Our daily bread
We rarely buy bread products anymore, save for the odd package of hamburger/hot dog rolls or a baguette if I want bruschetta and don't feel like baking bread for it. Here's the recipe for our "house bread." DH likes classic American bread -- with a not-too-chewy crust, a fine, soft crumb. The dairy keeps this bread fresh days longer than bread without; important because we don't manage to eat a full loaf in a day. If it does get stale, I cut it up into squares and make croutons or grind it up in the food processor for bread crumbs for Oliver's chicken nuggets.
After a lot of experimenting, here's my no-fail recipe:
2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup water, room temp
15-oz. bread flour (Deb, in Oz this may be called "strong flour?")
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temp
1/4 cup oil
1. In a large mixing bowl (if you're using a mixer, do this in the machine's bowl) bloom yeast in the water. I add one of the two tablespoons of sugar to help feed the yeasty beasties.
2. Whisk flour, the remaining tablespoon of sugar, and salt together and dump into mixing bowl. Add buttermilk and oil. Either mix by hand until it's no longer workable, then start kneading, or do what lazy people like me do ... start the mixer's engine. Use a dough hook and let it mix for about 7 or 8 minutes.
3. If your kitchen is cold, turn on oven for one minute then turn it off.
4. When the dough clears the side of the bowl and looks/feels "springy," shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let rise for an hour in a warm place or in the prewarmed oven.
5. After an hour, the dough should have doubled in size. Gently press out the gas and shape into a loaf. Place in an oiled 1# loaf pan, seam side down. Cover with towel or plastic wrap; let rise again for approx. 35 minutes.
6. OK, here's the secret. Take the cover off the dough, and place the dough in a cold oven. Turn on the heat to 400 degrees F and set your timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of baking, your bread will have risen magnificently and have a dark golden crust. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 24 minutes.
7. Turn bread out onto cooling rack and let cool for 45 minutes before you even think of cutting into it.
Yield: One loaf
You can play around with this formula. I've made the dough with just plain whole milk when I didn't have buttermilk. Or I've made fake buttermilk by adding lemon juice to plain milk. Tonight I made a mix of 5-ounces of Irish wholegrain flour with 10-ounces bread flour, and so far, it's looking good. One time I substituted walnut oil for the plain vegetable oil; I've also used melted butter. And another time I flattened the dough out before the final rise and added cinnamon and sugar. Yum. If you need to stretch out the process, you can do all sorts of things to make breadmaking suit your schedule. Stick the dough in a cold fridge to slow down the rise. I've mixed up bread before bed, then let it rise all night. In the a.m. I take it out, let it warm up, then continue with the recipe.
After a lot of experimenting, here's my no-fail recipe:
2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup water, room temp
15-oz. bread flour (Deb, in Oz this may be called "strong flour?")
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temp
1/4 cup oil
1. In a large mixing bowl (if you're using a mixer, do this in the machine's bowl) bloom yeast in the water. I add one of the two tablespoons of sugar to help feed the yeasty beasties.
2. Whisk flour, the remaining tablespoon of sugar, and salt together and dump into mixing bowl. Add buttermilk and oil. Either mix by hand until it's no longer workable, then start kneading, or do what lazy people like me do ... start the mixer's engine. Use a dough hook and let it mix for about 7 or 8 minutes.
3. If your kitchen is cold, turn on oven for one minute then turn it off.
4. When the dough clears the side of the bowl and looks/feels "springy," shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let rise for an hour in a warm place or in the prewarmed oven.
5. After an hour, the dough should have doubled in size. Gently press out the gas and shape into a loaf. Place in an oiled 1# loaf pan, seam side down. Cover with towel or plastic wrap; let rise again for approx. 35 minutes.
6. OK, here's the secret. Take the cover off the dough, and place the dough in a cold oven. Turn on the heat to 400 degrees F and set your timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of baking, your bread will have risen magnificently and have a dark golden crust. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 24 minutes.
7. Turn bread out onto cooling rack and let cool for 45 minutes before you even think of cutting into it.
Yield: One loaf
You can play around with this formula. I've made the dough with just plain whole milk when I didn't have buttermilk. Or I've made fake buttermilk by adding lemon juice to plain milk. Tonight I made a mix of 5-ounces of Irish wholegrain flour with 10-ounces bread flour, and so far, it's looking good. One time I substituted walnut oil for the plain vegetable oil; I've also used melted butter. And another time I flattened the dough out before the final rise and added cinnamon and sugar. Yum. If you need to stretch out the process, you can do all sorts of things to make breadmaking suit your schedule. Stick the dough in a cold fridge to slow down the rise. I've mixed up bread before bed, then let it rise all night. In the a.m. I take it out, let it warm up, then continue with the recipe.
posted by Unknown at 11:05 PM
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