Beth: Potato Bread

When theKid was a young'un, I faced a challenge that I am sure is common to parental units across the country: white bread lust.

For reasons perhaps best explained by marketing, a lot of kids — even those who usually make sane food choices—seem to prefer bland, white bread. Sandwiches, toast, pretty much anything has to be white bread, but especially sandwiches. And kids eat lots of sandwiches. (hmmm, kids, sandwiches, Kevin, sandwiches... interesting....) Not very healthy and awfully boring. The white bread — not Kevin!

Then there was the cost of a decent loaf of white bread, which was simply exorbitant. Yet, even as a single mother on a tight budget, the affordable white bread in the shiny primary-color dotted bag was just too awful to contemplate. (The only thing I ever Wondered was who was buying that stuff!)

Whole Wheat Potato Bread

Potatoes have many positive effects on bread: yeast loves it, bread is softer and stays fresh longer, and bread dough with potatoes does not have to be mixed as long as bread without potatoes—amazing but apparently true! One of the more useful effects however, is an increased tolerance for whole wheat flour in the dough.

I used two cups of white whole wheat in one of my experiments and, with a few minor adjustments, I think this recipe would do nicely for anyone who wants a whole wheat take on this bread. As with all of bread baking, pay attention to the feel of the dough and adjust the ingredients where they seem to need it. Here is what you need to do differently, and why:

New first step: Mix the water, white whole wheat flour and yeast, cover and let it sit for ten minutes. This insures that the heavier whole wheat flour is totally hydrated before you start mixing the rest of the dough.

The white whole wheat flour absorbs more water, so add a little. I'd suggest a quarter of a cup. You may need to add a bit more when you are adding the rest of the flour, if it seems too dry to absorb all of it.

Let the bread proof until it is actually doubled in bulk. As you can see from the photo of the side by side white and white whole wheat loaves, I underproofed mine a bit. (I was nervous about it falling and it looked done. Oh well, live and learn.)

You can probably substitute more white whole wheat for white, although at some point you might need to add a little more yeast or a tablespoon of gluten if you have it around. The potatoes make this dough pretty forgiving.

Having sandwich bread that I was willing to eat, let alone feed theKid, meant making it myself. Fortunately, I knew how to do this, although, since I'd rather have my sandwich on a roll, standard loaves weren't in heavy rotation before then. Another saving grace was that theKid was not old enough to have kids at school telling her that homemade bread was, like homemade clothes, 'uncool.' Lacking a freezer to store a second loaf meant that I usually had to bake more than once a week, usually with the help of a toddler standing on a five gallon bucket of flour. Good times.

I started sneaking in bits of leftover cooked cereal, mashed potatoes, rice, and other things that seemed to have a complementary flavor and texture. This was surprisingly effective and had the bonus of helping me cut down on wasted food, which mattered a lot on my very tight budget.

Potato bread—soft, almost billowy, yet chewy enough to have some substance—was one of my favorites. Fresh herbs add a lovely depth to the flavor; rosemary and thyme are particularly good. This also makes wonderful dinner rolls; I like them with soup because they hold together well when dipping.

These days, I only bake bread for theKid when she makes the trek from theCity to evenTinierTown and it's been a long time since I had to sneak anything into her bread. I still love potato bread, though, and since I can never seem to make the right amount of mashed potatoes it's something I can make fairly regularly.

kitchenMage's Potato Bread
water | 2 cups | 475 ml | 16 ounces | 450 grams
bread flour | 5 1/2 cups | 1070 ml | 20 1/4 ounces | 570 grams
instant yeast | 2 teaspoons | 12 ml | 1/4 ounce | 7 grams
mashed potatoes | 1 1/4 cup | 350 ml | 8 ounces | 225 grams
butter | 2 tablespoons | 30 ml | 1 ounce | 28 grams
all purpose flour | 1 cup | 235 ml | 4 1/2 ounces | 125 grams
salt | 1 tablespoon | 15 ml | 1/2 ounces | 15 grams

Notes:
I based this recipe on mashed boiled potatoes with nothing added and used the water from the potatoes in the bread. If you want to do this, measure the water and raw potatoes then cook. When the potatoes are done, do not drain them, just mash them in the water. Then measure the mixture again and if it's not quite the same, add water until it is.

If you are using leftover mashed potato, you will probably need to add a little extra flour to make up for additions to the potatoes, such as milk or butter. You will have to judge this when you are making it.

In mixing bowl, combine water, potatoes, yeast and flour and mix until well combined. Add the butter and mix until it is integrated into dough. The dough will still be very soft. Cover and let rest on the counter for 20 minutes.

Add the salt to the dough when you do the next step.

If you are using a mixer: Use the dough hook and mix it on medium while you sprinkle in the all-purpose flour a tablespoonful at a time. When the absorption of the flour starts to slow down, turn it out on a well-floured counter and knead until the dough is smooth and supple, but no longer tacky.

If you are making the dough by hand: Spread the cup of all-purpose flour on the counter and knead for 4-5 minutes, adding more flour if needed. Knead until the dough is, as Kevin would say, smooth as a baby's...um, never mind, we got labeled as an adult site by one of those net-filtering software things because I said "bread p**n" once. Geez.

Roll the dough in flour, put it in a clean bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour).

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured counter, divide in half and shape into loaves. Grease two loaf pans. Put the shaped loaves in the pans and let rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour).

Preheat oven to 375°f / 175°c. Bake bread for 35 minutes or until golden brown (~195°f / 90°c internal temperature). Turn out of pans onto cooling rack for at least an hour.

This last picture? Just a bit of truth in blogging. Just in case we put up a convincing front that it is all we just make a recipe up in fifteen minutes and bake one loaf and it is perfect and our kitchens are always clean. As if!

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Kevin: Basic White Bread

I've said before, and I'll repeat it here, I enjoy baking bread more than I enjoy eating it. I like bread, and I certainly appreciate good bread, I'm just not a huge bread eater — with one caveat. I'm a sandwich fanatic. In fact, Beth has occasionally referred to me as Pig Sandwich Boy in reference to my dual loves of pork and sandwiches.

There's a Web site named I Love Sandwiches that once had a poll on it asking what's the most amount of time you've ever devoted to making a sandwich? My answer was 36 hours. It took that long because it began with making a poolish from my sourdough starter and proceeded in due course to making the bread, allowing it to rise twice, baking it, and then letting it cool enough to slice for sandwiches. My friends, the true mark of a sandwich lover is when they begin by making the bread for the sandwich.

"There is an art to the business of making sandwiches which is given to few ever to find the time to explore in depth. It is simple task but the opportunities for satisfaction are many and profound…" ~ Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Reputedly the sandwich is named for John Montague, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The story goes that he was gambling and rather than take a break from the table to eat he told his servant to bring him a piece of meat between two slices of bread so he could eat with one hand and play cards with the other.

Whether the tale is apocryphal or not, the name does seem to come from him. And I think it holds a key to what truly defines a sandwich: A sandwich is some filling, enclosed in bread, that can be eaten by hand. By this definition a so-called open-faced sandwich is generally not a sandwich because it requires at least a fork to eat. A pizza is not a sandwich, but in terms of utility a calzone is a sandwich just as an empanada or wrap or hamburger is a sandwich.

But whatever the definition, the classic sandwich remains a filling or fillings between two slices of bread. Whether it's a Rueben, a grilled cheese, a ham panini, a cubano, a mufaletta, a Bánh mi a hoagie, a Philly steak and cheese, PB&J, or a BLT they all share a common form and they're all delicious — especially when made with top quality bread.

Although sandwiches have a place in every season, they are particularly suited to summer. They're as heavy or light as the maker desires, they're tremendously portable, and they're quick to prepare (at least they are if you've already baked the bread), and almost everyone has a favorite sandwich. That's why when we were planning A Year in Bread we decided to start off the summer with that most basic of sandwich ingredients, white loaf bread.

My favorite recipe is from Beard on Bread by James Beard. It's made with sour cream which adds some tang to the loaf, but mostly produces an open crumb that makes the best damned grilled cheese sandwich you've ever eaten (recipe below). This bread recipe doesn't produce the huge lofty loaves that Susan's Farmhouse White does, but that's an issue of dough quantity and not how the bread rises. Besides, I find the smaller slices such loaves produce easier to make one-handed sandwiches with — which allows me to eat a sandwich with one hand while making my next loaf of bread, or make manageable sandwiches for kids.

Sour Cream Bread
Adapted from a recipe by James Beard.

ingredient US volume | Metric Volume | US weight | Metric
unbleached bread flour 4 1/2 - 5 c | 1050 - 1200 ml | 23 - 26 oz | 650 - 725 g
instant yeast 2 tsp | 10 ml | 1/4 oz | 4 g
granulated sugar 3 tbsp | 45 ml | 2 oz | 32 g
baking soda 1/4 tsp | 1 ml | --| --
salt 2 tsp | 10 ml | 1/2 oz | 8 g
warm water 1/4 c | 60 ml | 2 oz | 56 g
sour cream, at room temperature 2 c | 480 ml | 16 oz | 450 g

Thoroughly combine 4 1/2 cups (650 g) of the flour with the yeast, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the sour cream and water. You should have a wet, sticky dough, but you made need to add a bit more flour to make it manageable. Scrape out onto a lightly floured board.

Using a baker's scraper or a spackling knife, lift the flour and the dough, and fold the dough over. Turn it clockwise slightly and repeat the lifting and folding process until the dough is less sticky and can be worked with your hands. Add only enough flour to prevent sticking. (This entire kneading should take about 10 minutes, possibly longer if you are inexperienced). Shape the dough into a ball, place in a buttered bowl, and turn to coat it with the butter. Cover with plastic and let sit in a warm spot to double in bulk. (Note: The mixing and kneading can be done in the bowl of a stand mixer.)

Punch the dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead for a minute, then divide into two equal pieces. Butter two 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf tins. Shape the dough into loaves and fit into the tins. Cover loosely and let rise again until doubled. Bake in a preheated 375F (190C) oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on top and bottom. Cool thoroughly before slicing.

It may, perhaps, seem foolish for me to post a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich — after all you can’t get much simpler. And yet, a truly great grilled cheese is one of the best sandwiches on earth and they don't happen by accident. They are made deliberately with care given not only to the choice of ingredients, but to their proportion and the cooking method.

The Perfect Grilled Cheese

Take a loaf of bread with a crumb that's almost cake-like in appearance. In the recipe above the sour cream produces the open pores while the bread flour gives it the firmness it needs. Cut two 3/8 inch slices. I know, I know. Too much precision. But if the bread is too thin the cheese will melt too quickly and if it's too thick the cheese won’t melt quickly enough.

Spread each slice with a light coating of unsalted butter at room temperature.

Place one slice of bread, butter-side down in a cold skillet. Cast iron is best because it heats slowly.

Cut as much sharp cheddar cheese (I highly recommend Grafton Village 1-year- old cheddar but almost any sharp artisanal cheddar will do) into enough 1/8 inch slices to cover the bread. Again, this seems overly precise, but the goal is that the cheese is perfectly melted at exactly the moment the bread is properly browned.

Place the second slice of bread on the cheese and turn the heat to low medium. The bread should start browning in about 6 minutes and should be perfectly browned in 8 - 9 minutes. The cheese will be tacky enough to hold the bread together, but not truly melted. Flip the sandwich and cook until the other side is browned, about 4 minutes, and the cheese is completely melted.

With the right bread and cheese, the bread will actually absorb some of the cheese — a bit may even soak all the way through the bread to contribute to the browning on the second side.

I like to cut the sandwich into two triangles and then eat it with a few pickled peppers and a mug of hard cider. This, my friends, is absolute bliss.

For a collection of sandwich photos, click here.

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Susan: How To Shape Dough Into Sandwich Loaves

Note: This is a continuation of my article on making basic white bread, which you can read here.

There are many ways to shape a lump of dough into a standard sandwich loaf. The easiest way is to simply pat the dough into the shape of the pan and plunk it in.
Whichever way you choose to shape your loaves, the most important thing to remember is that the finished dough should contact the short ends of the pan so they can help support the dough as it rises.

One popular technique is "jelly-roll" style: Press the dough into a rectangle that is as long as the loaf pan and slightly less than twice as wide as it is long. At the narrow end, roll the dough tightly, jelly-roll style. Pinch the ends and seam to seal, turning the ends under if necessary. I've also seen a similar version where the dough is rolled out to 1/4-inch thick with a rolling pin. That is way too much work for me, but it would be interesting to see the resulting loaf.

I use the "log" method, and it comes straight from the pages of the absolutely wonderful book, Amy's Bread. Here it is, word for word, because if you're like me and have trouble thinking three-dimensionally, this isn't the kind of thing you want to try paraphrasing. (Amy, please don't sue me.) It does take a little practice.

"When shaping your loaves, the most important thing to remember is to be gentle with the dough. Your goal is to form an even loaf with a taut skin, while leaving some larger air holes inside.

Very lightly flour the work surface. Start by forming an envelope: Place the dough on the table. Press and flatten it gently with your fingertips to form a rectangle with a short side facing you, leaving a lot of air bubbles in the dough. [Susan's note: I press out any large air bubbles.] Fold the top edge down over the middle of the rectangle, then fold the bottom edge up. Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat the process, folding the top edge down and the bottom edge up again and overlapping the edges slightly in the middle so the dough looks like an envelope. Pat the seam to seal it. Now you have a smaller, tighter rectangle.

Form a cylinder: Starting from the top edge of the rectangle, fold the top third of the dough over itself with one hand. With the heel of your other hand, gently press the seam to seal it.

Fold the dough one third of the way down again and work from one end to the other to seal the seam. Try to keep the skin of the dough smooth and tight but not so tight that the skin tears.

Repeat this process one or two more times, until the loaf is a nice round log. Seal the final seam completely with the heel of your hand. Ideally your seam should be straight and tight with no openings or flaps of dough hanging out; with patience, this will become natural.

If any dough is protruding from the ends of the log, poke it back in with your finger. [Susan's note: I tuck the ends into the log and then pinch them closed; I find this makes a neater looking loaf.]

The plain log shape can be placed in a loaf pan or left on a cloth for a free-form second rise. From the log shape, you can make other cylindrical shapes."

If you're making three loaves of bread at a time, the best thing to do is shape each one using a different technique and see how they compare. I found that shaping mine into logs resulted in the best looking breads, and I've been shaping them this way for years. But I may find myself switching to a quicker method once our little wholesale bread bakery is up and running and I'm making dozens of loaves of bread at a time. It's probably time for me to do another round of experimenting.

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Susan: Basic White Bread

This bread, which I call Farmhouse White, is a staple in our house and we pretty much always have it around. I've been tweaking the recipe for 7 years and this is the result. It's great for just about any kind of sandwich, and brings peanut butter and jelly (another staple in our house) to a whole new level, especially if you treat yourself to some nice organic peanut butter and jam. It is wonderful toasted, smells heavenly while toasting, and makes the quintessential BLT.

This is the kind of old-fashioned, homey bread that a few people were lucky enough to grow up eating--and everyone else wishes they had. It is wholesome and filling and about as far from Wonder Bread as a basic white sandwich bread can get. I've watched people who claim they never eat white bread gobble this stuff up.

A lot of white sandwich bread recipes call for dry milk powder. Besides never having any around, I don't see the point of it. If you want more flavor, simply replace some or all of the water in the recipe with milk. For years I made this bread with water, and it was perfectly fine. Part of the reason I focused on a water-based recipe was because we'll be selling Farmhouse White when our wholesale bread bakery is up and running, and the cost of using organic milk (which is the only kind I would consider) would be cost prohibitive. But since I recently found a local source for reasonably priced raw, whole milk that should be able to supply enough for our bakery, I've started making all my Farmhouse White with milk.

According to Joe Ortiz in The Village Baker (a wonderful book packed with interesting tips and techniques for bakers of all levels), making your bread with milk will not only give a richer flavor, but also "a deeper color to the crust and a softer body to the crumb." And when used as an additive to French bread, "milk also helps to provide some of the flavor of a lactic fermentation that happens naturally in a sourdough process." In The Breakfast Book, author Marion Cunningham states that milk, along with sugar and butter (or other fat) "give the loaves keeping qualities which help preserve flavor and moistness." Baking bread is a perfect way to use up milk that has gone sour.

This recipe makes three loaves of bread because in my opinion, if you have freezer space or friends, there's no reason to bake only one loaf of bread at a time. Bread freezes beautifully--and you won't believe how much your friends will love you if you present them with a freshly baked loaf.

There are all sorts of things you can do with this dough once you've mastered the basic formula. I'll be posting a separate article offering various tips and ideas in the next day or two.

Susan's Farmhouse White Sandwich Bread
Makes 3 loaves, approximately 1-1/2 pounds each

Ingredient US volume | Metric Volume | US weight | Metric
all-purpose flour 4 cups | 940 ml | 1 lb, 4 ounces | 566 grams
instant yeast 2 Tablespoons | 30 ml | 22 grams
granulated sugar 2 Tablespoons | 30 ml | 28 grams
canola oil 2 Tablespoons | 30 ml | 30 grams
milk or water 4 cups | 940 ml | 2 lbs | 908 grams
bread flour (approximately) 6 cups | 1,410 ml | 1 lb, 13-1/8 ounces | 825 grams
salt 1-1/2 Tablespoons | 22 ml | 3/4 ounce | 22 grams

Mixing and fermentation

Autolyse
Autolyse (pronounced AUTO-lees and used as both a noun and a verb) is a French word that refers to a rest period given to dough during the kneading process. When making your dough, mix together only the water, yeast, flour, and grains until it forms a shaggy mass. Knead it for several minutes, and then cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. (I simply leave the dough on the floured counter and put my wooden bowl over it.) During this time, the gluten will relax and the dough will absorb more water, smoothing itself out so that it is moist and easier to shape. After the autolyse, knead the dough for several more minutes, mixing in any other ingredients such as herbs or nuts or dried fruit.

In a very large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, yeast, and sugar (I use a wooden spoon). Make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the canola oil and then the milk. Mix well, then continue to stir vigorously, slowly adding 1 cup of the bread flour at a time, until you've added about 5 cups, or until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough; this should take several minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 6 or 7 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the work surface.

Place the mixing bowl over the dough, and let it rest for 20 minutes. This rest period is called the autolyse.

Remove the bowl, flatten out the dough with your hands, and sprinkle about half of the salt over it. Begin kneading the salt into the dough. After a few turns, sprinkle on the rest of the salt and continue to knead for 5 to 7 minutes, until the salt is completely incorporated and the dough is soft and smooth.

Sprinkle flour in the dough bowl, place the dough in it, liberally dust it with flour, and cover it with a damp tea towel (not terry cloth, as it will shed lint on your dough). Set it somewhere that is preferably between 70F and 78F for 60 to 90 minutes. Ideally, the dough should also be between 70F and 78F. It's easy to check the temperature of your dough and ingredients with an inexpensive instant read thermometer.

When the dough is ready to be shaped, you should be able to push a floured finger deep into it and leave an indentation that doesn't spring back.Unless your dough is rising in a straight-sided container, it can be difficult to judge whether it has "doubled in size" which is the guideline most recipes use. I find the finger poking method to be more reliable.

Shaping and final rise (proof)
Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, flattening gently with your hands to break up any large air bubbles. Divide the dough into three equal pieces.

Shape the dough into loaves and dust the tops with flour. There are dozens of ways to do this; more info on shaping loaves will be added soon either in a sidebar or separate post. Place loaves seam side down in greased loaf pans. I like my sandwich breads to be tall, so I use smaller loaf pans. I can't say enough good things about these commercial loaf pans from Chicago Metallic. They measure 8-1/2 inches x 4-1/2 inches and just under 3 inches high. For the price of a few loaves of bread, they're definitely worth the investment. They also make this larger size pan for those of you who prefer a wider, shorter loaf.

Cover the loaves with a damp tea towel and let them rise for 45 to 60 minutes. When you lightly poke the dough with a floured finger it should spring back just a little.

If you let the loaves rise too long, they may not have enough energy left to rise once they're in the oven--and they may even collapse. I was always so afraid this would happen that for years I unknowingly under-proofed my loaves of Farmhouse White. While the bread was

still delicious, you can see that the dough had so much 'oven spring' that it basically blew apart the side of the loaf. I finally started letting the loaves rise a little longer and was rewarded with the more evenly shaped and visually appealing bread that you see in the top two photos.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow if tapped. Remove immediately from pans and let cool on a wire rack. Try to wait at least 40 minutes before cutting into a loaf. Store at room temperature or freeze in zipper freezer bags. Make sure loaves are completely cooled before sealing in bags.

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Coming Soon: White Bread -- The Series

We're doing white bread and Susan is leading the charge. But she has sheep, beans, and tomatoes distracting her -- not to mention the bakery she's trying to launch -- so we'll get her post online as soon as we can.

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Baking Better Bread

Susan: Do some reading. Just don't overdo it. Pick one bread book and read it from cover to cover. If you like it and it makes sense to you, read it again. Then try a recipe. If you like the result (or if it came out terrible but you know it has potential), make it again. And again and again and again. It is better to make one bread twenty times than to make twenty breads one time.

Beth: Don't be afraid to experiment. Once you've learned to bake one kind, using the same recipe, reliably. Then try a recipe that has a significant difference from the first — like using a starter or additional ingredients. You can compare the results and learn how the changes in recipe/method change the resulting bread.

Kevin: Get several books. One author's way teaching may make more sense to you than another's — even though both authors know what they're talking about.

Beth: Try long cold fermentations. Almost any bread is improved by a long, cold bulk ferment. Sweet or enriched breads don't benefit as much, but still some. You may want to reduce the yeast (by 25-50%, maybe even a bit more) so be prepared to experiment.

Kevin: Parchment paper is more reliable than corn meal, flour, or both for releasing bread from the peel.

Susan: Start with the very best ingredients. When you are creating something with only four basic ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast), the quality of those ingredients is crucial.

Beth: It is easier to handle slack doughs when they are cold.

Kevin: Use a baking stone (sometimes called a pizza stone). Stones are capable of absorbing a great deal of thermal energy and then giving it up slowly which means the bread cooks at a more consistent temperature. And give the oven and stone plenty of time to preheat — at least an hour.

Beth: If you want a rustic, open crumb with those marvelous large holes do not 'punch down the dough' after the first rise. Instead, turn it out on a floured surface and fold the dough into thirds, gently stretching when needed. You want to degas the bread as little as possible while still creating surface tension in the shaped loaf. A little practice will make it all fairly easy.

Beth: If dough springs back When you are shaping it, let it rest a few minutes to relax the gluten. You may need to repeat the stretch-rest cycle a few times to get the dough into the desired shape.

Susan: Use a sourdough starter or a sponge or a poolish or a lump of old dough. There are all different types of "starters." Some are made in a few hours, some in a few days, and some live in your fridge forever. Any kind of starter will vastly improve the crust, crumb, and flavor of your loaves.

Susan: Sprinkle in the flour and stir like crazy. When you are mixing up your dough, add only about a handful of flour at a time. Use your whole arm to stir, making wide sweeping motions. This will "whip" the dough and allow the gluten to develop.

Kevin: Never add all the flour in the beginning even if you're using a stand mixer. You can always add more flour if you need it.

Beth: Those thin plastic "cutting boards" that you can pick up in multi-packs for a few dollars are a baker's dream. I've been using mine as rolling surfaces lately. You can even stack them with dough on them for resting periods so you free up counter space. If you use them for rolling dough, remember the untextured side sticks less.

Susan: Give it a rest, then add the salt. This tip not only greatly improves nearly any type of bread, but it also allows you to decrease your kneading time (which improves the bread even more).

Beth: Pizza stones radiate heat that can be used to give rising bread a kickstart. Place a warm stone on the stove top with a rack on top of it, then set the dough on top of that to rise.

Kevin: The oven can be used to speed up the dough rise. In most ovens, the light will raise the temperature in the oven to around 75F (24C), which is perfect for raising bread.

Susan: Catch yourself a couche. A couche is a piece of heavy canvas that is dusted with flour and used to support freestanding loaves, such as rolls and baguettes, while they are proofing. The couche cradles the loaves, keeping them straight and preventing them from sticking together.

Susan: Make some steam. Steam slows crust formation, which allows for the best possible oven "spring." It also gelatinizes the starch on the surface of the bread so that it develops a thin, glossy, beautifully brown crust.

Note: You can read more detailed versions of Susan's tips at Farmgirl Fare.

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Metaphor Gone Mad

Conan Obrien and Bread

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Susan: No-Knead Bread

All the shiny little trinkets of temptation
Something new instead of something old
All you gotta do is scratch beneath the surface
And its fool's gold
Fool's gold
Fool's gold
-- The Indigo Girls

I'm not proud of what I did, but there's no point in trying to hide the truth. Late last year, along with zillions of others, I fell head over heels for that New York Times No-Knead bread. After having pulled just one measly loaf out of my new dutch oven (that was purchased specifically to make the bread), I let my faithful companion of five long years, pain au levain, fall by the wayside with nary a backward glance. For weeks I walked around with my head in the clouds and a foolish grin on my face, tossing daisies in the air and yammering on incessantly about my scrumptious new love.

Okay, maybe I wasn't quite that bad, but my sourdough starter did nearly die from neglect during my dalliance. I tweaked the no-knead bread recipe and baked loaf after loaf, taking detailed notes and thinking seriously about adding it to the list of breads we plan to offer from the wholesale bread bakery we're building here on the farm. I even wrote about it on my blog.

As a longtime bread baker I should have known better, but I had it bad. Within a couple of months the drunken infatuation wore off, and I started to wonder what the hell I was doing. Head down and full of embarrassment, I went crawling back to my on-the-verge-of-death sourdough starter and baked up three absolutely gorgeous loaves of my good old pain au levain. The fling was over, and all was forgiven.

I wouldn't say that the no-knead bread turned out to be fool's gold; it was more like discovering it was14 karat gold plate when I had assumed it was solid. We're still friends.

So what was it about this bread that so fully captured my attentions? It wasn't the no-knead part, as I rather enjoy kneading bread. No, it was the same thing that gets people into trouble every day - it was different. Something new instead of something old.

My pain au levain has a thick crust and a hearty, dense interior. This bread had a light crumb full of various-sized airholes and, as Beth put it, "a near-shatteringly crisp crust." I had never baked anything like it. I had also been wanting to try making some sort of "slack dough" bread, such as ciabatta, for quite a while, so the batter-like nature of this dough had me intrigued from the start.

Rather large flaws can be easily overlooked when one is enamored, so it was not hard to ignore the fact that this new bread lacked the lovely, deep flavor of my pain au levain — for a while.

In the meantime, the three of us had decided that A Year In Bread would not be complete without including what had inarguably become a bread baking phenomenon in our recipe lineup. Everybody was baking this bread — which made me start wondering what each of us could do with it that hadn't already been done. Kevin quickly hit upon English muffins, and Beth mentioned something about herbs, though she ended up going in an entirely different direction.

I had already made several changes to Jim Lahey's original recipe, including ditching the dutch oven, but none of them were anywhere near earth shattering — make two loaves at once, increase the rising time, add a lot more salt and enough flour so the loaves would hold their shape without the dutch oven.

Inspiration can come from almost anywhere, including a cluttered kitchen drawer. While frantically rooting around for a rubber spatula recently, three long forgotten recipe cards floated to the top of the mess. Now Kevin was absolutely right when he said in his no-knead bread post that I tend to make the same bread recipes over and over, but I have to admit that my feathers got a little ruffled when he also declared himself to be the only artiste among us. Oh please. In my opinion, anybody who bakes bread from scratch has an artistic streak running through them, especially if they come up with their own recipes. And on those forgotten recipe cards was proof that I had done just that.

The main reason I make the same few breads over and over is because I'm doing what corporate types refer to as "research and development" for our bread bakery. Once I've come up with what I believe is a perfect bread, I need to be sure I can bake up consistent results despite the dozens of variables that affect even the most basic bread recipes.

But back in 2002, before I had even dreamed of opening a bread bakery (actually I had sworn years ago that I would never, ever, ever go into the bread baking business) I used to bake bread for barter on a weekly basis. One of the best parts about this arrangement was that it gave me a reason to constantly try new recipes and come up with fresh ideas. Two of those resurfaced recipe cards listed all of the different breads I had bartered, and on the other was the recipe for what I called Italiano bread.

I love homemade Italian sausage, and one day I decided to see what would happen if I added all of the ingredients in Italian sausage to a loaf of pain au levain. Yum. It took me about three seconds of staring at the rediscovered recipe to realize I had just found the perfect no-knead bread post idea. Then my mind jumped to the grilled cheese sandwich I had once made for Joe using slices from a large round loaf of my plain no-knead bread. He said it was the best grilled cheese sandwich he'd ever had. I started wondering what an Italiano grilled cheese sandwich made with fresh mozzarella would taste like. The creative juices (and the drool) were flowing now.

But my excitement turned to disappointment as soon as I mixed up the dough. It was orange. And not in an appetizing way. There was nothing to do at this point but go ahead and bake it off, while frantically trying to come up with other ideas. Fortunately the finished loaves ended up a completely different color - and were also very tasty.

Overall, I was happy with how this bread came out. My biggest complaint is something I had come across before — giant airholes sometimes hidden below the crust. I mean airholes so big that, well, I think this photo gets the point across. The problem is that you can't tell these giant holes are there until you cut into the loaf. The other loaf came out fine. I did put three slashes in the top of the second loaf, and that may or may not have helped control the airholes, though that isn't why I did it. What the slashes definitely did do was create more colorful and better looking loaf, despite the small tear in the top. I'm not sure why that tear formed; it wasn't due to having too much bloom from not having risen enough, since it rose an extra 40 minutes while the first loaf was baking.

Both Beth and Kevin complained that the no-knead bread went stale quickly. Except for sandwich loaves like my Farmhouse White or Oatmeal Toasting Bread, I never eat room temperature bread. I am a bread snob who demands it fresh from the oven or reheated so that the crust crisps back up. Any crusty bread in our house that won't be devoured within a couple of hours usually goes into the freezer as soon as it's cool.

Things got a little crazy on the farm during this baking project, though, and I ended up leaving the round loaf of Italiano bread in a plastic zipper bag on the kitchen counter for three days before getting around to making that much-anticipated mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich. I don't think the sandwich suffered. Then this morning I toasted up a big slice of the now four-day-old bread in my beloved toaster oven to go with some Swiss chard scrambled eggs. Slathered with butter, it was fantastic.

The bottom line is that this bread is a snap to make and produces a flavorful loaf with a wonderfully crisp crust. The dough is extremely forgiving and will happily work around your schedule. While the freshly baked hunk I had with butter the first night with dinner was good, I think this bread really shines when it is toasted by the slice or used for grilled cheese sandwiches. I thought the fresh mozzarella was perfect. A sprinkling of freshly grated pecorino romano on top of it added a nice touch. After one bite (that photo shoot felt like it lasted forever!) I was thinking patty melt, maybe with Italian sausage.

If it were summer, I would have slipped a few slices of heirloom tomatoes from my kitchen garden into the sandwich. Today I was wondering about homemade oversized croutons and Italiano bread salad. This bread has definite possibilities. Just please don't tell my pain au levain.

Susan's Italiano No Knead Bread
Makes two 1-1/2 pound loaves, three 1-pound loaves, or four baby 12-ounce loaves

This is my basic no-knead bread recipe with the Italian sausage seasonings added in, so if you like, you can leave out any or all of the first 6 ingredients and it should come out just fine. I did increase the flour by about a cup for this version, though I'm not sure if that was due to the pesto making the dough wetter, or the fact that it's a lot more humid now than it was last winter when I was baking this bread so often (our woodstove dries out both the air and my flour). Probably both. Even with the extra flour, the dough was still wetter (slacker) than I remembered it being, and I ended up adding more flour once it had risen to keep it from sticking to the counter and my hands.

Many first time bread bakers complained that the original no-knead bread recipe made a dough that was too wet, but I think this was because they were afraid to deviate from the original recipe and add more flour — which makes sense if you're baking a cake but not if you're making a loaf of bread. Don't be afraid to add more flour to your dough if it's too sticky and unworkable.

No matter what kind of bread I'm making I always do the same thing: use a set amount of water and then vary the amount of flour to make the dough the right consistency. It's always a good idea to start with a little less flour than a recipe calls for and gradually add in more if you need it.

Ingredient US volume | Metric Volume | US weight | Metric
chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup | 125 ml | 1/2 ounce | 12 grams
basil pesto** 1/2 cup | 30 ml | 1 ounces | 28 grams
chopped fresh oregano 1/4 cup | 60 ml | 1/4 ounce | 8 grams
fennel seeds 2 Tablespoons | 30 ml | 1/2 ounce | 13 grams
ground paprika 2 Tablespoons | 30 ml | 1/2 ounce | 14 grams
granulated onion (or onion powder) 1 Tablespoon | 15 ml | 3/8 ounce | 9 grams
salt 1-1/2 Tablespoons | 22 ml | 3/4 ounce | 22 grams
pepper 1/2 teaspoon | 2 ml | 1 gram
bread flour (approximately) 7 cups | 1600 ml | 2 lbs 3 ounces | 993 grams
instant yeast 1/2 teaspoon | 2 ml | 1 gram
cool water 3-1/4 cups | 770 ml | 1 lb 12 ounces | 794 grams

Pesto
When I have a good summer basil crop in my kitchen garden, I make and freeze enough pesto in ice cube trays and small plastic containers to get me through the rest of the year. Click here for my favorite pesto recipe. When I first created Italiano bread it was summertime, so I used about 1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil leaves and 8 chopped cloves of garlic in the recipe. I almost nixed the idea of an Italiano No-Knead Bread right after coming up with it since there won't be any basil in the garden for months. Fortunately inspiration struck when I remembered a half cup of pesto in the fridge leftover from a recent pizza making party. Using ready made pesto cuts down on prep time, too, as you don't have to peel and chop all that garlic.

Mixing and fermentation
Combine parsley, basil pesto, oregano, fennel seeds, paprika, granulated onion, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

In a very large bowl, combine about 6 cups of the flour with the yeast. Add 3-1/4 cups water and stir well (I use a wooden spoon). The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Stir in herb mixture until well incorporated into the dough, then add enough of the remaining 1 cup of flour so that the dough pulls away from the bowl when you stir it (depending on your flour, your weather, and about 45 other variants, you might not need to add any more flour). Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it somewhere that is preferably between 60F and 70F for 20 to 24 hours. The cooler the air, the longer the rise and vice versa.

Shaping and final rise
The dough will have risen significantly and should be dotted with bubbles. Generously flour your work surface and place the dough on it. Sprinkle more flour on the dough, and with floured hands, fold it over on itself three or four times. The dough may be very slack (wet). If necessary, keep adding a little flour at a time to the dough until it reaches a point where it will hold its shape and not stick to your hands.

As I mentioned earlier, this no-knead dough was the wettest I'd ever made. Once it had risen, I pretty much poured it out onto the counter, then watched in wide-eyed fascination (and slight horror) as it just kept spreading and spreading. But working in a little more flour made it quickly turn from a scary pile of slime to a recognizable lump of dough.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 20 minutes.

Note: Alternately, at this point you can sprinkle some dough in the bowl, put the dough back in it, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. After 24 hours, my dough had risen almost back up to the top of the bowl and was sending up big bubbles — a little freaky, but a sure sign that it was still very much alive,

Divide the dough into two (or three or four) pieces. Using enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface and your hands, gently and quickly shape each piece of dough into a ball. I use the method Daniel Leader describes in his wonderful book, Bread Alone: "Use slightly cupped hands to tuck the sides of the dough to meet underneat the mass, rotating the dough as you do so. After a few tucks the dough will form into a a tight ball." For a more oblong loaf, gently stretch the ball into desired shape.

Place the dough seam side down on a cotton towel (not terry cloth) that has been generously coated with flour. Generously sprinkle flour on the tops of the loaves and cover with a damp cotton towel. Let rise for about 2 hours (or 3 hours if you've just taken your dough out of the refrigerator).

After 1 hour, preheat your oven and baking stone to 450F (230C).

Baking
When you poke a finger gently into the loaves and the dough readily springs back just a little, they're ready to bake. (I'm really bad at judging whether dough has "doubled in size," so I never use that method to decide if it has risen enough.)

Generously flour a wooden pizza peel (or an unrimmed baking sheet, or a rimmed baking sheet turned upside down) and carefully overturn one of the loaves onto it (so it is now seam side up), shaking it gently to make sure it isn't sticking to the peel. If there is a whole bunch of flour caked on the top of the loaf, you can carefully brush some of it off with a pastry brush (I now use silicone pastry brushes for everything — easy to clean and no more bristles coming off in your food!).

If desired, quickly cut two or three shallow slits in the top of the loaf (I use a large serrated knife), then carefully slide it onto the hot baking stone. Repeat with the second loaf if it looks like they will both fit on your baking stone at once. Otherwise cover it with a damp towel and set it somewhere cool or in the refrigerator.

This dough is pretty forgiving. When I baked the batch in these photos, I didn't realize until I'd put the oblong one into the oven that there was no way both loaves would fit at once, though two each of either shape probably would have. There was no room in my fridge for the second loaf, and the pantry wasn't any cooler than the kitchen, so I just left it on the kitchen counter while the first one baked. It had plenty of spring left in it and rose nicely.

Continue baking until the crust is dark and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 35 to 45 minutes. I use an aluminum peel to remove breads and pizzas from the oven. Let cool at least 30 minutes before slicing or tearing into it.

If you are planning to toast it, this bread will keep at room temperature in a plastic zipper bag for 3 to 4 days. Otherwise freeze anything you don't plan to eat within 24 hours. Like pretty much all breads, this one freezes beautifully. No need to defrost before reheating--simply place frozen bread in a preheated oven until hot and crisp.

Technorati: Food | recipe | baking | bread | artisanal | artisan | bread baking | no-knead bread | italiano

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