Yeast scares me. I have the worst luck with it. I admire those who can whip up a fresh loaf. In the past the buns I would try to make were super dense, or loaves too heavy. (Except for the hot cross buns from Easter Weekend!)
Ironically my first job was in a bakery! For two years I would get up at 4 am on weekends, and go into the shop early, help the baker, prep the store for opening and be done just after noon. It was around this time that my brother bought my mom a bread machine. She used to make fresh bread on Sundays. I couldn’t stand the smell of waking up to bread baking. “How can anyone not like the smell of bread baking?” you may ask. Well, I attribute it to working in the bakery (Kind of how I couldn’t stand movie theatre popcorn after working at a theatre).
Anyways back to the yeast…so because I never really felt the desire to make bread, I never really got the feel for making it. Now for some reason I finally have got the bug. Maybe it is the world of blogging, reading about everyone’s triumphs, or maybe it is because I am really enjoying making everything that I can from scratch…regardless I want to start testing the waters.
So as my first attempt I chose a recipe from one of my new cookbooks: “Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes” – and yes, I know that Vancouver is at sea level…but this way I am prepared for any vacations or moves that may be in our future! Of course I can never just follow a recipe. I have tweaked this one a little. I will certainly make it again. A great loaf warm. Served with soup. Toast, or even a plain old sandwich meat bread.
Newly added: Lisa Michele from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives suggested I submit this to YeastSpotting, so why not :).
Ingredients:
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup homo milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp veg oil
2 1/4-1/2 cups whole wheat bread flour
1 egg
coarse sea salt
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
Directions:
- In a cup combine the yeast, sugar and warm water, stir and set aside for about 5-10 minutes (until the mixture bubbles).
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the milk, the 1/2 cup water, oil and salt. Set over low heat until it feels warm (120F) and bubbles just begin to show around the edges.
- Our warm liquid into a large bowl, allow to cool until 110F.
- When you are sure it is not too hot, stir in about 2 cups flour and then the yeast mixture.
- Beat hard for several minutes using a sturdy spoon. You will have a thick, soupy mass with a few lumps. Gradually mix in about 1/4 cup flour. Continue to mix, adding 1-2 Tbsp more flour as needed, until the dough begins to come together and looks stretchy.
- Flour your hands and the counter lightly, kneed the bread for 5 to 8 minutes. Re-flour as needed. Continue to kneed until the dough looks smooth and atiny and no longer feels sticky to the touch.
- In a large clean bowl, add 1 tbsp oil, add the dough, and turn it once to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel.
- Place bowl in the oven (turned off!) on the centre rack. Also have a roasting pan of very hot water beneath it on the lowest oven shelf.
- Let the dough rise until nearly double in size (60-90 minutes).
- Once the dough has risen, punch it down to remove large air bubbles. Turn it out onto a lightly floured counter and knead once or twice.
- Return it to the oiled bowl for the second rise.
- Oil loaf pan .
- Once the dough has gone through two rises, shape the loaf: turn the dough onto the counter and knead a few times and then pat and press it into a flattened rectangle about 8″x11″.
- Workign from one short end, roll the dough up into a log about 3 1/2 by 8 inches and punch the seam and ends to seal. Set the dough seam side down in the prepared loaf pan, over lightly with oiled plastic wrap and set to rise in the microwave (or any other warm place).
- Preheat oven to 375F
- Whisk egg.
- Once loaf has almost doubled (45 minutes). Remove plastic wrap, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sea salt, poppy and sesame seeds.
- Bake for 30 minutes. The top should be a rich golden brown. top the loaf out of the pan and rap your knuckle on the bottom; it should should sound hollow. If it needs more time, return the loaf to the oven and bake for 5 minutes longer before resting.
- Tip the bread out of its pan and cool on a wire rack.
- When cool, slice with a serrated knife.
The recipe calls for a water bath in the oven while the bread is baking, I totally forgot to do that, and it still turned out ok :).
April 15, 2009 at 4:55 pm
i have such a hit or miss relationship with yeast, too. this sounds delicious, though!
April 17, 2009 at 2:11 am
mmmmm I love yeast breads! Homemade bread just tastes so much better to me than anything that can be purchased in a store. Glad you went for it- looks like the loaf turned out really well.
April 17, 2009 at 8:51 am
Popped in to say hi from Heather’s blog!
April 17, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I loved exploring your blog – it’s great! Your bread looks delicious!
April 18, 2009 at 12:26 am
That is a text book perfect and gorgeous loaf of wheat bread! You should send your photos into Yeastspotting at Wild Yeasts’s blog! I need to get bread baking myself..but I have ‘bread block’ for now..LOL
April 18, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Wow, for someone scared of yeast, this is a pretty gorgeous loaf of bread.
April 19, 2009 at 4:42 pm
[…] a book that had a little whole in the jacket, I couldn’t not pick it up! As I mentioned in my Whole Wheat Bread post, I am trying to learn and appreciate working with yeast. So the first recipe I tried from […]
April 23, 2009 at 11:03 pm
[…] Whole Wheat Bread […]
April 24, 2009 at 5:25 am
Are you sure this is your first attempt? Pretty gorgeous loaf. Thanks for joining YeastSpotting!
April 24, 2009 at 6:04 am
For someone who claims to be afraid of yeast, your breads are beautiful! I’m going to try that raisin swirl. Lovely!
P.S. I’m a journalist who’s now in culinary school to study baking and pastry. I’m blogging about my adventures at Flour Girl, http://flourgrrrl.blogspot.com. So, from Flour Girl, it’s nice to “meet” you, Baker Girl!
April 24, 2009 at 7:35 am
Ha! I still really can’t eat movie theater popcorn because of my High School job in a theater. This looks like a great sandwich bread, better than the one I recently made so I will definitely give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
April 24, 2009 at 7:57 am
Wow that really does look amazing. I’ve gotta try this recipe – thanks for sharing.
April 24, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Well done, the loaf looks great!
April 27, 2009 at 12:06 pm
This is a really good recipe and it worked perfectly for me. So many times my bread has either not risen, or has, but has left a dough like mixture in the centre of my bread! Thanks
Andrew
April 27, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Andrew, I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! Glad it worked 🙂
May 4, 2009 at 5:46 pm
How too can I maximize my fear of yeast to turn out a picture perfect WW bread loaf sooo beautifully? Mmmmmm.