As Jennifer Paterson famously said 'This bread is not your slimy old white slice' - Well, this isn't either. I followed Akiko's recipe almost to a tee except I used my mandarin, minneola, apple yeast water instead of raisin yeast water. I was forced into a 7 hour retard and I baked the loaf at 400 F w/ convection because that is what my Cuisinart Mini Oven does ( only 25 degree increments in temperature) and there was no reason to use a big oven. I only baked it for 30 minutes, turned off the oven and cracked the door when the loaf hit 205 F and let it sit inside the oven to crisp up the skin. This is the same oven I used for Phil's Vollkornbrot yesterday - talk about some serious dark to light whiplash :-) teketeke's (Akiko's) recipe can be found here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22482/japanese-white-sandwich-loaf-raisin-yeast-water
Akiko has been most generous and helpful in getting me started with yeast water breads. Some day, when I learn to slash better than my current 'double y chicken foot' signature slash, I will try out her baggies she makes from yeast water. There is no question in my mind that YW is far superior to regular yeast when it coms to breads where sour is not need or wanted.
This Japanese bread has to be the king of white sandwich breads. It sprang well over 100% in the oven even though we figured out my pan way too big compared to what Akiko uses. It has the most luxurious, creamy crumb so moist, soft and delectable. Just perfect. The crust is deeply browned, crackly, bubbly, crunchy and crisp. The taste is about as good as any white bread can ever hope to be - and that is saying something. I can think of 20 ways this dough can be used, other than as a sandwich loaf.
If you don't use YW - you should try it even if just for fun. It will brighten your bread horizons and its varieties and qualities can't be matched. The next bread in mind, where some of the water is replaced with orange juice like Shiao-Ping did with her Orange Turmeric SD bread - that I also baked off with yeast water instead of SD. Orange zest seems in order here too. I hope those aromas get transferred to this new variation of Japanese White Bread. But, Akiko just might beat me to it which will be fine and dandy :-)
And today I had it for lunch as a Hispanic spiced grilled chicken sandwich.
