Hunza Bread from Sprouted Wheat Berries (bowel biscuits)

Making bread from wheat berries is the most pioneer thing I have ever done. It is unimaginably satisfying to plunge your hands into a bowl of the “whole” of whole wheat. I feel like I have been making this bread for a long time. And I have. I soaked the wheat berries for three days.

I told Mom on day one that I bought wheat berries to make bread with and she says, “I hope you plan to soak them—otherwise, you’ll give yourself a nice bowel obstruction.”

So I have attended to thoroughly soaking the berries. And behold, a countertop miracle: the berries sprout before your eyes! Though you cannot tell by this photograph, our camera is terrible. Trust me, it looks like a piece of granola is sticking its tongue out at you. And the white tongue is incredibly sticky, like glue (snazzy evolutionary feature).

Whole grain pulverized and baked with dry fruit, I’m just going to call these Bowel Biscuits.

Hunza Sprouted Wheat Bread (or Bowel Biscuits)

Flatbreads and Flavours

makes 12 7-inch “rounds”

Ingredients:

6 cups hard wheat berries

Spring water for soaking

1.5 cups unsulfured dried apricots

1 tbsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl soak the berries for 18 hours, leave room for the berries

to expand.

Then drain and rinse the berries with luke warm water. Set the berries

back on the counter to sprout and cover with a towel and/or lid.

Every 12 hours drain and rinse the berries until they have

sprouted. Change water more often and watch them carefully. When the

rootlets are 1/3 the length of the berries, rinse for the last time and lay

them out on a large towel to dry. I find a sheet over a large bath towel

works good and is easier to pick the berries back up off of. You want them

fairly dry or your dough will be very sticky and hard to work with.

Using your food processor, add to it, 2 cups of the berries, 1/4 cup of

apricots and 1/2 tsp of salt. Run until it forms a ball. Empty onto a work

surface and process the rest in the same manner.

Knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes then let it rest for at least an hour.

[Can go into the fridge for up to 48 hours at this point]

Preheat oven to 325F and oil 2 – 10″ x 14″ baking sheets.

Divide the dough into 3 and set 2 aside. Divide again into 4 pieces and

pat into rounds, roll out to be about 7″ in diameter. Put on baking

sheets, cover and let rest 20 minutes. Then bake for 25 minutes, prepare

the next set while the first one are in the oven. Cool on a rack.

Serve warm or cold.

The Hunza people of Northern Pakistan are rumored to have inordinately long lives. Many claim to be centenarians. They work physically hard as a rule and eat mostly wheat berries, apricots, almonds and fresh yogurt. I’m not sure I believe all the propaganda, such as, the Hunza people have no degenerative disease, no cancer, no coronary heart disease, etc. But I don’t discount that fiber, fruit, and exercise are good for health. Also, their water is natural alkaline glacial water, with strange properties of surface tension and “active hydrogen” which I never heard of in biochemistry class, and high colloidal mineral content. So.

My Hunza bread probably is not as healthy as theirs for lack of this magical-fountain-of-youth water. I would give it 1 to 2 stars. I’m torn. I want to like it, because it’s good for me. But it tastes like a bland, bland veggie burger. It is a patty, not bread. I brought along four “flatbreads” (wheat and apricot patties) to New Orleans, and next to all the king cake and beef poboys, they are the LAST thing I want to put in my mouth. I am very tempted to cut the patties into small squares and dip them in chocolate, thereby cancelling their nutritional value. After all the work they were to put together, including the purchase of a food processor, I might just let them mold and die.

Whole-Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye

I would have thought wheat germ to look like a little unicellular organism, perhaps with cowlickish spikelets of wheat hull plumed off its droplet body. Thanks to mass marketing of pharmaceutical cold remedies, I now cannot help but imagine “germs” with grins and sinister eyebrows and little steaming raisin bodies. In reality, wheat germ, I’ll have you know, looks like doll house bark dust, and it is kept in the refrigerator to keep from going rancid. Delicate little flake, a wheat’s germ packs a ton of healthy nutrients like Vitamin E, folate, thiamine, zinc, essential fatty acids…it is basically the spinach leaf of the bread world. I’m going to start adding it fondly to everything I eat.

Whole-Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye

Baking Illustrated

Yields 2 loafs!

Mix

2 1/3 cups warm water (about 110 deg)

1 ½ tbsp instant yeast

¼ cup honey

4 tbsp melted unsalted butter

2 ½ tsp salt

Add to yeast mixture and mix:

¼ cup rye flour

½ cup toasted wheat germ

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose unbleached flour

Add additional:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 ¾ cup all purpose unbleached flour

Using the dough hook of a heavy duty mixer, attach the dough hook and knead at low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 min. (Hand knead if you do not have a heavy duty mixer.) Transfer to lightly oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place for about 1 hour.

Preheat a 375 deg oven. Divide dough into two equal parts, form a cylinder and place in greased 9×5 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until almost double, 20-30 min.

Bake until an instant read thermometer inserted in the short end of the pan, above the pan rim reads 205 deg, 35-45 min. Transfer the bread immediately to wire racks. Cool.

My favorite bread pans are pretty large, so all my loaves look like little Napoleons, when really, they are quite broad. Next batch I’ll do in the smaller of the pans I have to demonstrate that I can put a good lid on a loaf. This whole wheat bread tasted healthy, which is a compliment but also a caveat that if you don’t like the taste of healthy things you will not much enjoy this bread. It has a bland taste—it begs for a spread of jam or peanut butter or cottage cheese. I’ll give it a 4, because it is really a staple kind of bread more than it is a fancy pants tell all your friends about it kind of bread.

Bake it and see if you catch the health bug. Here is Izzy doing her best impression of a germ. We made it safe to New Orleans in 19 hours and enjoyed Endymion last night with our good friends Jeremy, Kristen, Kim and Daniel! Thoth this afternoon.

Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes, Capers and Lemon

By the time you are reading this, KP and I will be almost to New Orleans!

When on the road, I have found it better all around (for health and finance) to pack your own food. Otherwise, you know me, I’ll be counting Hot Tamales and an iced vanilla latte as lunch and BBQ chicken nuggets and a Frosty as dinner.

This is what I made right before we left because it really does not spoil left at RT for long periods of time, and it is mouthwatering.

Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes, Capers and Lemon

2	teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2	cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1	garlic clove, minced
1	cup orzo
2	cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or broth
2	teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2	teaspoons capers, drained and finely chopped
1	tablespoon pine nuts, finely chopped
1	tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1	tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/4	teaspoon salt
1/4	teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook until the tomatoes are tender, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
In a large saucepan, combine the orzo and chicken stock over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the pasta is al dente (tender), about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, until almost all of the liquid is absorbed, about 3 minutes.
Add the thyme, capers, pine nuts, cheese, lemon zest, salt and pepper and toss gently to mix. Add the tomato mixture and toss until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Spoon the pasta into warmed individual bowls and serve immediately.

These pictures I took of Izz crack me up because of her misaligned underbite tooth. We say that Izzy’s mafia name would be Izzy the Tooth. I love the shot that amplifies the effect.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Do not be daunted by what appears to be a very very long recipe. It is worth every step. The delayed gratification in this baking endeavor is analogous to the very very long drive KP and I are about to make to New Orleans, worth every mile, worth each second of 18 hours. Izzy has packed all of her toys and snacks, our costumes are both “in the works” –I can’t wait to reveal the final product. For a hint of mine: if you were to eat the following loaf of bread every day, my costume would be angry with you. If you were Izzy, you would want to eat my costume…see? It is hanging from the ceiling here, but just a peek.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

For Bread Dough

1/2 cup whole milk

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast

1/2 cup warm water – about 110 degrees

1/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 1/4 – 3 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface

For Filling

1/4 cup brown sugar

5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins

milk, for brushing

For Glaze

1 large egg

2 teaspoons milk

Make the Dough

Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave until the butter melts. Cool until warm, about 11o degrees.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle. Beat in the sugar and eggs and mix at low speed to blend. Add the salt, lukewarm milk mixture, and 2 cups of the flour; mix at medium speed until thoroughly blended, about 1 minute. Switch to the dough hook and add 1 1/4 cups more flour and knead at medium-low speed, adding more flour sparingly if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl, until the dough is smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

(Variation: if you don’t have a mixer, feel free to mix the dough with a wooden spoon. When the dough comes together, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 12 to 15 minutes, adding more flour if necessary.)

Turn the dough onto a work surface and squeeze the tough with a dry, clean hand. If the dough is sticky, knead in up to 1/2 cup more flour to form a smooth, soft, elastic dough. Transfer the dough to a very lightly oiled large. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled in size, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (The ideal rising temperature for this dough is 75 degrees). After the rise, punch down the center of the dough once. (At this point, the dough can be refrigerated, covered, up to 18 hours). Making sure not to fold the dough, turn it onto an unfloured work surface; let the dough rest about ten minutes.

Make the Filling

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins in a small bowl.

Roll, Fill, and shape the Dough

Press the dough neatly into an evenly shaped 8 x 6 inch rectangle. WIth a short side of the dough facing you, roll the dough with a rolling pin into an evenly shaped 18 x 8 inch rectangle and be sure to flour the work surface so it does not stick. Brush the dough liberally with the milk. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the far side. Starting at the side closest to you, roll up the dough, pinching the dough gently with your fingertips to make sure it is tightly sealed. To keep the loaf from stretching beyond 9 inches, push the ends in occasionally with your hands as you roll the dough. When you finish rolling, pinch the seam tightly to secure it. With the seam-side facing up, push in the center of both ends. Firmly pinch the dough at either end together to seal the sides of the loaf.

Place the loaf, seam side down, into the prepared pan; press lightly to flatten. Cover the top of the pan loosely with plastic wrap and set aside to rise. Let rise until the dough is 1 inch above the top of the pan, about 1 1/2 hours, or about 1 hour longer if the dough has been refrigerated. As the dough nears the top of the pan, adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the Glaze and Bake the Loaf

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. Gently brush the top of the loaf with the egg mixture.

Bake until the loaf is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end just above the pan rim into the center of the loaf reads 185 to 190 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and cool on its side on a wire rack until room temperature, at least 45 minutes. (The bread can be double-wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for 4 days or frozen up to 3 months).

Watch out for the filling on this one. I definitely overdosed the cinnamon (while watching Flight—irony?) an error which was, to my gracious cup bearers, Janelle and KP, an unexpected mouthful of spicy chalk. Oops. But the bread part was fabulous. Should have rolled it out thinner and made more coils in the interior—but oh well, we live and learn! 4 stars. When you catch yourself eating a loaf of bread the same way you bite into an apple, you know it’s good.

Anadama Bread

I stared at this recipe for a long time suffering flashbacks of the disastrous Boston Brown Bread. The ingredients are so similar, and my memory of the Brown Bread was so awful, I was hesitant to invest time in what I was sure to be failure. The history of Anadama Bread’s name, too, is disconcerting. Apparently, “Anadama” derives from an angry New England farmer who was sick of all the cornmeal his wife Anna prepared for him. Damn, Anna. Anadama. Woeful etymology. I thought it was some South American recipe. While not the prettiest loaf, the taste was a pleasant surprise.

Anadama Bread

Baking Illustrated

1 cup milk

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 2 tsp stone-ground cornmeal

3-3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface

2 tsp salt

1/3 cup warm water

1 envelope (~2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast

5 tbsp dark molasses

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Once the oven reaches 200 degrees, maintain the heat for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat.

2. Combine the milk and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan and bring almost to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the cornmeal and continue to stir for 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and cool until lukewarm.

3. Mix 3 cups of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix the water, yeast, and molasses in a liquid measuring cup. Briefly mix together the flour and salt at low speed, then add the cornmeal mush, mixing at low speed until roughly incorporated, about 1 minute. Still at low speed, gradually add the liquid, and once the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and satiny, stopping the machine two or three times to scrape the dough from the hook and sides of the bowl if necessary, about 10 minutes. (After 5 minutes of kneading, if the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add the remaining flour, 1 tbsp at a time and up to 1/4 cup total, until the dough is no longer sticky.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead to form a smooth, round ball, 15-30 seconds.

4. Place the dough in a very lightly oiled large bowl, rubbing the dough around the bowl to coat lightly with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the warmed oven until the dough doubles in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

5. Gently press the dough into a rectangle 1 inch thick and no longer than 9 inches. With a long side facing you, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Place the dough seam-side down in a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan and press gently so it touches all four sides of the pan. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the dough almost doubles in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

6. Keep one oven rack at the lowest position and place the other at the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place an empty loaf pan on the bottom rack. Bring 2 cups of water to boil in a small saucepan.

7. Melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter in a small saucepan. Remove the plastic wrap from the loaf and carefully brush the top with the melted butter and evenly sprinkle the remaining 2 tsp cornmeal across the top. Pour the boiling water into the empty loaf pan in the oven and set the loaf onto the middle rack. Bake 40-45 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.

Karl-Peter thinks this bread tastes like beer. I think it tastes like a big soft gingerbread house. It took a million years to rise, I flicked it and shamed it (which probably didn’t help the little anadama morale, ignominious name, and whipped like a prisoner in a pan). I feel bad about all this after I tasted it, so certain was I of failure and waste. What a surprise. I’d give Anadama 4 stars. The sweetness and corn taste are well balanced, and though it struggled to rise and remained a rather squat little loaf, it is a fantastic slice for breakfast.

Perhaps I’ll bring some to Boston for the AWP Conference, which I just found out I get to go to in March! Eating this bread also makes me want to rewatch The Fighter.

Ellis Sourdough Waffles or Pancakes

It is the day after National Pancake Day. Ambushed, I felt, when I saw that IHOP gave away stacks of free pancakes yesterday, and I missed it. Not ambushed because I missed out on the pancakes, but because I missed out on pancakes that were free. I will go anywhere and do anything for free stuff. But, as belated tribute, I made Fuchsia and Lime into my own House of Pancakes. Just HOP.

The recipe is my mother’s from a classic Ellis text she self-published and distributed to an elite few, Five Sundays.

Ellis Sourdough Waffles or Pancakes

1 cup sourdough starter

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 T olive oil

3 T melted butter (I don’t put this in, but Mom does)

2 T honey

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp salt

1 cup milk (could use kefir, soy, almond, or regular milk—I use whatever is handy)

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix all the goodies in a bowl and let sit out for at least an hour, but overnight is the best. This recipe makes waffles, so for pancakes, just add a little more liquid. Cook in your iron or on your griddle!

Mom also suggests, and I quote, “Add chips ala chocolate or butterscotch, or 2 T Grand Marnier, Oh Lord.”

I added nothing of the kind because I am a purist. Wheat is joy enough for me. That, and Queen Izz.

Afghan Snowshoe Naan

Got two or three inches of snow last night. I had hoped to find a pair of snowshoes in time for this recipe. I would stomp through the backyard posing intrepidly with today’s naan, but all I had was a pair of skates, hand-me-downs from Carol Sundholm. Luckily, the freezing rain from last week created three large puddles in our otherwise grass backyard which have since frozen into rinks. Naan en toepick:

Afghan Snowshoe Naan
Flatbreads and Flavours
Ingredients

2 and a half cups luke warm water
1 ts dry yeast (or use my sourdough starter method)
2 cups hard whole wheat flour (bread flour)
3 to 3 and a half cups hard unbleached (if you can get it) white flour
1 tbls salt
Scant half ts nigella – if you can find it. What is nigella, you ask? Not Voldemort’s snake from Harry Potter, as I originally assumed (close, Nagini). Nigella is black onion seed. My Indian food store consultant had to make two phone calls to friends to learn that I was really asking for kalonji. Nigella is also commonly referred to as black cumin, fennel flower, and black caraway. This, a bag of small teardrop shaped black seeds, the Indian food store man kept under the cash register, which I found odd. To anyone witnessing our exchange, the cell phones, the secret spot under the register, the baggie of herbs—it resembled the perfect drug deal. Also odd, how below the barcode on the package (below) the phrase: “Screening May Required.” ? ?

Directions–
You will need a large bowl and unglazed quarry tiles to fit on the rack of your oven, or a pizza stone.

Place the water in a large bread bowl, add the yeast, and stir to blend (or use my sourdough starter method). Add the whole wheat flour and stir well. Then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to develop the gluten. Cover this ‘sponge’ with plastic wrap – or put it in a grocery store bag and close it up and let it stand for 30 minutes to 3 hours. I like to put it on the back of the fridge, a little warmer and less likely to get spilt.

Sprinkle salt over the sponge, then add 1 cup of the white flour and stir well. Continue adding white flour half a cup at a time and stirring until the dough is too stiff to turn. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead thoroughly, sprinkling more flour on if it gets sticky (this time of year, when it is so humid, I needed to do this a lot, the flour was damp and didn’t absorb the same way). After you turn the dough out, put your bowl to soak in the sink. It is thoroughly kneaded when it is smooth and easy to handle, maybe about 10 minutes. I think of kneading bread like Tai Chi, with a point. Same hand motions, and if you want, body swaying.

Clean out the bowl, and oil lightly. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap – or put it back in the grocery store bag, and let it rise for 2 or 3 hours, until more than doubled in volume.

Gently push down the dough and turn onto a lighty floured surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape each into a flat oval shape approximately 6 inches wide by 8 inches long. Cover with plastic wrap (or those grocery bags inside out…no icky ink) and let rise for approximately 20 minutes.

Place quarry tiles (or your upside down cookie sheet) on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1 inch space between the tiles and the oven walls to allow air to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Five minutes after the oven has reached 450F, begin shaping the first bread. Place a small bowl full of cold water at the edge of your work surface. Dip your fingertips in the water and then, beginning at one end of the disc of dough, make tightly spaced indentations all over the surface of the dough so that it is deeply and uniformly pitted. Now, with wet hands, stretch the dough into a long oval strip by draping it over both hands and pulling them gently apart. Attractive stretch marks will form where the dimples are, hence the name snowshoe bread. There may be a few holes in the bread, do not worry about that, it will be slightly crisper in those areas.

Place the bread back on a work surface and sprinkle with a scant 1/2 ts of nigella. Then, using both (wet) hands place the bread on the heated quarry tiles, and bake for about 4 minutes until the bread has golden patches on the top and a crusty browned bottom surface. While the bread bakes, shape the next bread.

To keep the breads warm and soft, let cool for 5 min and then wrap them in a cotton coth. Serve warm or at room temp.

I once attempted a triple lutz sow cow axle, something like the Iron Lotus, and landed windless on my back. Izzy did one of those today, poor baby, in pursuit of a Frisbee. Beer Church approves this naan when paired with garlic hummus- 4 stars.

King Cake

Amid weekend travel and a looming thesis deadline, last night I did not bake bread but I heartily enjoyed a fantastic king cake made by Kim and her Wheaten Terrier Max, the latter a handsome potential suitor for Izzy. Perhaps we could have a short Mardi Gras parade here in Rochester, Barkus, and crown King Max and Queen Izzy as parade royalty.

This box mix, Mam Papaul’s, is not for box mix beginners. It is a yeast recipe so you have to let it rise twice and knead it into the proper ring shape and then bury the plastic baby–all which takes a fair amount of skill.

The result was incredible! 5 stars! And next week when we go to New Orleans I am going to look for this box and bring a couple home. Kim and Greg were in New Orleans last week and for their Superbowl Party made the most impressive feast of cornbread, shrimp jambalaya in sourdough bread bowls, and king cake for dessert! A fantastic foreshadowing as well as is this, my nascent Mardi Gras costume:

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Happy Groundhog’s Day! I wish I had something witty to say about American Sandwich Bread. Just kidding, it is, in fact, the day after Groundhog’s Day—and while the Sandwich Bread recipe shall repeat itself today, as many of our days seem to repeat themselves, there is an added element, a garnish, which does make all the difference— oatmeal, a compound which evokes in me a nostalgia most everyone else attaches to dark chocolate.

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
2 tsp table salt
1 cup milk, warm (about 110 degrees F)
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp honey
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
¾ cup boiling hot water
¾ cup rolled oats

Instructions:

Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Once oven temperature reaches 200 degrees, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat. I use the proof setting on my oven which maintains the heat at 85 degrees F so if your kitchen is warm enough, there is no need to use the oven for proofing – just keep the bowl in a draft-free area of the kitchen.
Boil ¾ cup water and add oats to cook for 90 seconds.
Mix 3 1/2 cups of the flour and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add oats to the flour mixture. Mix milk, water, butter, honey, and yeast in 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Turn mixer to low and slowly add liquid. When dough comes together, remove the paddle attachment and switch to the dough hook – the dough will be very sticky at this point. Increase speed to medium (setting number 4 on a KitchenAid mixer) and mix until dough is smooth and satiny, stopping machine two or three times to scrape dough from hook if necessary, about 10 minutes. If, after 5 minutes the dough still sticks to the side of the bowl, add another 1/4 cup of flour to the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead to form a smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds.
Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap; place in warm oven until dough doubles in size, 40 to 50 minutes.
Form dough into loaf by gently pressing the dough into a rectangle, 1-inch thick and no wider than 9 inches long, with the long side closest to you. Next, starting with the long side, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pinching the seam with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn dough seam side up and pinch it closed. Place dough in greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan and press gently so dough touches all four sides of pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap; set aside in warm spot (not in the oven) until dough almost doubles in size, 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees F and adjust the racks to the center and bottom positions. Place an empty baking pan on the bottom rack. Bring 2 cups water to boil.
Remove plastic wrap from loaf pan. Place pan in oven and immediately pour heated water into empty baking pan; close oven door. Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted at angle from short end just above pan rim into center of loaf reads 195 degrees F, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove bread from pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve

This was a far superior sandwich bread to yesterday’s white. 3.5 stars. And the steam element is really a startling science. Baking Illustrated discusses the various “steam” methods they attempted, spraying the dough with water before putting it in the oven, placing a pan of steaming hot water in the oven under the baking bread loaf, throwing ice cubes into the oven floor, or just spraying a mist of water into the oven before inserting the loaf and then a few minutes after it has been baking. The crust that begins to form on dough as it bakes can make it harder for the loaf to rise. Spraying the loaf with water creates steam. This keeps the outer skin of the loaf moist and flexible, and helps it rise to its maximum volume with a good shape. Steam also encourages starch granules on the surface of the loaf to fully gelatinize, though I don’t yet understand the chemistry here, which gives the crust its crispy texture. Great toasted with peanut butter.

American Sandwich Bread

Happy Groundhog’s Day! There is nothing witty to say about American Sandwich Bread. It’s white bread. No Wonder. The only thing I got is a joke by Mike Birbiglia:

“I wanted to be a rapper—I really did—and it surprises people because I’m a white bread cracker. That’s my favorite white person slur—‘white bread.’ The other day someone was like, ‘What’s up, white bread?’ And I was like, ‘That’s not even an insult. That’s just my race plus a food. I can do that, too, black bean soup.’”

American Sandwich Bread
Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
2 tsp table salt
1 cup milk, warm (about 110 degrees F)
1/3 cup water, warm (about 110 degrees F)
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp honey
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

Instructions:

Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Once oven temperature reaches 200 degrees, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat. I use the proof setting on my oven which maintains the heat at 85 degrees F so if your kitchen is warm enough, there is no need to use the oven for proofing – just keep the bowl in a draft-free area of the kitchen.
Mix 3 1/2 cups of the flour and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix milk, water, butter, honey, and yeast in 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Turn mixer to low and slowly add liquid. When dough comes together, remove the paddle attachment and switch to the dough hook – the dough will be very sticky at this point. Increase speed to medium (setting number 4 on a KitchenAid mixer) and mix until dough is smooth and satiny, stopping machine two or three times to scrape dough from hook if necessary, about 10 minutes. If, after 5 minutes the dough still sticks to the side of the bowl, add another 1/4 cup of flour to the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead to form a smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds.
Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap; place in warm oven until dough doubles in size, 40 to 50 minutes.
Form dough into loaf by gently pressing the dough into a rectangle, 1-inch thick and no wider than 9 inches long, with the long side closest to you. Next, starting with the long side, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pinching the seam with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn dough seam side up and pinch it closed. Place dough in greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan and press gently so dough touches all four sides of pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap; set aside in warm spot (not in the oven) until dough almost doubles in size, 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees F and adjust the racks to the center and bottom positions. Place an empty baking pan on the bottom rack. Bring 2 cups water to boil.
Remove plastic wrap from loaf pan. Place pan in oven and immediately pour heated water into empty baking pan; close oven door.

Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted at angle from short end just above pan rim into center of loaf reads 195 degrees F, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove bread from pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.

I did not use the mixer because I did not want to clean it, nor did I have the paddle attachment. I have a wooden spoon that is shaped much like a paddle, so I used that. The loaf was attractive and spongy and perfect—a little too perfect—a little too endospermy. I am not a fan of white bread, the food or the epithet—and so I give this one 2.5 stars.