Susan:
Honey Bran Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Recipe
A Whole Grain Loaf Even Diehard White Bread Fans Will Love
I'll admit that things have improved somewhat over the past several years, but for the most part bread still doesn't get the respect in the United States that it deserves—especially the poor sandwich loaf. Is there anything more depressing than a sandwich that is packed full of amazing stuff yet held in place by two totally disappointing slices of something that barely deserves to be called bread?
In a perfect world, both the filling and the bread would be wonderful, but I, for one, would much rather have a so-so filling surrounded by superior bread than the other way around. Bad bread can ruin even the best sandwich, and good bread can make it.
We're a very bread oriented household here on the farm, and we take our sandwiches seriously. I took it as a compliment when a houseguest once said, after polishing off one of the homegrown lamb salami sandwiches I'd packed for us to eat while out running errands (I never leave the farm without food), "I'm so full. Your sandwiches are like a meal!" but at the same time part of me was thinking, Well, yeah. It was lunch.
Boring Old Tuna? Not on this Bread
A sandwich shouldn't be something you're forced to eat—it should be something you want to eat. And it doesn't have to be expensive or fancy to be fabulous. Start with nice ingredients and you'll end up with a very nice sandwich. Plain old peanut butter and jam? A perennial favorite around here. But the bread is freshly baked, the peanut butter and jam (reduced sugar—you can taste the fruit!) are organic, and the mandatory ice cold glass of milk served alongside came straight out of a happy Jersey cow who lives six miles down the road. In fact that's what I had for breakfast this morning. Open faced on one slice of lightly toasted Honey Bran Whole Wheat.
Lunch? Leftover roast chicken (locally raised on pasture and organic grains) topped with soft and sweet slices of roasted onions (both heated ever so slightly), a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground pepper, a thick smear of mayonnaise (I've always been a Best Foods/Hellman's girl), and plenty of lettuce. More of the Honey Bran Bread. Maybe toasted, maybe not. Make the bread, make the sandwich. Make a meal.
Crusty, freeform artisan breads are popping up all over, but the sandwich bread section at most supermarkets still remains a disappointing (and sometimes frightening) place. How can ingredients with 22 letters belong in a loaf of bread? And why is Oroweat not spelled Orowheat? Is it like creme and cheez, which don't contain cream or cheese?
The sandwich solution? Set aside a couple of hours every week or two and bake your own loaves. It's easier than you think, tastier than you can imagine, and costs less than the storebought equivalent—that is if you could actually find a storebought equivalent. You'll have friends and family singing your praises, and your sandwiches will never be the same. All because of a simple loaf of bread.
Susan's Honey Bran Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 3 large loaves, about 36 ounces each
When it comes to baking bread, my motto is If you have friends or a freezer, never bake just one loaf at a time. It only takes a few more minutes of work to bake two or three loaves, and homemade bread freezes beautifully.
This is a variation of my popular Farmhouse White, which is the kind of simple, scrumptious loaf people tend to imagine apron-clad grandmothers baking. Farmhouse White is also almost foolproof, which makes it a great beginner's loaf. I realize that in these health conscious days white bread isn't for everyone, but if you've had disappointing, doorstop-like whole grain baking experiences in the past, you might want to bake up a batch or two of the basic recipe first and then start making it healthier.
Farmhouse White is open to an infinite number of interpretations, and this is my latest favorite variation. It also makes wonderful dinner rolls and burger buns. It's not 100% whole grain and uses white whole wheat flour, which means it's a lighter, easier dough to work with and also rises beautifully, while still offering plenty of whole grain goodness, especially with the 2 cups of bran tossed in.
You don't have to weigh your ingredients when baking bread, but a digital kitchen scale really does make baking and cooking a whole lot easier. It's also nice to be able to weigh your dough as you're dividing it into loaves (or rolls) so you know they're the same size. I am loving my new Oxo Good Grips Kitchen Scale: it weighs up to 11 pounds, lets you pull the display out from the base so you can weigh really large bowls (so cool), and was recently voted #1 by America's Test Kitchen, the people who publish Cook's Illustrated magazine. Can you say incredibly useful, under $50 holiday gift?
Bake your bread in 8" x 4" pans if you want the rustic look of taller loaves with mushroom-shaped tops (like in the photo above), or 9" x 5" pans if you prefer shorter, more square-shaped slices (like the tuna sandwich photo). I can't say enough good things about these Chicago Metallic commercial loaf pans. For the price of a few loaves of bread they're definitely worth the investment—and come with a 25-year warranty. What they call a 1-pound pan is basically an 8-inch, and the 1-1/2 pound pan is equivalent to a 9-inch.
As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever possible. I've found that organic flour makes a big difference when baking bread, and it often only costs a few more cents per loaf. Look for organic flours and brans in the bulk section of natural food stores.
If you don't have bread flour for this recipe, just use more all-purpose flour. Increase the honey to 1/2 cup for a slightly sweeter loaf. I like to bake all my breads, including those in loaf pans, on a baking stone, as I find it bakes them more evenly and gives the bottoms a nicer crust (and it also simulates the ceramic deck in the 7-foot wide bread oven in my someday-bread-bakery-to-be), but it definitely isn't necessary.
4 cups / 1 lb-4 oz / 568 g all-purpose flour
2 cups / 10¼ oz / 290 g bread flour
1 cup / 4¼ oz 122 g oat bran
1 cup / 3¾ oz / 109 g wheat bran
1½ Tablespoons / 1/8 oz / 17 g instant yeast
2 Tablespoons / 30 ml canola oil or melted butter
1/3 cup / 3-5/8 oz / 102 g honey
5 cups / 40 fluid oz lukewarm milk (about 85 degrees F)
4 cups / 1lb-5 oz / 604 g white whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons / 30 ml salt
Mixing and fermentation
In a very large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, oat bran, wheat bran, and yeast (I use a wooden spoon). Make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the canola oil, the honey, and then the milk. Mix well, then continue to stir vigorously, slowly adding 1 cup of the white whole wheat flour at a time, until you've added 4 cups, or until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. This should take a few 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. (You can read more about autolyse in the sidebar on my Farmhouse White recipe post.)
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.
Place the dough in a large plastic straight sided container with a snap-on lid. With masking tape or a felt tip pen, mark the spot on the container that the dough will reach when it has doubled in volume. Set it somewhere that is preferably between 70F and 78F for about one hour. 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; instructions on how I like to shape my sandwich loaves can be found in this post. Place loaves seam side down in greased loaf pans (I've become addicted to baking spray—so convenient.)
If desired, an hour before baking, place baking stone in the oven and heat to 375 degrees.
Cover the loaves with a damp tea towel and let them rise for 45 to 60 minutes. The dough should rise well above the rim of the pans, and when you lightly poke it with a floured finger it should spring back just a little.
Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow if tapped (you can carefully pop one out of the pan and put it back in if it's not quite done). Remove immediately from pans and let cool on a wire rack. Try to wait at least 40 minutes before cutting into a loaf, as it continues to bake while cooling. Store at room temperature or freeze in zipper freezer bags. Make sure loaves are completely cooled before sealing in bags.
Still have more flour left?
Check out all the other sandwich bread recipes on A Year In Bread.
© Copyright 2008 AYearInBread.com, the bread baking blog where on more than one occasion we've happily eaten sandwiches (on homemade bread of course) for three meals in one day.
A sandwich shouldn't be something you're forced to eat—it should be something you want to eat. And it doesn't have to be expensive or fancy to be fabulous. Start with nice ingredients and you'll end up with a very nice sandwich. Plain old peanut butter and jam? A perennial favorite around here. But the bread is freshly baked, the peanut butter and jam (reduced sugar—you can taste the fruit!) are organic, and the mandatory ice cold glass of milk served alongside came straight out of a happy Jersey cow who lives six miles down the road. In fact that's what I had for breakfast this morning. Open faced on one slice of lightly toasted Honey Bran Whole Wheat.
Lunch? Leftover roast chicken (locally raised on pasture and organic grains) topped with soft and sweet slices of roasted onions (both heated ever so slightly), a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground pepper, a thick smear of mayonnaise (I've always been a Best Foods/Hellman's girl), and plenty of lettuce. More of the Honey Bran Bread. Maybe toasted, maybe not. Make the bread, make the sandwich. Make a meal.
Crusty, freeform artisan breads are popping up all over, but the sandwich bread section at most supermarkets still remains a disappointing (and sometimes frightening) place. How can ingredients with 22 letters belong in a loaf of bread? And why is Oroweat not spelled Orowheat? Is it like creme and cheez, which don't contain cream or cheese?
The sandwich solution? Set aside a couple of hours every week or two and bake your own loaves. It's easier than you think, tastier than you can imagine, and costs less than the storebought equivalent—that is if you could actually find a storebought equivalent. You'll have friends and family singing your praises, and your sandwiches will never be the same. All because of a simple loaf of bread.
Susan's Honey Bran Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 3 large loaves, about 36 ounces each
When it comes to baking bread, my motto is If you have friends or a freezer, never bake just one loaf at a time. It only takes a few more minutes of work to bake two or three loaves, and homemade bread freezes beautifully.
This is a variation of my popular Farmhouse White, which is the kind of simple, scrumptious loaf people tend to imagine apron-clad grandmothers baking. Farmhouse White is also almost foolproof, which makes it a great beginner's loaf. I realize that in these health conscious days white bread isn't for everyone, but if you've had disappointing, doorstop-like whole grain baking experiences in the past, you might want to bake up a batch or two of the basic recipe first and then start making it healthier.
Farmhouse White is open to an infinite number of interpretations, and this is my latest favorite variation. It also makes wonderful dinner rolls and burger buns. It's not 100% whole grain and uses white whole wheat flour, which means it's a lighter, easier dough to work with and also rises beautifully, while still offering plenty of whole grain goodness, especially with the 2 cups of bran tossed in.
You don't have to weigh your ingredients when baking bread, but a digital kitchen scale really does make baking and cooking a whole lot easier. It's also nice to be able to weigh your dough as you're dividing it into loaves (or rolls) so you know they're the same size. I am loving my new Oxo Good Grips Kitchen Scale: it weighs up to 11 pounds, lets you pull the display out from the base so you can weigh really large bowls (so cool), and was recently voted #1 by America's Test Kitchen, the people who publish Cook's Illustrated magazine. Can you say incredibly useful, under $50 holiday gift?
Bake your bread in 8" x 4" pans if you want the rustic look of taller loaves with mushroom-shaped tops (like in the photo above), or 9" x 5" pans if you prefer shorter, more square-shaped slices (like the tuna sandwich photo). I can't say enough good things about these Chicago Metallic commercial loaf pans. For the price of a few loaves of bread they're definitely worth the investment—and come with a 25-year warranty. What they call a 1-pound pan is basically an 8-inch, and the 1-1/2 pound pan is equivalent to a 9-inch.
As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever possible. I've found that organic flour makes a big difference when baking bread, and it often only costs a few more cents per loaf. Look for organic flours and brans in the bulk section of natural food stores.
If you don't have bread flour for this recipe, just use more all-purpose flour. Increase the honey to 1/2 cup for a slightly sweeter loaf. I like to bake all my breads, including those in loaf pans, on a baking stone, as I find it bakes them more evenly and gives the bottoms a nicer crust (and it also simulates the ceramic deck in the 7-foot wide bread oven in my someday-bread-bakery-to-be), but it definitely isn't necessary.
4 cups / 1 lb-4 oz / 568 g all-purpose flour
2 cups / 10¼ oz / 290 g bread flour
1 cup / 4¼ oz 122 g oat bran
1 cup / 3¾ oz / 109 g wheat bran
1½ Tablespoons / 1/8 oz / 17 g instant yeast
2 Tablespoons / 30 ml canola oil or melted butter
1/3 cup / 3-5/8 oz / 102 g honey
5 cups / 40 fluid oz lukewarm milk (about 85 degrees F)
4 cups / 1lb-5 oz / 604 g white whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons / 30 ml salt
Mixing and fermentation
In a very large bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, oat bran, wheat bran, and yeast (I use a wooden spoon). Make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the canola oil, the honey, and then the milk. Mix well, then continue to stir vigorously, slowly adding 1 cup of the white whole wheat flour at a time, until you've added 4 cups, or until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. This should take a few 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. (You can read more about autolyse in the sidebar on my Farmhouse White recipe post.)
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.
Place the dough in a large plastic straight sided container with a snap-on lid. With masking tape or a felt tip pen, mark the spot on the container that the dough will reach when it has doubled in volume. Set it somewhere that is preferably between 70F and 78F for about one hour. 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; instructions on how I like to shape my sandwich loaves can be found in this post. Place loaves seam side down in greased loaf pans (I've become addicted to baking spray—so convenient.)
If desired, an hour before baking, place baking stone in the oven and heat to 375 degrees.
Cover the loaves with a damp tea towel and let them rise for 45 to 60 minutes. The dough should rise well above the rim of the pans, and when you lightly poke it with a floured finger it should spring back just a little.
Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow if tapped (you can carefully pop one out of the pan and put it back in if it's not quite done). Remove immediately from pans and let cool on a wire rack. Try to wait at least 40 minutes before cutting into a loaf, as it continues to bake while cooling. Store at room temperature or freeze in zipper freezer bags. Make sure loaves are completely cooled before sealing in bags.
Still have more flour left?
Check out all the other sandwich bread recipes on A Year In Bread.
© Copyright 2008 AYearInBread.com, the bread baking blog where on more than one occasion we've happily eaten sandwiches (on homemade bread of course) for three meals in one day.
Labels: Farmgirl Susan, sandwich bread, whole grain
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31 Comments:
Susan-
So glad to see another recipe pop up in "A Year in Bread" - I just made three loaves of Farmhouse white last week-end. I try to make this every few weeks. It's spoiled us forever - store bought can't hold a candle to it. I'll try this next.
Trish
Thanks for posting this. I was happy to see AYIB move up on my "updated post" list. My husband & I have both been talking about the need to make sandwich bread, but we haven't gotten our act together to do it. This is the impetus I needed!
Thanks
Thank you for the recipe and method Susan. I will try this soon.
Will be trying this recipe soon Thanks
Thanks so much for posting this Susan! I, too, make a batch of Farmhouse White every couple of weeks. Every time my parents come out to visit, I send a loaf home with my father, but because it is "white" bread, my mom won't eat it (she tasted it and really liked it though!).
One question... can I use water in place of the milk, like in the original Farmhouse White? I don't normally buy milk, because we are all mildly lactose intolerant, so if I could get away with not using it, that would be great. I suppose I could just buy a small amount if I needed to, but it seems like the desire to bake strikes at such odd hours.
HI, I've tagged you as I love your recipes and I thought other bloggers would too, great site lovely bread. ClairexxxWales UK
This recipe looks like something I would like to try! I think you are right that good bread makes a great sandwich more than anything else. My grandmother made almost all the bread I ate growing up and I recently decided there was no reason I couldn't make all my own bread too. So I taught myself what I needed to know and I haven't bought a loaf of bread in 3-4 months! It's so easy and it tastes so much better I don't know why more people don't do it :)
I love making bread and nothing, but nothing, is like home made bread.
I'm going to try this bread one of these days.
I made this bread yesterday and it was easy and delicious. I have never made homemade sandwhich bread before. My boys ate one loaf after school with butter and jam.
I cranked up the heat in the house and everything turned out perfect. Our house is pretty much 65 degrees all the time. Is there another way I can get my bread to rise without having to warm the whole house?
I enjoyed the cozyness for a day, it felt so good with my yummy bread in my tummy.
Susan -
Thank you for posting yet another great recipe on the blog. I am an avid bread baker, and have loved trying some of the recipes here.
I made this bread the other night so we'd have bread for turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving. It is wonderful. Even my daughter who eschews wheat bread loves it. So thanks again. And keep posting!
Looks great! I just printed up the recipe and will bake it next week, thanks for sharing!
Natashya
...now to go on a hunt for oat bran....
I always prefer whole wheat bread and your loaves looks so nice and fluffy for whole wheat.
Plain white breads mean that I'll be hungry again in a little while.
I modified the recipe considerably, turned out two *large* loaves of excellent bread. So here are my modifications:
For the soaker/sponge
283 g Spelt flour
283 g Whole Wheat flour
4 cups liquid (I used 2 cups milk, 2 cups water
1 tablespoon yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup of the water
Combine all of the above, mix until smooth, then let stand, covered for 1-4 hours.
For the final dough:
1/4 cup water @ 120 F
1/2 tablespoon yeast
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup honey
825 g bread flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water.
Add 200g of flour to a bowl, making a well. Add the butter and when the yeast is dissolved (about 10 minutes) the water and yeast. Mix well. Add all of the soaker.
Begin adding flour while mixing until the dough forms a shaggy mass, then turn out on a well floured board. Continue adding flour until the dough is slighty tacky. After that, follow Susan's directions.
For Jamie -
Here is what I do, since my house is about the same temperature or cooler than yours. I turn the oven on to *warm* for about 10 minutes, then let it cool to about 75. Instant proofing oven. Once you're at the final rise and ready to preheat the oven, just keep the bread near the back of the stove where the oven vent is.
For Melissa -
I have substituted soymilk successfully. You do need to watch the sweetner if you use soymilk - most soymilk sweetened.
For anyone who makes their own butter... I used the leftover buttermilk (not cultured, the leftovers from making butter!) it used up something I hate to waste and threw in more nutrients than water.
Is there a discussion anywhere on this site about instant vs. active dry yeast?
Tom, I don't keep any milk in the house, unfortunately. I don't particularly want to buy milk for the bread and let the rest go to waste, which is why I was asking about the water. At 5 cups, I would have to buy 3 pints, and I would still have waste. Plus, those smaller sized containers get pricey! It's not really a lactose problem, since in baked goods, none of us are adversely effected. Thanks though! Hopefully it helps someone else out!
Hi Everybody,
Thanks for all your comments. It's always great to hear from enthusiastic breadies! My apologies for the delay in replying to your questions. Thanks to those of you who took the time to respond to others' comments - when it comes to talking bread baking, the more who join in the conversation the merrier!
Hi Melissa,
You can certainly replace the milk in this recipe with water, just like with my Farmhouse White bread recipe. I haven't tried it, but for years I made Farmhouse White using just water - until one day I tried milk and have never looked back. : )
Another option, since you said the lactose in the baked bread doesn't actually bother you, would be to use some milk and some water. That way you'd only have to buy a quart of milk (which is 4 cups) - or even a pint, though as you said, the little containers can be pricey.
Did you know milk freezes? You could always buy a half gallon (or even a gallon) and freeze it in smaller containers that could be defrosted overnight in the fridge one at a time when you feel like baking - or more quickly in a pan of hot water when one of those odd hour baking urges strikes. ; )
Other substitutions for the milk in this recipe (and pretty much any other basic sandwich bread recipe) that you might have hanging around in the fridge needing to be used up include yogurt, sour cream, heavy cream, half and half, cultured buttermilk, cottage cheese, and - as mentioned in a comment above - the leftover buttermilk from making your own butter. You can even use the leftover whey from cheesemaking.
I've actually developed a new recipe similar to this one using cottage cheese that I hope to post soon, and there's also this whole grain cottage cheese bread recipe I wrote about last year.
When substituting with any of these, I would use just a few cups and the rest water.
Hi Jami,
Beth and I need to do a whole post on how to keep your bread dough warm in winter (now that the one I had partly written about keeping it cool in summer is a little out of date!). A couple of things you can do are:
--start with warmer milk/water (but not too hot that you kill the yeast - I wouldn't go above 100 degrees at the most) so that your dough starts out at a warmer temperature than the room
--put the rising dough in a warmer spot in your house, such as near a heater vent or on top of the refrigerator
--let your dough rise in the oven with the oven light on
I used to always let my doughs rise in my gas oven with just the pilot light on because it was the perfect constant temperature, but that was an oven from the 1950s - nowadays gas ovens have electric starts and safety features, and the pilot light isn't always on.
Remember, too, that the best breads are made with a long, slow rise. Your dough will rise fine at 65 degrees - it will take a little longer than at 75 degrees, but the final result will have a better texture and flavor. : )
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for the feedback. It's great to hear that even your white bread only daughter loved it! ; )
Hi Natashya,
You can usually find oat bran in the bulk sections of natural foods stores such as Whole Foods. And not only is it usually a better price than packaged, it's often organic as well.
Hi Tom,
Your bread sounds great - thanks for taking the time to share it. And thanks for offering your tips to other readers, too. : )
Hi MSA,
We haven't done a post specifically about yeast (though we should), but here's some various info I gleaned from previous posts.
By the way, if you're searching for anything on this site (a word, ingredient, recipe, whatever), you can now use the google search tool in the upper right hand corner - it searches just A Year in Bread, Farmgirl Fare, and Beth's blog, kitchenMage.
This is from my Ten Tips for Better Bread post:
Yeast is always a topic of hot debate among bread bakers. Some highly respected professionals swear by "instant" yeast (which can be mixed right into the dry ingredients), while others refuse to even utter the words. Fresh yeast is another hot topic (again, some people swear by it, while others say it's too much trouble as it doesn't stay fresh for long and can be hard to find--I've never baked with it). My sourdough loaves do not use any added yeast. Once you have a sourdough starter, that is all you need. If you do use yeast, make sure that it is alive--no matter what kind. I use instant yeast for sandwich loaves and pizza dough. I buy it in one-pound bags and store it in the freezer where it keeps for months (though others say it won't, and still others say you should never, ever freeze yeast--see how it can get really confusing, really quickly?)
And this is from the comments section of Kevin's post on pizza dough: (there's a lot of great info hidden in the comments sections, which we also plan to publish in regular posts so it's easier to find):
Instant yeast (also called bread machine yeast) is more vigorous than active yeast. It is bred specifically to be added to the dry ingredients, skipping the stage of dissolving the yeast in warm water -- also known as "proofing" the yeast.
However, two things are going on in proofing, first you're dissolving and waking up the yeast do that it's evenly distributed in the dough, but proofing also involves waiting for the yeast to start bubbling, which "proves" it's alive. Unless your yeast is old there's no need to proof it these days.
Hope this helps!
I have never heard the term "white whole wheat flour" before.
I can get white all perpose, white unbleached, best for bread white, best for bread brown at my local store, which would be best???
PS great blog you guys, thanks for your efforts.
Ok. My crust is almost always tough. I see that you do a couple of things I don't - cover with a moist towel during the risings (mine is dry) and you do 3 raisings. Is that Right? I do one "rest" in the bowl, and another in the pan. Are 3 really necessary? I'd like to make great bread, and the kids don't mind the tough crusts but I'll admit they don't get eaten. SO... :-) Look forward to your reply!!!
Your comments about the bread used in sandwiches were spot on. I couldn't agree more that it is the bread that makes the sandwich and not the other way around. Why don't more people realize this? The bread used in sandwiches makes up about 50% of the sandwich, so why would anybody want to eat 50% trash? I will be checking in again to see what you have posted, being glad to have found more members of the online bread baking community!
I love to bake, but am fairly new at making my own bread. This recipe looks delicious, and I can't wait to try it out!
Unfortunately, I am a graduate student on a limited budget and I only own one bread loaf pan! I'd like to make the recipe as-is and either put the remaining dough in the fridge (to bake loaves one after the other) or in the freezer (to bake for later). At what point in the process should I put 2/3 of the dough away? Before the shaping and final rise?
Any other tips for baking dough that has been in the fridge (apart from letting it come up to room temperature)?
I'm dying to try this bread and will try it out today. Unfortunately I don't have any bran so I'm not sure what to substitute. I have rolled oats or can I do without it completely and if so what do I change?
Thanks!
Hi Everybody,
My apologies for taking so long to reply to your questions - I was sure I already had ages ago! : )
Anonymous,
White whole wheat flour is great stuff - it's 100% whole grain but made from a 'lighter' wheat so it bakes up better than regular whole wheat flour. You can read more about white whole wheat flour here.
As for different flour types, I'm not familiar with those 'best' varieties you've seen at the store, but you can read about all types of different flours (as well as find all sorts of other baking info and recipes) at the King Arthur flour website. Hope this helps! : )
Psalms66,
I find a damp towel over the dough keeps it from forming a hard skin or crust on top, which is then very difficult to knead back into the dough. And the shaped loaves will rise better in the oven if they're moist. This probably affects the crust, too, and might be your problem.
I still use a damp towel over the formed loaves or rolls, but lately I've been letting my doughs ferment (first rise) in straight sided plastic containers which not only keeps the dough moist, but also allows you to easily seen when it has doubled in size. You can see a photo of risen dough in a plastic container if you go to my Carrot Herb Rolls post and scroll down.
As for the number of rises, I usually do a 20-minute autolyse (rest period) before I add the salt to the dough, then knead it some more. This is followed by two rises - ferment (in a bowl or container) and proof (shaped loaves or rolls).
The autolyse really makes a difference in the final bread as well as being able to knead it. It also cuts down on kneading time. You can read more about autolyse in the sidebar of my Farmhouse White Bread recipe post.
Hi Panem,
We're glad you found us - and that you agree about the importance bread bread plays in sandwiches! ; )
Hi Meghan,
Beth is our resident dough saving/keeping/chilling expert, and I've asked her to reply to your questions about saving the dough to bake the other two loaves later. Hopefully one of us will be back her with some helpful answers soon. It's certainly possible but can be a little tricky.
I would definitely save up for a couple more loaf pans if you can. They'll pay for themselves in no time. Happy baking! : )
Organic Miami Child,
Well, hopefully you were able to bake some sort of bread since it's been ages since you left your comment - sorry about that.
You can certainly make this recipe without one or both of the brans - simply use more white or wheat flour in its place. You might want to go back to my basic Farmhouse White bread recipe (that this one is based on) and experiment with it using whatever ingredients you have on hand. It's very adaptable.
Or you could add a cup of old-fashioned oats. Even better, whiz a cup or two of oats in the blender or food processor and make your own oat flour. I've been adding a couple of cups to Farmhouse White in place of some of the all-purpose flour, and it makes a really nice bread.
Thanks for all your comments and feedback. We really appreciate it, even if it sometimes takes us forever to let you know. Happy bread baking!
Are there ever going to be any more posts here? :) I loved this blog...
Are there ever going to be any more posts here? :) I loved this blog...
Hi Susan, we love the bread site and your faremgirl fare site as well! Thanks for sharing all of your vast knowledge on baking!
My question is in regard to making a few batches of bread dough and freezing them. I am a busy mom, but I really like making my own bread- and it's so much easier to mae a few batches at a time and freeze them. In the past though they haven't turned out as well as the loaves I've made fresh (without freezing). Do you recommend freezing dough at all? And if so, how do I go about the process of freezing it and defrosting it? Thanks, I really appreciate any feedback! Kate
I have a quick question regarding your measurement equivalents. For the milk, you've listed 5 cups/48 fluid oz. So does that mean 6 cups in a liquid measure? And if so, are all of your liquid measurements listed initially using dry measuring cups? Just checking, so I don't end up way off. Thanks!
Hi Kate,
I didn't mean to ignore you! : ) We've had several questions about freezing dough lately and will cover them in our new Knead to Know column - hopefully very soon. Thanks for your patience!
Hi Nephele,
Oops - that was simply a typo. It should be 5 cups of milk, which are 40 fluid ounces. Sorry for any confusion - and thanks for pointing it out. Happy baking!
This is now my family's favorite bread! My boys like doing the kneading (something about punching the bread down and "beating it up"). It's an interesting way for them to release their energy and stress. Anyhow, we really love the step by step instructions. One time I substituted soy flour (2 cups soy flour in place of 2 of the all purpose flour). It turned out surprisingly good.
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