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BNLeuck's picture
BNLeuck

 

 

Procrastinator's Sandwich Bread: Take 2

Continued from Procrastinator's Sandwich Bread.

So, while I was impressed with the taste and texture of the previous PSB, I still don't like the idea of all white bread. I grew up on white bread; my mother bought sandwich loaves from the grocery store like most busy moms, especially since she had little talent in yeasted baking, and my grandfather's specialty was potato bread. And while tasty, and surely better than the store-bought loaves, it still wasn't any paragon of nutrition. It took me a long time to like the taste of whole grains, but now I seemed to have flipped the other way... I don't really like white bread. I'll tolerate it, but I prefer whole grain.

And to make it even more difficult, I don't really like wheat -- at least, by itself. I find it bitter, and frankly, I don't do bitter. But I love rye, and barley, and corn, and oats, and... well, you get the picture. I actually really like white wheat, because of its less-bitter taste, but it's much harder to find for a good price. Red wheat is plentiful and cheap, so I just find it easier to mix it with other grains, or sweeten it, etc. Even white wheat has a bold flavor, though. You notice it right away. This isn't a bad thing, but it isn't what I wanted in this bread. I wanted subtle, behind-the-scenes flavor. The kind that makes you go, "Hmm, what is this? This is different. This is good."

So I chose barley. Mild, slightly sweet, and a perfect backdrop for the flax already in the recipe. This time, I chose to use only 1 cup of barley flour and 4 cups of bread flour. I need to know the threshold of the bread, when it goes from just enough whole grains to too much. I intend to gradually step up the amount of barley flour I use until I find it negatively affects the texture, flavor, and/or ease of use of the bread. I don't want to have to coddle this bread because it has whole grains. If I have to coddle it, I won't make it regularly. And that sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

I show the recipe below for one loaf, though I doubled it this time around and made two loaves. Honestly, this dough is so easy to handle even by hand, I would make massive batches at once, but I only have one oven and two loaf pans. I'm sure if you scaled this out and made a baker's dozen it wouldn't be much more work than it is for one. I scaled back the yeast some this time, to see if it still rose quickly -- I noted little difference in rise times but a big difference in taste. Also, I used half buttermilk, half 1% milk this time around, and sprinkled with barley flakes instead of the 7-grain cereal. Very tasty! Though the barley flakes like to fall off some...

Procrastinator's Sandwich Bread: Barley Edition

 

  • .25c butter
  • 1c 1% milk
  • 1c reduced fat buttermilk
  • 2tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2tsp kosher salt
  • 4c bread flour
  • 1c barley flour
  • 1tbsp instant yeast
  • 2tbsp vital wheat gluten
  • 2tbsp ground flax seed
  • more milk for brushing
  • 1-2tbsp barley flakes (or topping of choice)

 

 

  1. Melt butter in microwave in a large measuring cup or bowl. (1 min on HIGH for me.)
  2. Add milk and heat to lukewarm. (1 more min on HIGH for me.)
  3. Add sugar and salt and stir to dissolve.
  4. Combine flours, yeast, gluten, and flax in a large bowl/the bowl of a stand mixer.
  5. Add liquid and mix to "shaggy mass" stage.
  6. Knead by hand or mixer until elastic. Dough will NOT clean bowl or form a ball; this is fine.
  7. Let rise until double, about 35 mins.
  8. Shape into a loaf, and put in greased 9x5in pan.
  9. Preheat oven to 350F; let dough rise 25-30 mins.
  10. Brush with milk and sprinkle barley flakes on top, then score loaf as desired. (I always do mine diagonally, corner to corner.)
  11. Bake for 25 mins uncovered, with steam, then cover with foil and bake another 20-35 mins, until internal temp is 190F.
Pictures to come tomorrow, when I un-lazy enough to upload them to my computer. LOL

 

 

 

BNLeuck's picture
BNLeuck

Necessity is the mother of invention (or at least tweaking), right? It certainly is around here! I came to TFL (naturally) to find a solution to my problem: there was no more sandwich bread in my house. This is about as big a problem as no running water. My middle child is addicted to peanut butter sandwiches, and since she has a limited number of "healthy" foods she likes, we encourage her to eat them. (She's autistic; trying to get her to eat food she doesn't like/want is... well, next to impossible. Frankly, I'm just happy she eats anything but hot dogs and fruit snacks.) My usual recipe takes 4-5 hours, depending on the temp of my kitchen that day, and that just wasn't gonna cut it today. I needed something fast and simple.

I did a search for "basic white sandwich bread" and came up with a bunch of results, but near the top of the list was this post, with its GUMP Bread recipe. It had no comments, so no tried-and-true reviews or try-this adjustments, so I took it entirely on faith. The list of ingredients looked right, in proper amounts for a high-hydration sandwich loaf, so I figured how bad could it really turn out?

I made some adjustments for personal preference... butter for oil, regular milk for powdered milk and water, and flax seed for wheat germ. That last because I'd run out of wheat germ, not because I have something against it. And because I didn't have smaller loaf pans, I decided to make it all one loaf in my rockin' huge 9x5 Paula Deen stoneware loaf pan. These things are wicked deep and heat so evenly... I love them. I really do. And I thought to add vital wheat gluten because I'd heard it makes white bread do something interesting. (Very scientific, I know. LOL) So once I'd settled on all my ingredients and my loaf size, etc., I set about actually making the thing...

Procrastinator's Sandiwch Bread

  • .25c butter
  • 2c 1% milk
  • 2tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2tsp kosher salt
  • 5c bread flour
  • 4tsp instant yeast
  • 1tbsp vital wheat gluten
  • 2tbsp ground flax seed
  • more milk for brushing
  • 1tbsp 7-grain cereal
  1. Melt butter in microwave in a large measuring cup or bowl. (1 min on HIGH for me.)
  2. Add milk and heat to lukewarm. (1 more min on HIGH for me.)
  3. Add sugar and salt and stir to dissolve.
  4. Combine flour, yeast, gluten, and flax in a large bowl/the bowl of a stand mixer.
  5. Add liquid and mix to "shaggy mass" stage.
  6. Knead by hand or mixer until elastic. Dough will NOT clean bowl or form a ball; this is fine.
  7. Let rise until double, about 30 mins.
  8. Shape into a loaf, and put in greased 9x5in pan.
  9. Preheat oven to 350F; let dough rise 20-25 mins.
  10. Brush with milk and sprinkle 7-grain cereal on top, then score loaf as desired. (I always do mine diagonally, corner to corner.)
  11. Bake for 25 mins uncovered, with steam, then cover with foil and bake another 20-35 mins, until internal temp is 190F.

Now, since I really like how this turned out texture-wise, I intend to try cutting the yeast to about 1tsp, maybe 1.5tsp, and do an overnight rise in the fridge. Or somewhere else equally cold; this is Michigan, I'm sure I can find somewhere to put it this time of year! I think it'll really improve the flavor. But then it wouldn't be a procrastinator's bread, it'd just be a tasty sandwich loaf. I think I'm okay with that. ;)

 

Edited To Add: the pictures I completely forgot about...


Nevermind the foil. I like softer crust, so I let the loaf steam itself soft-ish for a few.


Crumb shot. It's very fine and tender, but it still has more flavor than that crappy Wonderbread. :P


Crumb close-up.

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