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| mmmmm bread.... |
Howdy All!
Today I am taking an old favorite of mine and doing it with a twist....well ok, truth be told, I didn't have the right amount of flour, so I improvised. I'm not a big whole wheat fan, though I know I know, its good for me. Don't get me wrong, I grew up on whole wheat and I do prefer that to commercial white bread, but I am talking about super dense kind of whole wheat, so when I am making bread it tends to be on the whiter side. (Call me a breadist, I'm ok with that, lol)
This particular recipe is taken from one of my most favorite chefs, Julia Child. I loved watching her show as a kid. Every Saturday morning I would hang out with my mom in her room, watching cooking shows on the local PBS station. We've streamed the old shows for my kids to watch, my youngest LOVES her too, SQUEE!!
This recipe is based on White Loaves from Baking With Julia. I so love this cookbook, I think I have made about 70% of the recipes since I found it on a discount rack (silly people, but my benefit!). I have made this particular recipe the most, I think. I love the bagel recipe too, but that will be a different time (when I have enough flour - lol).
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| Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan |
Since I only had about 5 cups of the required 7 cups of flour I added about a cup of ground up oats (a coffee grinder is a beautiful thing) and about a cup of whole wheat flour I had ground up a few months back and left in the fridge. Thankfully in the fridge, flour lasts quite a long time. The grinding of the wheat is another story entirely. I didn't get pics of the mixing, but I do have a lovely dough.....
The only other major change is I decreased the amount of water by about a half cup and added a beaten egg. I like egg breads as I feel like they have a softness to them, like that of store bought bread. I know it probably doesn't actually have anything to do with it, but a girl can dream (or delusion herself, same difference). If you don't want to use an egg just increase the water to 2 1/2 cups. I had a little extra butter so I used that to grease the bowl instead of olive oil or pan spray. Mmmmm butter....
Oh sorry, got a little distracted there...anywho....if you don't want to use butter, then you *could" use another fat. Rendered bacon fat is alway a good choice...No? Uhmmmm, fine, a little olive oil. I'm not sure what the amount would be, however as 4 tablespoons might be a bit much. It would need to go in with the other liquids, instead of at the end. I could be wrong. *insert standard disclaimer that if there are substitutes used, its not my fault*
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| not quite done yet, just a little more |
Everything poofed up beautifully. Yes, "poofed" is a totally legit baking phrase, really I swear. Well at least that's my story and I am sticking to it.
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| totally poofed - even after punching it down |
Punched that bad boy down (there is such a pleasure in beating up dough, I have no idea why) and cut it in two pieces. I weighed them just to make sure they are about the same size. I am horrible at eyeballing things at times. I rolled out the pieces to fold up and put them into my bread pans. I tried something different with one. Instead of folding it like an envelope (as I usually do) I rolled it and folded the ends under before putting them in the bread pans. We'll see if there is any difference.
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| top is rolled (but started to rise again) and bottom is folded |
If I hadn't mentioned it before, I am homeschooling my youngest. Lemme tell ya, sometimes its like pulling teeth with a spoon to get her to do her work. Today just happens to be one of those days. On top of it she isn't feeling good, so she's being more needy than usual. While it is totally understandable, it is frustrating especially when I finally get back to my rising bread and find I probably let it proof for too long. Oh well, into the oven it went anyway.
Viola! Finished!
The loaves only shrank a little, so I did over proof it somewhat. Still tastes good, so there's no complaints from me.
Here is the recipe I adapted from Baking with Julia:
Oat and Whole Wheat Bread
2 cups warm water (105 to 115° F)
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon bread machine yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats, ground to a flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
In mixer with a dough hook combine flours, sugar and yeast, mix to combine. On low, pour in water and beaten egg. Increase speed to medium until dough comes together. It should be somewhat sticky to the touch, but cleaning the sides of the mixer. If too wet, add more flour, a little at a time. If too dry, then add warm water, again a little at a time until you get the right consistency. Stop the mixer and let the dough rest for a few minutes. Then restart the mixer and add the salt and about a tablespoon of the butter. After the butter has been incorporated into the dough, add another tablespoon of butter. Continue in this manner until the all butter is incorporated into the dough. The dough may fall apart a bit as you add the butter, but it will come back into a beautiful dough after a few minutes of mixing. Knead the dough for another 5 minutes or so at medium speed. When time is up, place dough into a large greased bowl and cover with a towel and let rise in a warm area for about 45 minutes. After the dough has double in size, punch down the dough and cut into two equal pieces. On a floured board, roll out one piece of dough to about the length of your bread pan and about double the width. Fold the dough onto itself in thirds length-wise and pinch to seal the seam. Fold over the ends and pinch to seal the ends to the bottom. Flip the dough over and place into greased bread pan. Repeat for other piece of dough. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes. At about the 35 minute mark of the second rise, place oven rack in the center position and preheat oven. When the dough has risen to the point you can make a slight indent in the corner with your finger and it doesn't form back right away, place into oven and bake for about 35 - 45 minutes or until the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it with a finger (use a potholder to take it out of the bread pan to test). Take bread out of pans and let cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing into it.
I'm off to find nirvana in a slice of bread and my cherry jam.
Have a wonderful day!
Mrs Bissinger
