I Did It!!!

Ok… I know I've been posting a lot about bread lately, but it's still cold here in Minnesota (in fact it's snowing again today), and I've been trying to come up with a good "Soft White Bread" recipe & GUESS WHAT????  I DID IT!!  Now if I can just get the proportions adjusted…. I guess I'd better explain…

Normally to make a nice "Soft White Bread Sandwich Loaf" you'd use 15oz of flour… my typical recipe uses 20oz, and I have been playing with that recipe for a while… so I ended up with two "short" loaves, but WOW were they Good!!  So I need to either adjust my recipe up (for two normal loaves) or down (for one normal loaf)…

Wanna See?  Of course you do!!  Wanna Smell & Taste?  Sorry, haven't figured out how to do that online…. but you could make some yourself…

One shot of the final product (more below)

So here's the recipe… adjusted to 1 normal-sized loaf (of course)

Ingredients:
  15 oz Bread Flour (by weight)
  1 1/2 tsp Salt
  6 oz very warm Water (hot as your tap will get it)
  3 oz very warm Milk (I use my tiny microwave for 60 seconds)
  1 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
  1 1/2 Tbl Honey
  1 1/2 tsp Olive Oil
  1 1/2 tsp Butter

You will also need:
  Spray Olive Oil
  Large (7 cup) sealing plastic container (Ziploc ones work great)
  Additional Bread Flour for hand kneading & forming (after first rise)
  Loaf Pan
  Parchment Paper to line the loaf pan (use those Origami skills)


In the bowl of a stand mixer (instructions based on my Kitchenaid model, you can hand mix & knead if you're so inclined) place: Bread Flour and Salt - hand mix these together to combine, then create a bowl-shaped space in the middle for the wet ingredients.  

Put hot Water & Milk in the bowl-shaped space, sprinkle the surface of the liquid with the Yeast, allow Yeast to dissolve for about a minute and then stir it in.

Add Olive Oil & Honey, then mix all the ingredients together using the mixing paddle on the mixer on the slowest speed, for about 10-15 seconds.  Remove the mixing paddle & replace with the dough hook.  Cover the bowl with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes (autolyse).

Knead the dough using the stand mixer, I set my model to about 2-3 (a low setting) and let it knead for about 2-3 minutes.

Spray the plastic container & inside of lid with Olive Oil, remove the dough from the mixer and put it in the container, press down, spray the top of the dough with Olive Oil, close the container and wrap it in a tea towel.  Let the dough rise in the container in a warm area (I like 72F) for about 35 minutes, or until the dough is doubled in size - you may need to burp the container a couple times, you may also hear it "pop" if it burps itself.

Turn out the dough onto a well floured board, knead lightly and form into a loaf, place the loaf in the parchment paper lined loaf pan, spray with Olive Oil, cover with a tea towel and let it proof for an hour.  At the start of the proofing set the oven to 350F, this will ensure the oven is at the proper temperature.

Butter on top, right before going into the oven...

Melt the butter.  Cut a slit along the top of the loaf, brush the top of the loaf with the melted butter, pour the remainder of the butter into the slit in the top of the loaf.

Bake for 45 minutes, once baked remove loaf from pan & remove parchment paper (the cleaner you fold your parchment into the pan the easier it is to remove it), place the loaf on a cooling rack and let cool at least a half hour before slicing.

Such a wonderful soft white bread with a delicate crust… Doesn't this make you want to drool… It's so Yummy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UPDATE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had to make more because the first two loaves went so quickly!!  I thought I'd share pictures of what a normal-sized loaf looks like…

I made 2 loaves yesterday afternoon… and they're not going to last long… Jeff is just Crazy about this bread!!