Delicious Sandwich Bread

By Paul Alcock - SV Eximius

I bake two of these loaves every week, some Whole Wheat and some Plain White bread. They are both made with the same recipe except the Whole wheat has 40% Wheat Flour.

Eximius' Oven is only big enough for one of these loaves.

Time:

Mixing 15 mins, probably less if you have everything ready

Rising 4 x 45 mins + 30min in the pan - total 3 ½ hours

Baking 25-30 mins

Cooling - really depends on how hungry you are, but at least a couple of hours.

Utensils:

Bowl with cover for mixing and rising, just one bowl, rinse it out between mixing and 1st rise.

Large Spatula or mixing thinghy

Tall Sandwich Loaf Pan ( I use a KAB pan )

Cup (for egg wash)

Pastry brush ( for egg wash)

Oven that can get close to 480ºF

Foil tray, that fits on the bottom of the oven, full of lava stones if you have them, else empty. This is for the Steam generator.

Timer (I use my phone timer on the boat)

Instant Thermometer with probe.

(Notes: KABF=King Arthur Bread Flour, KAAPF King Arthur All Purpose Flour )

But the recipe works for most flours.  I'll often replace the KAAPF with KAWWF - King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour )

Increase the Yeast for a more airer loaf.

If you only have KAAPF then use 990g. Don’t have the Milk Powder - not to worry, skip it.

If you have an Egg, then brush the loaves with an egg wash ( 1 egg + 1 Tbls of cold water ) before slashing the loaves then put them in the Oven.

Mix all of the dry ingredients in the bowl then add the water. Mix everything with the large spatula or mixing thingy. This is going to be a very shaggy dough, take the time to mix in all of the dry stuff, I use a pastry cutter to cut the dough and move the bits around the bowl until everything is pretty much picked up, then use my hands to mix it a bit more.

Turn the dough out onto a dry surface, wash out the bowl and wipe inside with EVOO, put the dough into the bowl and move it around to coat in oil.

The Rise and Fold process ( If your oven takes a while to heat up to

Let the dough rise for 40 minutes and then, with wet hands, fold the dough pulling up one side with one hand and folding down over the rest, turn the bowl and repeat making 4 folds, it’s ok to do more but really not needed (no pun :) ) Now put the cover back on the bowl.

Repeat the Rise and Fold process a total of 4 times ( I put 4 teaspoons on the table where the bowl is sitting and take off one spoon each time I do the process.) When the 4th rise (the last spoon) starts, preheat the oven to 480ºF

The dough should be growing at the end of the 3rd and 4th Rise and Fold and probably nearly doubled at the end of the 4th.

After the last rising: (You did start to preheat the oven right? )

Wipe out the tall bread pan with EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil - I always wondered what EVOO stood for)

Prep a floured bench, maybe a ½ table spoon of KAAPF and empty the dough from the bowl onto the bench.

Shape the dough into a rectangle, leave it about 1” or so thick, try not to squish out the bubbles, but it’s ok to pop the big ones.

Fold the dough from one long end over about 2/3rds and then fold the other end over. Lift the dough by the, now, shortest end and fold that over about 2/3rds and then fold the other end over. That’s it for shaping.

The dough should now be a log shape, lift the dough and place into the tall bread pan stretching it to reach the ends and poking gently to make sure it covers the bottom of the pan.

Place a cloth over the pan and let it rest for about 30mins, the dough should grow in the pan to about the top of the pan - I can normally just look for the rise to lift the cloth up in the center of the pan.

Get a cup of cold water ready.

With the dough ready to go in the oven - Break an egg into a cup and add about a Tablespoon of water and a dash of salt, mix with the pastry brush and paint the top of the dough in the pan. I slash the dough with a razor blade with a smile down the length of the pan.

It’s ready to go in the oven. The idea is to create a steamy environment in the oven, here’s how I do it.

Open the oven, pull out the tray enough to pour the water but don’t pour the water yet. Put the bread pan in the oven, pour the water into the tray, slide it back into the oven and quickly close the door. NOTE when you pour the water, it will generate a lot of steam - don’t get burned!

Set the timer for 25 minutes. When the timer sounds or 25 mins after the dough is in the oven, Check the internal temp of the bread, looking for 190ºF, add up to 10 minutes, it really should be baked by that time.

Remove the really hot pan from the oven - take care, it’s really hot!

After about 5 mins, I turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and let it cool for at least an hour, 3 is best.

This bread has no preservatives (ok, the salt does preserve a little) so when it’s cold, I cut each loaf in half and Keep one out for the Bread Bin and store the rest in individual 1 Gallon ziplock bags in the freezer as it will mold out after a few days, that’s not a problem for us as we’ll eat a half loaf in a couple of days.

Hope it works for you.

Stay Crusty.