Bread Making

I started making our own sandwich bread shortly after Mother's Day, 2012. I usually ask for emotional esoteric things like "Everyone do a good deed today" for this sort of commercial holiday. But I had been eyeing a book for quite some time and took the opportunity to ask for it, instead. And behold! My own copy of "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" by Jennifer Reese. After devouring the whole thing, I came up for air really wanting to make some bread. I've got  bread rising in the oven as I type this, waiting until some of the heat for the day gives up and goes to sleep.

Why now? In part, I had a moment when I realized that my family was eating an average of two loaves of sandwich bread a week. It's not exactly a cost thing because I was buying the cheap bread, anyway. But the cheap bread from the store was prone to being easily smashed. It was soft and hard to spread peanut butter across evenly. It was a compromise texture that we would all eat but nobody was thrilled about. A cross between my white bread of childhood and Marc's (that the husband) desire for a chewier, better crumb. So I was buying two loaves a week of an inferior product that we just accepted as being okay. I figured I could do better. Also, a part of my brain is wondering about the sheer levels of preservatives in that store bought bread. Then I read the Reese recipe for "day bread" and it seemed so simple. "Can you stir?" she says. "Then you can make this bread." she says. Well, not only do I stir but I even have a quality mixer that will stir it for me! A slightly imperfect storm of reasons came together, and so now I bake our bread.

I should admit, I'm not strict about it. If I don't have time, if we're on vacation, if it's been over 100 degrees (F) for a week, then I buy the bread. If I find 'bakery' bread on discount the day before I was planning on baking at home, then I buy the bread. I haven't conquered sourdough yet (though that's on the list), so I buy the bread. But for everyday use, I bake the bread.

I started with Jennifer Reese's recipe from her book. I tweaked and played for awhile and here's what I'm using now:

1 tsp yeast (instant)
1 tsp sugar
3 1/2 cups room temperature water
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups wheat flour
4 tsp salt

Add to bowl in order. Turn on mixer and let it run for 5-10 minutes. Divide between two greased loaf pans. Let rise 2 hours, covered with a damp towel in a warm location. Bake at 350(f) until light brown, approx. 20 minutes. Remove from loaf pans and place directly on oven rack. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped.

I've found this recipe to be very forgiving. So far, I've accidentally added way too much wheat flour, changed the ratio of AP flour and wheat flour based on what I was running out of, forgot about it and let it rise for almost 3 hours, and left the mixer running for varied amounts of time. The bread always comes out a little differently but still quite tasty. I would recommend a mixer, though. I tried hand stirring as suggested in the book but we all found the bread too dense for our tastes. Using the mixer for awhile builds up a bit more gluten and makes a lighter bread.

Reese suggests cutting a piece of bread hot and snacking with some butter. I can say it's absolutely the most delicious this way. I have a hard time stopping The Husband from eating half a loaf. If you do this, though, I strongly suggest that you trim off the end piece before cutting a slice. Then place the end piece up against the cut loaf and wrap the whole thing in a clean towel. Without this, I found the bread went stale very quickly (overnight). An uncut loaf can sit unwrapped until completely cool. It's summertime, so I store both loaves in a plastic zip-top bag in the fridge. Once winter hits and the kitchen isn't so hot all day, I may use the breadbox/paper bag recommended in the book.

The primary objection my family has is that I always bake bread at night. My target start time is 10pm. It's just too hot to turn the oven on during the day and I'm not an early riser. I'm told that I'm tormenting the family with such tasty smells so late in the evening.

You can find "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" by Jennifer Reese at Amazon http://j.mp/MakeTheBread

Oh, P.S.: I save all the stale bits and ends that nobody wants to eat and shove them into the freezer. Then I can use the leftovers to make bread crumbs and croutons.