First real sandwich loaf
For the longest time, I tried no-knead recipes, not accepting that my toaster oven doesn't go beyond 450F and I don't have a dutch oven. I also had a really large loaf pan, which meant at least 4 cups of flour and a LOT of badly baked bread to eat and finish when an experiment went wrong. I read loads of stuff (some of it on this site!) about how stone ground atta flour available in India is not really bread-friendly, and other stuff about how maida (all-purpose flour) is okay, but not really healthy.
So I bought some organic maida from a trusted source to reduce any worries about bleached flour, etc. I also splurged on a couple of mini loaf pans for smaller experiments, and some fresh yeast from a local bakery. For the first time ever, I got a loaf yesterday that I can call a good sandwich loaf, and which I used for my lunch sandwich today. I know this is yawwn basic for a lot of bakers here, but it is BIG for me! I used this recipe, halved.
Things in this recipe that are I did differently from all those times when my loaves didn't rise, or remained wet inside:
I used fresh whey.
I proofed the fresh yeast with sugar and whey. Yes, I know, I wasn't doing that all this time.
I baked for 45 minutes at 210 C. I will probably go for five-seven minutes longer next time.
All in all, this loaf was consumed fully by noon today. Am very happy! Am going to try adding whole wheat and millet (ragi) in small doses to it gradually to see how much of a whole grain loaf I can manage with this recipe.
Any tips or comments for improvements based on the side-section picture?
Comments
Congratulations on a successful white bread! The crumb looks very delicious!
good rise for a flour that is supposed to be more like cake flour than AP. I think that you should also try to do a Durum Atta and Maida combination bread. If you sift out the atta (bran) from the durum flour you should get a beautiful yellowish crumb and crust that will taste more complex. I think the bread could have baked a little longer too since it isn't as boldly bakes as it could be. A great success all the way around proving you can bake fine bread anywhere with local ingredients. We love whey in bread too!
Well Done and Happy Baking
Thank you both! Dabrownman, I need to find out if the atta I get here is indeed durum. It's not branded; the local grocery mills wheat sourced from Central India and sells it. This region has recently taken to durum wheat in a big way but aestivum varieties remain its mainstay. I think rawa (semolina) is usually made with durum varieties? The information out there is often conflicting. But I will try to sift the atta and try it, definitely.
Yes, the bread could have baked a bit longer.
I tweaked the same recipe to add 50 gms of ragi (finger millet) flour to the total of 225 gms. The bread came out darker and a wee bit bitter, which was to be expected, I suppose.
This loaf was quite an adventure - I mixed it in the morning, and at 9 am we lost power. We lose power quite often for an hour or two, no big deal, I didn't think anything of it, and kneaded and shaped the dough. When it didn't come back till 1 pm though I got worried. At 2 pm, it was getting overproofed in the pan. So I took the pan with the loaf still rising, with my toaster oven and took a taxi to my mother-in-law's nearby, and baked the loaf there. For all that could have gone wrong, it came out quite okay in the end :-) The crust separated from the crumb in parts when slicing, I guess that's because of the overproofing?
This is addictive!