Daily Bread (revised June 2007) always in preparation

If It's The First Time You're Baking Bread

2 cups wholewheat flour (I prefer King Arthur's Traditional) 2 cups white flour (Gold Medal Better-for-Bread) (if you don't have wholewheat flour, use 4½ cups white flour) 1 packet (1 TBsp) dry yeast 1 TBsp + ½ tsp sugar 1 tsp salt 3 TBsp olive oi l small bowl for dissolving & proofing yeast (1-cup) small spoon for stirring medium (2-cup) measuring cup for water large bowl for kneading 1-cup, 1 TBsp, 1tsp measuring spoons wooden spoon cake rack to let baked bread cool

Kneading: squeeze dough between your fingers and your upper hand while pushing down with the palm of your hand

The Bread I Usually Make

• 2¼ cups (10 oz wt, 280 g) wholewheat flour (stoneground, 'high-protein' (>10%); I use King Arthur's Traditional)
• 1³/₄ cups (8.6 oz wt, 235 g) 'white' flour (Better-for-Bread or unbleached)
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp + 1 TBsp sugar
• 3 TBsp olive oil

1. Rinse a small cup, put in ½ teaspoon of sugar;
2. Bring a cup, about 250 ml water to a boil;
3. Measure 7 oz. (210 ml) cold tap water, add 4 oz (120) ml (3½ oz) boiling water (to the 11 oz (330 ml) mark); stir to mix, then pour about 4 oz. (130 ml) in the small cup with sugar (leaving 6 oz (200 ml)); stir to dissolve sugar;
4. Put 2¼ cups (280g) wholewheat flour in a large bowl, make a well in the middle, put in 1 TBsp sugar and 1 tsp salt;
5. The water in the small cup should be about 100°F (37°C), measure with thermometer or put a drop on your wrist; sprinkle 2 tsp yeast over it while stirring, then leave it alone for 5-10 minutes;
6. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil and remaining 7½ oz (230 ml) water to wholewheat flour in the large bowl and mix with a sturdy wooden spoon;
7. Pour bubbling, foaming yeast over flour and dough and mix well, then cover with 1³/₄ cups of white flour;
   you could take a 5-30 minute break here;
   mix in white flour, most effectively done by hand, though it's a bit unpleasant; you could still use the wooden spoon;
8. Let the mixed dough rest for about five minutes;
9. Take the ball of dough out of the bowl and knead by hand on a flat surface for about ten minutes; I use a 12x15-inch (30x40 cm) glass cutting board, but any clean countertop will do except tiles; add a little flour or water as needed (it shouldn't be too dry or too wet, add small amounts of water when the dough is too tough, a little flour when it's too sticky, it should not stick to your hands;
   then knead for 8-10 minutes: at first squeeze between fingers and upper hand while pushing down with lower hand (use your body weight), rotate dough a little on each push down; about halfway start flattening dough and folding over, in the last minute just squeeze and push again;
10. Put dough back in large bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes or an hour to rise ("double in volume"), when it's cold put it in the sun or in a preheated oven at about 110°F (40°C) (turn oven on for 1-1½ minute);
11. Knead dough lightly ("punch down");
    I always make rolls: divide dough in nine equal portions (each about ~95g, 3½ oz: you'll need a scale. and maybe this is the time to switch to metric); let dough rest for a few minutes (while you preheat oven to 100°F (40°C) and bring a little water to a boil), then shape rolls by pushing thumbs or fingers into the bottom of the ball to get a smooth top surface, then flatten the dough balls; cover baking sheet with parchment paper, put rolls on it, into the oven, also put pan with boiling water in the oven; let rolls rise in the oven for an hour or longer;
    you can also shape the dough into a loaf (flatten and roll up), put it on parchment paper on a baking sheet and let rise again in preheated oven at about 110°F (40°C); have a metal container (like an old cake pan) in the oven and pour some boiling water in it, or bring water to a boil in an old all-metal pan;
12. When your bread is at the size you want, empty the water container and put in some fresh boiling water or bring the water in your old all-metal pan to a boil again and put it back in the oven, then turn the oven to 425°F (225°C) and bake for 19-27 minutes (the oven is NOT preheated);
    take it out of the oven and knock on it: it should sound hollow, measure internal temperature (it should be 180-205°F; let it cool down on a rack (a loaf for about 30 minutes, rolls can be eaten in five minutes).

print version

Divide dough in nine equal portions, let rest for 5-10 minutes

Flatten, let rise in oven for an hour or so

The rolls are ready for baking! Notice the pan for hot water.

Notes

• If your yeast is not foaming after five or ten minutes, something is wrong: maybe the water was too hot and killed the yeast, make a new 80 ml of tepid water, sprinkle new yeast over it; or maybe your yeast was too old, try another batch.
• Baking times vary: I used to have an electric oven that would bake a loaf in 19 minutes, 14 minutes for rolls; my present gas oven bakes a loaf on a baking sheet in 27 minutes, a loaf in a bread pan in 23 minutes and rolls in 22 minutes; this oven reaches 225°C (425°F) in about ten minutes. My baking times include the heating-up of the oven: I usually do not preheat, but in a preheated oven rolls bake in 15 minutes. For regular bread, a few minutes over is OK, breads high in sugar (see below) burn more easily, so try to find the right time with regular bread first.
• Wholewheat flour should be stored in the refrigerator. Buy it at a store that does. To make 100% wholewheat bread, at least half should be fine-ground, and that is hard to find. Pastry flour is too low in gluten for yeast bread.
• I've come to prefer rolls over loaves, maybe it's the taste of larger crust surface. As my baking sheet accomodates nine, I divide the dough in nine parts (by weight, ~95g, 3½ oz); sometimes I just make a ball or an oblong shape; .I bake rolls for 22 minutes; they can be cut and eaten five minutes or so from the oven. A braided roll has even more crust, but doesn't keep so well and is harder to slice.
• Dough sticking to your hands after the mixing and first (2-minue) kneading can easily be removed by rubbing your hands with a teaspoon of flour.
• When available time is fractured, sponge doughs allow you a break between the mixing and kneading of the dough: mix the bubbling yeast into the wholewheat flour etc. (step #7), then cover with white flour without mixing, and you can leave it alone for an hour or so before kneading. (It does not work for high-sugar breads.)
• You can also punch the dough down a second time, let it rise again, if that fits your schedule better, i.e. to have it ready just before mealtime.
• Freeze bread when you're not eating it on the day of baking; slice first, so you can take out just what you need. Don't keep bread in the refrigerator.
• Instead of 3 TBsp olive oil, you could use 1½ TBsp butter, but I think it hardly makes a difference in taste and olive oil may be better for your health.
• For a kneading surface, most countertops are OK, or use a clean (non-smelling) cutting board (if it doesn't have feet, a damp towel can keep it in place), but between tiles dough will pick up some grout, and you don't want that between your teeth.

Some Possible Additions

• Milk: instead of water or part of the water: scald to deactivate enzymes harmful to bread, but I never get it to raise right;
• Egg(s), instead of part of water;
• 2 TBsp Rye Flour;
• Wheatberries, cracked wheat: cook first;
• Wheat bran: for fiber;
• Blackstrap molasses: for iron, but I got bored by the taste;
• To make bread more nutritious, milk powder, wheat germ and soy flour (1 TBsp of each in each cup of flour);
• Rye flour in large amounts may make kneading difficult;
• Wheat germ (toasted), 1-2 TBsp a loaf
• Bread without oil or butter doesn't keep well, but right out of the oven it can be very nice, with a "pure," "clean." taste.

Basic Bread recipee in steps (print version) - The rolls I usually make

More recipees - Your chef: Marco Schuffelen - email

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