it less sour when you cook with it. I sometimes make sourdough and you can’t even taste the sourness and sometimes I make it really really sour (I prefer the sour stuff).
I’ve also found that if you add milk/eggs/olive oil or butter to the dough it helps mask the sourdough flavor.
Keeping your starter wetter also produces a less sour sourdough. I sometimes make a really stiff starter when I want my bread to be super sour.
This is a great short article about sourdough and the “sour” of it (and a few tips at the end on producing a less sour loaf). http://sourdoughhome.com/sour.html
Thanks Susy…I am going to give it a whirl again and just not tell the family. We’ll see if I can come up with something they all like.
It is sad because frankly I adore sourdough bread! Kim
This looks so tasty! I meant to bake bread today but…
perhaps tomorrow. And hey, my family is a bunch of pansies too when it comes to sourdough! They just can’t appreciate the finer tastes like we ladies do. Ha!
Yes I at least am sooooo much more sophisticated than my family, lol! Kim