Bread Baked in a Loaf Pan

[weinoo]

Since I've been focusing on sourdough breads, rustic breads, no-knead breads, pizza, focaccia, etc. for oh, these past 12 months or so, I decided to give a simple whole-wheat loaf a try. I modified slightly the whole wheat bread recipe in the King Arthur Flour All-Purpose Baking Book, substituting 1/3 a/p flour for the whole wheat called for in the recipe. Also, instead of honey, molasses or maple syrup, I used agave nectar, since I had just bought a bottle of the stuff.

Kneaded in my KA stand mixer (I really wanted to make this easy - I usually knead by hand), risen once for 2 hours, shaped and risen again in the loaf pan for 1 hour, here's what I ended up with. A tasty, wheaty, damn easy, even a little bit healthy loaf of bread that I can easily slice up for toast in the morning or to make a sandwich with at lunch. No biga. No poolish. No starter. No spritzing or pouring boiling water into my oven. No overnight stuff. No almost burning the shit out of my hands and arms dumping a bread into a 450 degree cast iron dutch oven. Will not and can't replace all the above, but it makes me happy.

Show us your loafs.

[andiesenji]

Beautiful crumb. I can almost taste it.

[CaliPoutine]

I absolutely love Cook's Illustrated's Multigrain bread. Its everything you've asked for.

The recipe makes 2 loaves as well!!

[jackal10]

Being hyper critical, if you look at the picture you will the crumb at the bottom and sides is a bit squashed and pudding like, and the loaf has bulged over the sides.

That says to me that the dough was a bit wet, and maybe underkneaded and overproved.

[weinoo]

Being hyper critical, if you look at the picture you will the crumb at the bottom and sides is a bit squashed and pudding like, and the loaf has bulged over the sides.

That says to me that the dough was a bit wet, and maybe underkneaded and overproved.

←

I like hypercritical - 'cause I noticed that too and, not being an expert, wondered what I might do differently next time.

The dough was a bit moist (I thought we liked it that way, but maybe that's just for the "artisan" breads), it passed the windowpane test, but maybe it was overproved - although it was only proofed for an hour - the first rise was for 2 hours, which is actually twice as long as the recipe called for, so could that possibly be the cause of the pudding-ness? Still tastes damn good, btw.

And reminds me of a story when I was taking my final exam for pastry and baking - the esteemed Nick Malgieri was one of the graders, and I had baked what I thought was a beautiful triple layer chocolate buttercream cake. Of course, when it came time to be graded, the cake tasted great, was nice and moist, but I had put too much buttercream in between the layers - moving me down to a B+ - oh, the shame .

[jackal10]

Is this yeast or sourdough?

My guess is yeast, in which case 2 hours total from mix to bake might be better - cut the bulk fermentation to 1 hour. Should get oven spring, and you might need to slash the top

Are you using a preferment? That might help as well, especially if you use sourdough. I like stiff preferments. Pre-soaking the flour with the water also gives more taste of the grain.

[weinoo]

Is this yeast or sourdough?

My guess is yeast, in which case 2 hours total from mix to bake might be better - cut the bulk fermentation to 1 hour. Should get oven spring, and you might need to slash the top

Are you using a preferment?  That might help as well, especially if you use sourdough. I like stiff preferments. Pre-soaking the flour with the water also gives more taste of the grain.

←

Only instant yeast, per the recipe. I will cut the bulk fermentation to 1 hour for my next attempt.

I thought of slashing the top, but since the recipe didn't call for it, I didn't.

[tino27]

For an extra bit of nutritional punch and some lovely nutty/wheaty flavor, I also add some ground flaxseed and toasted wheat germ to my whole wheat breads as well.

Sometimes simple is better.

[Jmahl]

Our latest effort. A no knead loaf with rolled rye and fennel seeds added.

Jmahl

[petite tête de chou]

Yesterday I made the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Whole Wheat American loaf bread. What makes it specifically American is beyond me.

I'm still pretty new at making any sort of bread but I suspected that by replacing the called-for bread flour with AP would throw off the liquid ratio- hydration, right? Though it was a dry day the dough was much stickier than I thought it should be. So I made do, added a bit of flour to my KA mixing bowl and let it knead for 10 minutes. I knew from previous experience not to add too much flour. That loaf was a real toe-stubbing door-stopper.

Then I over-proofed it because I severely underestimated how long it takes to bring four cups of water to a boil in the microwave. I needed the water to pour into an empty pan when I placed the over-exuberant loaf in the oven. How does the steam benefit this particular kind of bread? The crust was good, not too hard. I don't care for stiff crusts on my sandwiches as I don't cut them off. Nor did it fall apart when sliced. So this wasn't a complete failure. It can be used for croutons and breadcrumbs if for nothing else.

My ongoing plan has been to successfully produce loaves of basic sandwich bread then graduate to more difficult bread-making, saving the no-knead and other "new" techniques for later. I want to learn how to do things right first. I can be a stickler for tradition.

[sanrensho]

My ongoing plan has been to successfully produce loaves of basic sandwich bread then graduate to more difficult bread-making, saving the no-knead and other "new" techniques for later.

I actually think the no-knead breads are easier--no-brainers in fact. So I would encourage you to jump right in.

If your library has it, you might look into borrowing a book called "No Need to Knead" (out of print).