Sunday, February 17, 2013

A Quick White Bread Recipe

I've been making this fast bread from SeriousEats for over a year now. It's a yeast bread recipe that can be in the oven within 1 1/2 hours. They suggest baking it on a sheet pan, I felt the bread spread out too much so I tried it in a bread pan. It worked very well!
This is a very nice bread to whip up when I didn't quite plan well enough for Sunday dinner:@)
They suggested the slit in the top, I won't do that next time, it just doesn't look pretty.
Note to self: If making a loaf, make it early so it has time to cool before slicing!

Fast White Bread-from SeriousEats
1 C warm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 Tblsp honey
2 C bread flour, divided-I use A/P flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tblsp butter, softened
Egg wash-1 egg beaten with 1 Tblsp water
Sesame seeds-I used poppy this time
  1. Combine water, yeast, honey and 1 1/2 C flour in mixing bowl, mix, cover and let sit for anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. It will be very wet and bubbly.
  2. Sprinkle corn meal on a baking sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Knead in the salt, butter and remaining flour. 
  4. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead a few times. Form into a log about 12" long and place it seam side down on the sheet pan. 
  5. Cover with plastic and let rise until double, about 20-30 minutes. Don't let the plastic touch the dough.
  6. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle on seeds, slash the dough down the middle and bake until golden, approximately 30 minutes.
  7. Let loaf cool completely on a rack before slicing.
Notes:
I find this to be a very loose, wet, sticky dough... After adding the last 1/2 C of flour I turn it out onto a well floured surface and use my bench scraper to keep turning the dough onto itself incorporating enough extra flour until I can pick the dough up without it totally sticking to may hands. It's still loose, but I can manage to get it into the bread pan. The second rise is very fast, maybe 15 minutes.

Eat well and have a happy day:@)