Plain Ol' wheat sandwich bread

Submitted by breadnerd on April 1, 2007 - 1:46pm

Plain Ol' wheat sandwich bread

There was a comment in the "you know you're a bread baker" thread about feeling like you're "cheating" when you make a yeasted dough.

But... there's something awfully nice (and FAST!) about a comforting loaf of sandwich bread

This a recipe adapted over the years from "Beth's Basic Bread Book". I vary the wheat/white percentage based on my mood, today was about 60% wheat flour. It has milk, honey, an egg, and some butter/oil (oh and salt and yeast!). Perfect for a PBJ with homemade grape jelly!

Filed under:

Submitted by browndog on April 1, 2007 - 4:24pm.

Definitely an oooh-ahhh moment

If that's cheating who needs morality? Is that a 'plain old' knead-10-minutes-rise-til- double-punch-down-etc. type of loaf? Do you use a sponge or add gluten, or add folds or anything?

Submitted by Paddyscake on April 1, 2007 - 5:57pm.

Very nice !!

Would you share your recipe? I'm always looking for big high rising healthful bread for my husband's sandwiches. He works in construction and when lunch time comes he likes a big sandwich!

Submitted by syllymom on April 1, 2007 - 6:22pm.

Nice!

Wow, I like the looks of those.

Submitted by spsq on April 2, 2007 - 5:33am.

oh my goodness.....

I meant that spending 4 hours in the kitchen - as opposed to feedings and overnight risings - felt like "cheating". I didn't mean the bread was inferior! Of course any bread is beautiful - like yours!

Submitted by browndog on April 2, 2007 - 6:25am.

God help politicians

I think we got that about the 'cheating', spsq. Anyone who's spent 15 minutes amongst the sourdough people here gets a pretty good notion of what 'devoted' really means. I do think you're a little too generous in your final comment, though. If you think ANY bread is beautiful, I'm prepared to offer evidence to the contrary, I'm afraid. We're not talking puppies, here.

Submitted by breadnerd on April 2, 2007 - 7:13am.

not to worry

I knew what you meant--I was just teasing! :)

I feel the same way, as if by not planning my baking 3 days ahead and just "throwing together" a sandwich loaf it isn't as good, somehow, ha ha.

Dare I say sometimes I get tired of crunchy crust and just want something soft and good for PBJ? Or today's lunch---Peanut butter toast!

Submitted by spsq on April 2, 2007 - 9:49pm.

sensitivity!

I don't know what it is about internet forums, but it seems to bring out people's hypersensitivity! On another forum that I frequent, the slightest miswording gets everyone all worked up. It's funny, but I was worried that I had offended people here -after all, we're all obsessive about bread....

p.s. On the subject of cheating, sometimes I throw some dough into my breadmaker - just to have enough to fill the oven when I'm trying a new bread. I let it rest for about 15 min, then it rises ONCE and goes in with the others. It's consistantly my best tasting bread!

Submitted by breadnerd on April 2, 2007 - 9:00am.

Here's the recipe

Wheat Bread: Originally based on the "perfect whole wheat sandwich bread" recipe in Beth's Basic Bread Book.

I have weights and baker's percentages here, but you could convert to cups etc. pretty easily. One egg is about 2 ounces. It's a pretty forgiving recipe and I switch oil/butter and honey/brown sugar depending on what I have on hand. The original recipe was closer to 35/65 wheat/white flour, and I often make it 50/50 white and wheat.

WHEAT BREAD

Baker's % Quantity (pounds) (ounces) (grams)

Water 31% 0.68 10.8 307.4

Milk 25% 0.55 8.7 79.3

Honey 3% 0.07 1.0 29.7

Oil (or melted butter) 6% 0.13 2.1 59.5

Salt 2% 0.04 0.7 19.8

Yeast 2% 0.04 0.7 19.8

Wheat Flour 60% 1.31 1.0 594.9

Bread Flour 40% 0.87 14.0 396.6

Total 4.00 234.0 1814.4

As for instructions, I just do a straight-dough method. I warm up the liquids if it's cold out or if I'm in more of a hurry. Yesterday I did a 10 minute autolyse between about 5 minutes of mixing (before and after), which made for a pretty smooth and soft dough. First rise is about 1 hour, depending on dough and air temperatures. I divided in two, rested about 10-15 minutes, and then formed loaves. Final proof was fairly long--maybe an hour? I let them get about 2 inches above the top of the pan.

Bake 35-45 minutes at 375 degrees. Oh and I scored the top and brushed melted butter on gently before baking.

I will try and post the excel spreadsheet for this too if I can figure out how :)

Submitted by sphealey on April 10, 2007 - 9:18am.

Wheat bread: one egg per two loaves?

Plus one egg per two loaves?

sPh

Submitted by breadnerd on April 10, 2007 - 10:50am.

Whoops missed the eggs

Sorry about that--the formula should have an additoinal line:

Eggs: 6% 2 ounces (59.5 grams).

It's 1 egg for 2 loaves. As with the other adjustments you could go up or down for this--depending on how you like it, or what you have on hand, and adjusting the other liquids as needed.

Submitted by soupcxan on April 10, 2007 - 12:31pm.

Recipe amounts don't add up

Neither the percentages nor the weights (in any scale) add up to the totals you have listed, even when you add in 1 egg...is something else missing from the recipe or are the amounts listed off? Appreciate it someone can give the correct total recipe. Here is what your totals are as given:

Percent: 169% (100% flours plus 69% everythign else?)

Pounds: 3.69

Ounces: 39 (clearly 1.31 lb of wheat flour doesn't equal 1.0 oz)

Grams: 1507

Submitted by sphealey on April 10, 2007 - 12:45pm.

Re: Recipe amounts don't add up

Are we working in baker's percentage or arithmatic percentage?

sPh

Submitted by breadnerd on April 11, 2007 - 6:23am.

sorry for bad formatting

I'm sorry, the cut/pasting didn't work properly in the web page. It is baker's percentages, so it's supposed to be more than 100%.

It's not that fantastic of a recipe, as Floyd's example shows any regular honey wheat sandwich recipe is fine :) I'd recommend any of Beth Hensperger's.

Any suggestions on posting an excel spreadsheet? I know how to do photos, but my photo site doesn't support other file formats.

Submitted by sourdough-guy on April 11, 2007 - 6:54am.

You could upload it to

You could upload it to google spread sheets and share it with everyone or if you just wanted to upload the picture you'd need ot print as pdf then convert the pdf to jpg if you can't print directly to jpg format. If you're on a mac that's easy to do but you might need a bit of free software on a pc. I do it from my work pc sometimes though.

Sourdough-guy

Submitted by breadnerd on April 11, 2007 - 8:06am.

spreadsheets

Yeah I've got 2 macs at home and that print to pdf feature is very nice! I get spoiled!

I had forgotten about google--I will have to try that when I get time. Thanks for the idea :)

Submitted by sourdough-guy on April 11, 2007 - 10:10am.

Yeah, macs are cool. I

Yeah, macs are cool. I wouldn't be without mine.

Sourdough-guy

Submitted by ehanner on April 11, 2007 - 9:52pm.

dough formula

I made this formula this morning. I was careful to get the weights right in grams and it was bone dry. I had to add a fair amount of additional water just to get to a workable dough consistency. The yeast measured out at just under 5 teaspoons which seemed a little heavy but in the end it rose well and turned out OK but not as nice as floyds.

Eric

Submitted by breadnerd on April 12, 2007 - 10:30am.

updated wheat recipe/formula

I don' t think my original recipe is correct due to formatting problems, please see this updated version:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=psShgnza0EI_jSTPxV-4yIg

Sorry about that!

Submitted by jenmenke on November 22, 2008 - 1:38pm.

.6 oz of yeast? Isn't that,

.6 oz of yeast? Isn't that, like, 6 teaspoons? Can that be right?

Submitted by breadnerd on November 26, 2008 - 9:26am.

I think the original recipe

I think the original recipe called for 2 T of yeast for 2 loaves, which does seem like a lot. I think I automatically cut back a bit when I make it now, especially in bigger batches. I think it will work fine with that amount (and rise VERY fast) but you can cut it back to a heaping tablespoon for 2 loaves (4 pounds) and you'll be fine. It's a pretty forgiving recipe!

Submitted by prochef_313 on April 19, 2007 - 4:52pm.

bakers percent

this is not right. the milk is off.

Submitted by breadnerd on April 19, 2007 - 6:46pm.

please use the formula link

Posted above is the corrected formula.

Submitted by Floydm on April 10, 2007 - 9:06am.

Much praise

A simple loaf of wheat bread

I was lamenting how I hadn't set out a preferment and wasn't going to get a chance to bake when I saw this post. It inspired me to whip up a quick honey whole wheat bread in time for dinner, which the kids loved. So thank you for the inspiration.

Submitted by breadnerd on April 10, 2007 - 10:51am.

you're welcome!

And what a nice photo! I happily ate mine all last week for lunch :)

Submitted by mountaindog on April 10, 2007 - 3:12pm.

Absolutely beautiful

Absolutely beautiful Breadnerd...you, Floyd, and JMonkey are the kings of beautiful sandwich loaves and are all inspiring me to try some next...thanks for the recipe! I may try to substitue yogurt for the milk as my doctor said I can try re-introducing yogurt back into my dairy-free diet - yay! I think Pumpkinpapa said he uses yogurt and kefir with good results in his sandwich breads.

Submitted by tigressbakes on April 19, 2007 - 6:50pm.

what is going on!!!...

with all these beautiful sandwich loaves!

i need practice!

Submitted by yiuma on April 19, 2007 - 9:33pm.

size of the pan

Can I know the measurement of your loaf pan?

Thanks

Submitted by breadnerd on April 20, 2007 - 5:35am.

loaf pans

Mine (the picture at the top of the page) used 4.5 x 8.5 inch pans.

That's a good point I forgot--I baked in too large pans for years and was never happy with my sandwich loaves! This recipe uses 2 pounds of dough per pan, and it makes a nice tall loaf.

Submitted by yiuma on April 20, 2007 - 7:54pm.