Better-than-Basic Wheat Bread
"This is a recipe I've modified to suit my own tastes. It has a great, tight crumb, wonderful texture, and full of flavor. This bread loaf is my default "every-day" loaf. Makes wonderful toast."
photo by brooklyncraft
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 7
- Yields:
-
2 loaves
ingredients
- 2 1⁄2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 cups bread flour (approx.)
- 3 cups wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature,in chunks
directions
- Pour the yeast and 1/2 c.
- of the water in the bowl of your mixer.
- Let proof about 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix the flours, the salt and sugar together.
- When the yeast has proofed, pour in the remaining 2 c.
- water, and 1/2 the flour mixture, and with the dough hook attachment, mix on med-low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally until all is combined.
- Add the remaining flour and mix on very low speed until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
- This could take a while.
- If the dough requires more flour, use bread flour.
- Add the butter, a tablespoon at a time, and mix until incorporated.
- Don't freak out if your dough comes apart with the addition of the butter.
- Continue to mix it and after a while, it will come back together.
- Either continue to knead in your machine until smooth and elastic, or remove from the mixer and knead by hand (I always do the last 5-10 minutes of kneading by hand.).
- Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap then a towel, and set aside to rise (about 2- 3 hours- this dough seems to be slow to rise, but that's okay- slow rise is better than fast rise.) At this point, you could refrigerate the dough overnight before proceeding to panning.
- Once the dough has more than doubled in bulk, punch it down and divide into two loaves.
- Place the dough into greased loaf pans, and set aside to rise again.
- I have noticed that this tends to take at least 1 1/2 hours, maybe 2.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- When the loaves are ready, pop them in the oven and bake until done, about 45-50 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool before wrapping.
- *Note:You can certainly use regular wheat flour, but I've been using King Arthurs White Whole Wheat flour.
- If you can get it, give it a try.
- Great flavor.
- You can substitute AP flour for the bread flour, but your texture will be different.
- Bread flour gives this bread a much more sturdy texture and a better form.
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Reviews
-
I used the suggested types of flour, and had wonderful results. This bread has an incredible aroma while baking. The loaf has a great texture, and, I feel, was born to made into some great toast. I very much enjoyed this, and have frozen my second loaf to continue the pleasure at a later date.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
P48422
United States
