October 3, 2009 - 2:00pm
Good ol' sandwich bread
With all the focus on artisan breads and uber-ethnic loaves, I thought it might be fun to indulge my contrarian streak and bake a batch of good ol' white bread ... you know, bologna sandwiches, french toast, things like that. Thing is, I have this really nice organic bread flour and fresh compressed yeast that I hadn't used on pan bread before. So I did it: 60% skim milk, 2% salt, 8% each egg, oil and sugar, 3% yeast (to compensate for the enrichments). Well, the dough doubled in less than 45 minutes and proofed in 45 minutes. Baked at 350 for half an hour, and here's the result:
Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com
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My kids would love it! All the work I do on crisp crust and my kids peel off every bit! It makes me wonder some times if my focus in in the right place. I want my baking to be enjoyed by my whole family! They love milk bread and anything that makes a mean grill cheese! And it ain't bad!.......
Audra
is that it's so broad and flexible. you can do anything with those ingredients you want, from heavy to light crusts, chewy, flaky, flavored, plain, large crumb, fine crumb ... it's a vast universe we inhabit and there's always something new to discover in even the most familiar neighborhoods.
my daughter, who categorically refuses to eat any of my bread, claiming that store-bought is always better than anything made at home - has become a huge fan of this loaf. now, won't have anything else for her lunch sandwiches!
Stan
How was it for relative sweetness and tenderness of the crumb? Was it fluffy? It's a nice looking loaf regardless. My kids' favorite breads are the white or white blend (rye, WW) artisan loaves as first choice, the sandwich loaves I make (50/50 white/WW, sweetened with clover honey) as second choice, the sandwich loaves my wife makes in our Z bread machine, and last of all ...store-bought loaves. They don't like store bread! Most of what they eat is made in the bread machine, for convenience, since both my wife and I work full time.
Brian
obviously the milk, sugar and shortening are gonna tenderize the crumb. however, the flour, at around 12.5-13% protein gives a somewhat chewier crumb than, say, AP, which is fine, since the added gluten makes for a much higher rise. i loaded those loaves (30oz in 2qt pans) when the tops were about 1/2" above the edge of the pan, so you can see i got really nice oven spring at 350.
i'll take that loaf over bakery bread any day!!!
Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com
Would you translate the percentages into cups/teaspoons/tablespoons on all the ingredients you used for this white bread? It looks wonderful, but I'm not a professional baker and need the "plain folks" translation. Thanks! I'm anxious to give it a try for French toast.
should yield pretty close results:
Bread Flour 4 cups
Milk 1 1/2 cups
Egg 1 large, lightly beaten
Oil 3 Tbs
Sugar 3 Tbs + 1 tsp
Salt 1 3/4 tsp
Yeast: Fresh 1/2 1oz cake
Active Dry 3 tsp
Instant 2 tsp
Enjoy!
Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com
My standard sandwich bread is very close to what Stan shows here. A few small differences:
1.) I use brown sugar. Adds a bit of flavor.
2.) I use butter vs. oil.
3.) I use 10% white whole wheat flour. Not enough to make is seem like a whole wheat at all but enough to be line with "white" flour in Europe.
4.) I make a starter the night before with 1/3 of the flour at a hydration of 80%. Not much work and I think it adds a lot of flavor.
I use this dough for sandwich bread, hamburger buns, dinner rolls, and cinnamon rolls. It makes up about 40 % of my bread baking. Makes great toast too.
Dave
I LOVE this website! Thank you for the quick reply. I know what's going to be baked this weekend (and used for French toast). My BLTs will have a new lease on life as well.
the yeast measures are OR, not AND, so only use one of the yeasts.
Here's your bread! Thanks !
and it's beautiful .... nice job!!!
should see it now! They have eaten half of it!
Hi,
I just made two loaves of sandwich white yesterday!
I used the Farm Loaf recipe from Beard on Bread. A friend recently gave me this bread cookbook. I was dubious, but the recipes turn out really well...at least the straight dough ones I've tried so far!
Enjoy!
MommaT
Well, I made the bread today and every scrap of it got devoured at a family dinner. I was hard-pressed to find crumbs left on the breadboard. This is one excellent white bread recipe! Thanks again for the great back-to-basics bread. I used buttermilk instead of milk and it was a nice addition. Definitely a keeper.
when we married 22 years ago, my (pampered) husband loved his sandwiches with the crust cut off - the Wonder Bread kind ! 21 years later and my getting around to baking our bread, the crust cannot be crunchy enough to his liking !! Yeeeehawww, we CAN change 'em !
I really do enjoy cooking and baking but I'm not a big eater so I'm faced with the dilemma of cooking for a picky hubby who prefers store bought 'soft' breads to the wonderful crusty breads that I like.
This would be perfect for him. He'll look at a nice loaf of Italian bread and say it's good but you can't make a sandwich with it. Unless I toast it or turn it into a Panini - he prefers bread made in the bread machine which is soft and fluffy. I, on the other hand, like a good hunk of good bread with a bowl of hearty soup or just to dip into a really good dipping oil.
I really like using my starters. Could you advise me on how I might covert this recipe from yeast to sourdough?
My baking doesn't go unrewarded. My brother and his lady friend RAVE about my breads. She has even started bread baking again because they live 4 hours from me and only get these breads when they come to visit.
My hubby also HATES onions. Try cooking for someone like that................
He does love my pies so it's not all in vain.
-susie
hi susie,
easiest way to do it, i think, is to take 50% of whatever amount of milk you're using, 30% of the flour and about a tablespoon of your starter and use that to create the sponge. after the sponge has doubled in volume, just add the other ingredients and either reduce the yeast by 1/2 to 2/3, or eliminate it entirely, then go ahead with your fermentation, benching and proofing.
Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com
I just tried this bread recipe and found it to be excellent yet very easy. I am wondering if this exact same recipe can be utilized for cinnamon rolls or is there something else that is better?