Our Daily Bread - White Sandwich Bread Upgrade
Super light and fluffy with a light sour flavor tempered by the earthiness of whole grains.
Our Daily Bread - White Sandwich Bread Upgrade
Makes 1 – 9x5 in (23x12.75 cm)
When I cook, I don’t mind the process taking as much time as necessary to attain what I’m looking for. If that amount of time is long great, if shorter fine, I cook because I love it. However, I don’t quite have the patience or mental capacity to maintain a sourdough starter. I love sourdough bread but, I doubt I will ever keep a starter. Preferments are how I get some of the same flavor and nutritional benefits of sourdough without the starter. So, to finish the Our Daily Bread series, I wanted to take the Homestyle White Sandwich bread (here) which is how I envisioned my grandmother would make white bread with modern techniques and show how I would again modify that same white bread to suit my fancy.
The resulting loaf has the flavor of a mild sourdough with a slightly crusty exterior and fluffy interior. I call this a white loaf though there is a good portion of whole wheat flour because it is in essence a white loaf but the whole wheat flour is more interesting and has more flavor so I refused to leave it out.
“Recipe Tips:
*1. Can be substituted with an equal weight of whole wheat flour.
**2. Can be substituted with whole wheat flour making this a 100% whole wheat loaf. Use 150ml – 162ml (0.75 c – 0.75 c + 1 T) water to mix the dough leaving all other measurements the same. Slap and fold to knead as the higher ratio of whole wheat flour will make the dough stickier. Bake as instructed.”
Ingredients
Preferment
113g (0.75 c + 2 T) whole wheat flour
*16g (2 T) dark rye flour
124ml (0.50 c + 2 T) water
Small pinch of instant yeast
Dough
6g (1.5 t) instant yeast
**300g (2 1/3 c) bread flour
7g (1.75 t) kosher salt
30ml (2 T) olive oil
124-150ml (0.50 c + 2 T – 0.75 c) water
Method
Preferment
1. In a medium bowl, combine the preferment ingredients mixing well until all the flour is hydrated.
Cover and allow to sit at room temperature overnight, 18 – 24 hours.
Dough
2. Dissolve the yeast in the preferment with a splash of the measured water.
3. In a large mixing bowl place the flour.
Create a well in the center and dissolve the salt with the olive oil and a splash of the measured water.
Add the preferment and mix with 75% of the remaining water.
Mix well before beginning to mix in the flour.
Mix until there is no dry flour remaining adding the rest of the water as necessary to create a slightly sticky dough.
Remove the dough to a clean, unfloured work surface.
Knead for 5 minutes scraping your hands and the work surface as necessary.
The dough may be sticky at first but, as you knead, it will become considerably less sticky as the gluten is developed.
If necessary, use the slap and fold kneading method rather than a traditional one.
Form into a ball and return to the bowl.
Cover and ferment for 30 minutes.
Fold.
To fold: wet your dominant hand and loosen the dough from the bowl flipping the ball of dough over. Press out the dough to even out its thickness. Grab a grip of dough across from you, lift and stretch the dough out a few inches then fold it over the center. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat this process, wetting your hand as necessary to prevent sticking, until you reach the point where you began. The dough should have formed a ball at this point. Flip the ball again, placing the “seams” of the dough on the bottom and tuck the dough together to make a ball.
Do not add flour during the folding.
Cover and ferment 30 minutes longer.
Repeat the fold.
Cover and bulk ferment 1 hour.
The dough will be nearly double in size.
4. Line a loaf pan with parchment if necessary.
My loaf pan is great but sometimes causes sticking. To prevent this I always line it.
5. Lightly flour the top of the dough and the work surface.
Use a bench scraper to release the dough from the missing bowl and remove to the work surface leaving the unfloured surface on top.
Gently stretch out to a blunt triangle with the base closest to you.
Fold the left and right sides across from you into the center creating an angle.
Starting from the top, roll down toward the base pulling in the sides as necessary to maintain a chunky cylinder.
Pinch the end seam well and seam side down, place into the loaf pan.
Flatten the cylinder to spread into the pan as necessary.
Cover loosely and proof for 45 – 60 minutes or until the dough has risen 2.5 – 4 cm (1 – 1.5 in) above the rim of the pan.
6. Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.
Bake for 5 minutes.
Reduce to 180 C / 350 F.
Bake 25 – 30 minutes longer.
After 25 minutes, carefully test the loaf with an instant read thermometer stuck into the side into the middle of the loaf.
The bread should register 94 C / 200 F.
If not ready, allow to cook longer.
If the dough is browning too much, tent loosely with foil.
Remove to a cooling rack and cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
Remove from the pan and cool completely.
7. Slice and serve.
