Baking Bread

Sometimes making sweets is just bad news for your teeth (and your waist).  With 2 different weeks of cupcakes I thought it was time to branch out a little.  For our July 4th feast, I used Tyler Florence's white bread recipe to make homemade bread with my birthday present:

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package (1 tablespoon) rapid-rising dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 egg whites, divided and slightly beaten

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat the milk with butter over low heat just until the butter melts. Remove from heat and add to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook. Proof the yeast by adding it to the warm milk and butter. Your yeast will come with directions on how to proof it.  You need to make sure the temperature of the milk doesnt go above 110 degrees or else you will kill the buggers.  Add the sugar and stir gently to dissolve. Let stand 3 minutes until foam appears. This indicates the yeast is active. I used honey first and did not get results like I did with sugar.  The sugar sucked the yeast right up.

Turn mixer on low and gradually add the flour. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium and add the salt and 1 egg white. Stop the machine periodically to scrape the dough off the hook. Mix until the dough is no longer sticky, about 10 minutes.  It did not take 10 minutes, closer to 7 I would say.

Turn the dough onto the work surface and knead for a minute or so by hand. Knead by folding the dough over itself and pushing out with the heel of your hands, not down. Rotate the dough and repeat. The dough is properly kneaded when you can pull it and it stretches without breaking.

Kneading is fun, but make sure you do it EXACTLY how he says. 

Form the dough into a round and place in an oiled bowl, turn to coat the entire ball with oil.

Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise over a gas pilot light on the stovetop or in another warm place (microwave) until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Test the dough by pressing 2 fingers into it. If indents remain, the dough is adequately risen.

Once the dough is doubled and domed, turn it out onto the counter. The act of turning out the dough naturally deflates the gas, so there is no need to aggressively punch it down. Handle the dough gently, overworking the gluten at this point will produce a dense loaf that is difficult to shape.   I You Tubed this because I did not know what turning out the dough meant.  Clearly I read too much into it, you literally fold it out of the bowl. 

To form a loaf, pat the dough into a rectangle, fold the long sides to the middle then fold under the ends. Pinch the seams closed and place in a greased 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, seam side down.

 

Make sure the dough touches all sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise a second time for 20 minutes or until the top of the dough is nearly level with the top of the loaf pan. I put mine in the oven set on warm.

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, place a large pan on the bottom rack of the oven. Bring 3 cups water to a boil on the stove. Pour the hot water into the preheated pan to create a steam bath for the bread. This will make a crisp crust.
Slash dough down the middle of the loaf with a sharp knife to allow the steam to escape during baking. Brush the top with remaining beaten egg white. Bake the bread for 30 to 40 minutes until crust is golden and internal temperature reads 195 degrees F when checked with an instant read thermometer. I was happy with around 27 minutes.  The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when tapped. Immediately remove the bread from the pan and cool completely on a rack.We ate ours warm....you cant pass up melted butter on warm bread

 

This was absolutely amazing!  There were no flaws.  Well ok one....I wanted to eat more when I was done.  I cant believe how EASY this was to make.  One thing I learned about making bread: READ THE DIRECTIONS FIRST.  As you can see, there are a lot of steps that can mess you up if you miss. 

I cant wait to try more types of bread. Move over cupcakes, there is a new contender in town!

What type of bread is your favorite?