Bread recipes?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’ve been saying for awhile that I want to get back to baking bread more often, and my son has been noticing that it’s not happening yet. I think I need more bread recipes to get inspired. Any suggestions? If you just point me to a cookbook, I’ll find it - it’s probably on my shelves.</p>

<p>I’m interested in all breads, but I’m especially looking for a good sandwich bread (whole wheat or white) that will hold up for a few days. </p>

<p>What I’ve tried lately: I’ve made the ciabatta from “The Italian Baker” and it’s great, but it’s best the same day. Same with focaccia (I usually make the one from “Greens”). I like the cheese bread from the Cafe Beaujolais cookbook - thinking of making it today - but it’s too rich to be our regular bread. I tried making a potato bread recipe from Tassajara recently, and it wasn’t very flavorful - I can buy plenty of blah bread, don’t need to make my own. I’d like to find a recipe for a very good bread that I can make every week and that’s good for both sandwiches and toast.</p>

<p>Looking forward to your ideas…</p>

2

<p>If you want a white sandwich bread try the one on the back of the King Arthur Flour bag, the unbleached regular flour, not the bread flour. I find that it works well and will keep for a number of days. It makes particularly good day after Thanksgiving sandwichs.</p>

3

<p>Absolutely the best [No-Knead</a> Bread](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html]No-Knead”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html) from the Sullivan Street Bakery. I have experimented with various flours (semolina, whole wheat, graham, mixed) with perfect results. You can even add dried fruits or nuts and it really adapts well to experimentation.</p>

<p>Only downside is waiting the 18 hours for the first rise.</p>

4

<p>My favorite bread is trying to reproduce Germany’s classic Mischbrot. It’s a mixture of white, whole wheat and rye with a sourdough starter. Dense but not too heavy and it lasts well. The Peasant Wheat Loaf from Charles van Over’s The Best Bread Ever is very close.</p>

5

<p>I have been living off the following bread for the past 8 months or so. My nephew left me some of his sourdough starter last Christmas, and after experimenting around this is what everyone seems to like:</p>

<p>3 cups white bread flour (I really like bread flour; I never used it back in the day, but it makes a huge difference)
1 cup whole wheat flour
[For later – about 1/2 cup each whole wheat and white bread flour]
1 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup honey
generous 1/2 cup spongey sourdough starter
1/3 cup whole wheat berries (or emmer, if you can get it)</p>

<p>Mix all ingredients except the extra cup of flour and the wheat berries
Knead for 3-4 minutes until ingredients are thoroughly mixed and dough gets that nice, plastic dough quality
Cover and let rise for 5-6 hours, but not so that it expands to more than twice original volume (in the summer, sometimes it might; now not so much) (I will either do this first thing in the morning, and finish in the afternoon, or do this late at night and finish first thing in the morning.)</p>

<p>While the dough is rising, bring a cup of water to a boil, then simmer the wheat berries for 45 min - 1 hour. Drain and reserve.</p>

<p>After the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and knead, together with the drained wheat berries, and, little by little, the extra flour. Keep adding flour until the dough doesn’t get more than a little sticky half a minute after you add the flour. Make certain the wheat berries are evenly dispersed. About 10 minutes.</p>

<p>Divide dough in half. Cover each piece separately and let rise 1-1/2 - 2 hours, not more.</p>

<p>Preheat oven to 460. I put a bowl of water in the back of the oven, on the same rack where I will bake the bread, and a baking stone or cast-iron griddle – all should be in there during the preheating.</p>

<p>While oven is preheating, knead each half of dough again for about 30 seconds, shape into a loaf that is like an oblong ball twice as long as it is wide, about 6" x 3" x 3". Place on a floured chopping board or other flat, transportable surface. Let stand uncovered while the oven preheats + about five minutes.</p>

<p>Just before putting them in the oven, slit the tops of the loaves quickly once with a sharp knife, about 1/4" deep.</p>

<p>Slide onto the hot baking stone/griddle in the oven with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes. If the loaves aren’t browning evenly, move them around sometime in the 15-20 minute range. </p>

<p>Remove and let cool on a rack. When everything works perfectly, the loaves should be nearly spherical boules.</p>

6

<p>I make most of our bread, and routinely make a white sandwich/toast loaf because that is what the rest of the family prefers. (I like 7-grain, but they complain…) I add several things to up its fiber and nutritional value.</p>

<p>For two loaves, I use:</p>

<p>2 cups warm water
about 1/3 cup brown sugar
about 1 cup dried milk
2 tbs yeast</p>

<p>Mix and proof, then add:</p>

<p>2 Cups unbleached flour
2Tbs wheat gluten
1/2 C untoasted wheat germ
1 cup rolled oats** OR about 1/2 cup oat bran</p>

<p>Beat for a while to develop the gluten (I use a Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook). then add</p>

<p>2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil</p>

<p>and beat in, then add</p>

<p>1 tbs kosher salt mixed with the next cup of unbleached flour</p>

<p>then gradually add more unbleached flour until the dough is of the proper consistency.</p>

<p>Then follow all of the usual steps associated with rising first in a bowl and then in the pans. I bake it for about 35 minutes at 350.</p>

<p>**You can also use 2 cups of oats, but in that case it’s a good idea to add the 2 cups of boiling (not warm) water to them with 1/2 cup honey (instead of the brown sugar) and milk powder, and let the mixture sit until lukewarm before proceeding. If I do that, I proof the yeast separately in about 1/2 of warm water with a tsp or so of extra sugar.</p>

7

<p>These all look just wonderful. Thank you so much! I will be heading to the grocery tomorrow to get some ingredients. (I go back and forth with bread flour.) I also need to figure out how to make some sourdough starter.</p>

8

<p>If you use unbleached flour as your “standard” kitchen flour, you can add some Vital Wheat Gluten to it to make the equivalent of “bread flour” without having to buy yet another flour.</p>