The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Natural Leaven Vienna Bread

baybakin's picture
baybakin

Natural Leaven Vienna Bread

Sometimes you just want a loaf of pan bread.

I have been working for a while to nail down a loaf of relatively lean sandwich pan bread, moving through formulas in many a baking book, converting them to sourdough and scaling them for my 4"x8" loaf pan.  I ended up settling on a highly-tweaked formula based on Peter Reinhart's Vienna Bread from BBA. Recipe is scaled for a 4 inch by 8 inch metal loaf pan.  A young levian is used for this bread, a mere 4-6 hours after the preferment has been mixed.

Natural Leaven Vienna Bread:

  • 300g Strong Flour
  • 150g Water (Warm)
  • 130g Young Liquid Levian (100% hydration)
  • 33g Egg (Save the rest for egg wash)
  • 10g Unsalted Butter
  • 10g Sugar
  • 10g Dry Milk
  • 6g Salt

Method:

  1. Mix Young Levian, Water, Egg, Sugar and Dry Milk together until homogenous
  2. Mix in Flour, Butter, Salt Until shaggy dough is formed
  3. Rest for 20 mins, kneed until gluten is well developed
  4. Bulk ferment for 2 hours, folding ever half hour.
  5. Shape, place in greased tin (scaled for 4x8)
  6. Proof until 3-4 inches above sides of tin, apply egg wash as needed to keep top from drying
  7. Bake in pre-heated 400F oven for about 20-25 mins, or until top reaches a dark chestnut color
  8. Remove from tin as soon as possible, cool on rack completely before slicing.

This Bread makes excellent sandwiches, toast, and if shaped differently makes great rolls, hotdog/burger buns. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

 

 

Comments

lepainSamidien's picture
lepainSamidien

Ah, the humble pan loaf, where so many of us--myself included--got our bread-baking starts; for me, the pan loaf was the looking-glass that introduced me into the wonderland of baking.

Yours looks absolutely fantastic ! I will have to give this a try this weekend . . . ah, what a great idea, to revisit the pan loaf !

Thanks for this :)

baybakin's picture
baybakin

No problem, hope you like it!
Even a humble sandwich loaf can have complexity.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Beautiful looking bread.  Looks like you achieved the perfect pan bread with a great looking high dome.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Beautiful looking bread.  Looks like you achieved the perfect pan bread with a great looking high dome.

baybakin's picture
baybakin

Thanks!  I'll post a crumb picture when i get a chance.

bbegley's picture
bbegley

Great looking loaf!

baybakin's picture
baybakin

Thanks!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

63% hydration.  I'm guessing that is how you held it together 3" over the rim wile proofing.    I usually put 700 g in that pan size and let it rise 1" over the lip at much higher hydration so....we will have to cut back on the water and give this a go instead.  No sense not having SD for a sandwich loaf!

Yours looks terrific. Well done and

Happy baking

baybakin's picture
baybakin

That was part of the adjustment, my free-form loafs are never below 72% hydration or so, usually hovering around the upper 70's, but when put in the pan, I could never get the high-rise I wanted without the bread flopping over the sides before baking.  The lower hydration really helps that. 

In this size of tin, I try to keep my total dough weight right at 650g, at 700g when it gets to the correct height, I feel the bread is still too dense after baking.

bbegley's picture
bbegley

Do you think incorporating tangzhong would inhibit the rise?

baybakin's picture
baybakin

I'm pretty unfamilar with that process, I know about it but have never tried it myself, so I can't really speak on it's behalf.  Give it a try and find out!  The worst that could happen is you end up with a less-risen but still very tasty loaf.

bbegley's picture
bbegley

True, maybe I will report back.