If I have made this recipe once, I've made it 300 times! No joke, I have made this recipe weekly for nearly 12 years. I love it because I have memorized the quantities and can make it by hand very easily. I even made it while on holiday at a hotel that had a kitchen. The recipe seems long, but it's simple, easy, and wonderful. I shaped these as French but they are more of a sandwich bread.
Ingredients
5-7 cups flour, all-purpose or bread flour, DIVIDED
3 tbsp sugar, white or brown
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast or regular yeast
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk (2% is fine)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or butter
Instructions
Read Susie's Tips and Tricks below
1. In large bowl, add 5 cups flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt (do not place salt and yeast next to each other - there is debate about that but I keep separate). Mix well.
2. Heat water, milk, and oil (butter) to 120F (if using regular yeast, only heat to 110F).
3. Slowly add liquid mix of milk, water, and fat to flour. Don’t put it in all at once. It’s messy and you have to work to incorporate. It will be a wet, sticky mass - that's okay.
4. Now measure 1 to 2 cups flour for kneading. Add flour here and there. Don’t dump it all in. I toss in 1/3 cup at a time and knead it in the bowl until I've incorporated most of it (1 to 1 1/3). It won't be very sticky, nor too dry.
5. Dump onto a clean counter or board and begin kneading. If it clings to your hands a lot, add a bit of non-stick spray so it won't cling to you. Add a bit of flour and knead it in. Avoid adding lots of flour your mixture (this is the cause of most heavy, dense loaves), knead more instead; as you work the dough it will fully absorb all the flour. Kneading takes time. Divide the mass if needed to make kneading easier (join all together and knead into one piece at the end).
6. How do you know if you've kneaded enough? Pinch with your whole hand very firmly; it should not cling much at all. You want a smooth texture. it should stretch a bit if you were to pull a small piece apart from your two hands. Its hard to over-knead by hand - kneading by hand usually takes a good 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Now place in large bowl. Spray non-stick in and around, then cover with plastic wrap. You want it to double. Mark a circle on top with sharpie around the shape/size of the dough, then you can visually see the increase.
8. Let rise anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on location, humidity etc. Poke it deep. Does the indentation stay? Then it's ready!
9. Now shape as you desire. If the dough fights you; cover and set aside for 10 more minutes. Shape and put the seam side down. Free form loaves work for me. This makes about 3 - 1 pound loaves. Give space between them for baking, though if they connect during baking it’s not a problem.
10. Cover shaped dough with plastic wrap and rise 20 to 30 more minutes on greased sheets. The second rise is much quicker. Do the same test as before: poke it (on the side) and see if the dough indentation stays. Then it’s ready. Your oven should be preheated (I turn on the oven to 375F about halfway through the second rise).
11. You want to use a sharp knife and slash a few parallel marks on the bread tops. This prevents a burst on the side. There's nothing wrong with a burst; its just not as pretty!
12. If you like a very soft crust before baking, brush with milk. For a crispy crust, brush with water prior to baking. I usually just melt a bit of butter on top after I've removed it from the oven.
13. When using milk, be aware that it has natural sugars that help caramelize the bread quite easily. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Other people may find the need to bake 25 to 30 minutes. Look on the bottom of the bread you want a colored bottom. Optionally you can test interior with a thermometer for 195 to 200F.
14. Remove immediately and place on a wire cooling rack. You don’t want condensation to build and dampen your bread.
Susie's Tips and Tricks
Use brown sugar if desired; brown sugar is a humectant. This gives you a bread that stays moister just a tad longer - if it lasts that long. Lol!
You could use regular yeast - per King Arthur’s flour site, you don’t need to proof in water, as long as it's fairly new. Just dump it in dry!
If you have bread flour use it; no biggie if you don’t. It gives a slightly higher rise, and better crust.
Stir flour first. Don't scoop - SPOON your flour; scooping can alter your quantity considerably.
Sometimes I play with the ratio and do less milk and more water.
I prefer butter but it’s not always in my budget.
When kneading the dough, don't keep adding flour; work that dough with your hands; spray with some oil if necessary. Too much flour and you will have a dense loaf. Under-kneading will give a dense loaf too. Work that dough!
Watch this video and see more details of how to make this bread. It's my first video - a bit long but lots of good information!
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