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Shannon Derick Burke
5 years ago
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WHITE BREAD Makes 2 loaves By Dennis W. Viau; adapted from other recipes I think a lot of cooks shy away from making bread because they can t participate in the entire process.

1 WHITE BREAD Makes 2 loaves By Dennis W. Viau; adapted from other recipes I think a lot of cooks shy away from making bread because they can t participate in the entire process. When you make a stir-fry you chop stuff and cook it in a wok, controlling every step. With bread, you are forced to rely on nature. You assemble the dough and set it aside to rise without any help from you. Will nature succeed or fail? She has been succeeding for thousands of years. Trust her. I know whole wheat bread is healthier, but I like white bread. Ingredients: 1 cup (237ml) potato water 3 (or water) (see Notes at end) 1½ cups (12 ounces/355ml) lager beer 4 (or water) 7 cups sifted or 6 cups scooped or 2 pounds (900g) bread flour 1 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional) 5 1 tablespoon active dry or instant yeast 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons salt ¼ cup (50g) butter, room temperature Directions: Combine the potato water and beer (or 2½ (591ml) cups water) in a small saucepan and heat to between 110 F (43 C) and 115 F (46 C). Combine half the flour with the (vital wheat gluten, optional), yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Pour the warm liquid into the flour mixture and combine. Allow to rest 5 minutes to activate the yeast. Add the remaining flour, a little at a time, and the salt and combine. Transfer the dough to a clean surface and knead for 6 to 8 minutes. The mixture should be a little sticky. Use a knife to cut a deep slit in the dough. Press about 1 tablespoon of butter into the slit and seal the dough over it. Knead to blend the butter into the dough. The dough will separate because of the butter, but continue kneading and it will eventually come together again. Repeat until all the butter is incorporated. Place the dough in a buttered bowl. Roll it around to cover all the surface with butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to one hour. Grease two standard 9 inch by 5 inch (23x13cm) loaf pans with butter. Divide the dough in half and shape two loaves; place in the loaf pans. Pat the tops with butter. Cover and let rise about 45 minutes to one hour. Heat the oven to 375 F (190 C) with a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the bread 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the pans and cool on a rack. The Step By Step guide begins on the following page

Each portion of flour is placed in a ziplock bag and stacked in a box for storage. 2 Here is my potato water, frozen in one-cup blocks.

2 1 STEP-BY-STEP 2 Measure and assemble all your dry ingredients. I buy bread flour in a 25 pound bag at the warehouse store and measure it into 2 pound portions using a digital kitchen scale. Each portion of flour is placed in a ziplock bag and stacked in a box for storage. 2 Here is my potato water, frozen in one-cup blocks. A 12 ounce bottle of beer is 1½ cups (350ml). If you don t have potato water or you prefer not to use beer you can substitute with 2½ cups (590ml) water. (Yes, that s a plastic wire harness around the broken pan handle, holding it together. I ll fix that someday.)

3 3 3 Heat the beer and the potato water over medium heat. 4 At a temperature between 110 F (43 C) and 115 F (46 C) the liquid is ideal for the yeast.

I use it up to two years after the expiration date, and it still works perfectly.

4 5 4 Half the flour, (the vital wheat gluten, if used), sugar, and yeast are combined. Then the warm liquid is poured in and combined. This mixture then sits for 5 minutes to activate the yeast. (I buy my yeast in a two-pound bag at the warehouse store and keep it in the freezer. I use it up to two years after the expiration date, and it still works perfectly.) 6 Add the remaining flour, a little at a time, and the salt and keep mixing until the dough comes together. When it gets too stiff to mix with a spatula, use your hands. Getting your hands into the dough will help you learn the feel of dough with proper texture. It will be very sticky at this point, but kneading will reduce the stickiness.

The dough must be smooth and elastic. As it gains elasticity it will become less sticky.

5 7 5 Knead for about 6 to 8 minutes. Did I say it would be sticky? Kneading the dough does more than get it smooth, it gets the gluten in the flour working and this adds elasticity. Mixing is not enough. The dough must be smooth and elastic. As it gains elasticity it will become less sticky. 8 If you re not familiar with kneading, you press into the dough with the heal of one hand and then use the other hand to roll and fold it into itself. Work back and forth with both hands and soon the dough will be smooth and elastic. At this point it barely sticks to the hands.

10 Cut a slit into the dough, push a small scoop of butter (1 or 2 tablespoons)

6 9 6 Here is a delectable ball of fresh bread dough, ready for the butter. If you don t know the pleasure, even the dough smells delicious at this point. 10 Cut a slit into the dough, push a small scoop of butter (1 or 2 tablespoons) into the slit, and close the dough over it. Knead until the butter is fully incorporated.

As you can see, the dough came back together again after adding the butter. I use the same mixing bowl, after washing it out, and coat it with butter.

7 11 7 The dough separates because of the butter. At this point it looks like a disaster. Do not panic. Continue the kneading and it will gradually come back together again. Continue adding the butter this way. 12 Here is fresh dough, ready for rising. As you can see, the dough came back together again after adding the butter. I use the same mixing bowl, after washing it out, and coat it with butter. Roll the dough around in the butter to cover all the surface. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean damp dish towel and set in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes to an hour. I put mine on top of the refrigerator.

8 13 8 Here s the dough fully risen, ready to be divided and placed in bread pans. Punch it down (press it down with your hands) to deflate it. 14 Place the dough on a clean cutting board and use a long sharp knife to cut it in half.

As you shape the dough, pinch the seams together well along the bottom.

9 15 9 Each half of the dough ball gets shaped into a loaf. I kind of roll the dough into itself. Some people press the dough into a flat rectangle and fold it up into thirds, like a sheet of paper is folded before it goes into an envelope. As you shape the dough, pinch the seams together well along the bottom. Another technique is to turn the dough loaf upside-down and use the side of your hand to press a groove down the middle of the underside (like making a trough down the middle), then pull the two sides together and pinch them to seal them. Do this a couple times to get a shape you like. 16 Place the loaves in greased bread pans and pat the top with butter. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set them in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Bake the bread for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.

10 17 10 These are ready to go into the oven. Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Bake the bread for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown. 18 Here s my bread, hot from the oven. Try to resist the temptation to cut off a slice of hot bread and slather it with butter. Cool the loaves on a rack until thoroughly cooled.

11 CONCLUSION After storing them in plastic bags in the refrigerator overnight they slice easily in my electric rotary slicer. Refrigerating the bread will make the texture less tender, which stands up well to electric slicing. As I only eat my bread toasted, I prefer the texture a little on the tough side. It makes the bread more al dente. So there it is, step by step. If you want to make whole wheat bread, a good combination is ½ bread flour and ½ whole wheat flour. Whole wheat bread tends to break into crumbs easily. I find the addition of potato water remedies this problem. This same recipe can be used to shape round loaves or baguettes. Consider this a standard recipe from which you can experiment with variations. My Italian grandmother used to add small cubes of pepperoni and mozzarella cheese and shape the loaf into a large flat square. We would slice it and toast it under the broiler. It was wonderful! The possibilities seem almost endless. As a final point, consider the economy of making your own bread. The 25 pound bag of bread flour in the warehouse store costs less than $6. If I use 2½ cups water rather than beer and water, a loaf of bread would cost me about 25. Where can you buy bread for 25 per loaf? And my own bread has all the extra qualities of being homemade. No preservatives. Real butter. And a satisfying flavor. NOTES 1 Weighing flour for baking is the most accurate method. The quantity of flour can vary greatly when using a measuring cup. Two methods yield different results. Scooping (plunging an empty cup into a flour container and leveling off the top of the cup) can result in as much as 5.5 ounces (156 g) of bread flour. Sifting (putting sifted flour into a cup and leveling off the top) typically weighs about 4.5 ounces (128 g). Baking requires accuracy. The best way to measure a cup of sifted flour is to place the empty cup on a large sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper. Sift flour into the cup (it will also sift all around it, thus the need for the paper) until the cup overflows. Level off the top of the cup with a knife without pressing the flour into the cup. The cup should contain about 4.5 ounces of bread flour. (Use the paper to pour the excess flour back into its container.) The original recipe called for 7 cups of sifted flour. 7 x 4.5 = 31.5, about 32 ounces, or 2 pounds. Six cups scooped: 6 x 5.5 = 33 ounces, again, about 2 pounds. 2 In this recipe I knead the dough by hand. You can easily knead it using a stand mixer. I have a large mixer in my kitchen and I regularly use it for making bread. Hand kneading is better for learning the texture of bread dough. When you start kneading it will be way too sticky. Avoid any desire to add more flour. Keep kneading until the gluten develops and the dough takes on an elastic consistency. The dough will stick to your hands less as it becomes more elastic. 3 I make a lot of mashed potatoes and I save the water in which the potatoes were boiled. After the water cools, I pour it into 1 cup plastic containers and freeze it. When frozen solid the blocks are popped out of their cups and placed in a ziplock bag for storage in the freezer. If you don t have potato water you can use plain water. 4 I think the beer gives the bread a breadier flavor. 5 Many bread bakers swear by vital wheat gluten. It is a high-protein flour produced from the endosperm of the wheat. It adds more elasticity to the dough to achieve a higher rise. Look for it on the baking aisle in some stores. Not every store carries it and where you can find it, it is usually expensive. 11

The Step By Step guide begins on the following page. 17. Copyright 2010 The Mobile Home Gourmet, MobileHomeGourmet.com, all rights reserved.

The Step By Step guide begins on the following page. 17. Copyright 2010 The Mobile Home Gourmet, MobileHomeGourmet.com, all rights reserved. FOCACCIA Makes one flat bread By Dennis W. Viau; adapted from other recipes Focaccia is flat. You can t say much else about it, except that it s delicious and people have been making flat bread since they