The super beautiful crown of this loaf is so morale-boosting to me! Hubby and I finish half a loaf at dinner alone (hubby has one slice, I have all the rest).
Recipe: Great half whole wheat sandwich loaf (1 medium loaf)
Ingredients:
Starter
- 1/4 cup KAF whole wheat flour
- pinch of active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
Dough
- 1+1/2 cup KAF whole wheat flour
- 1+1/2 cup KAF unbleached flour
- 1+1/4 tp salt
- 2 TB honey
- 2 TB olive oil
- 1/2 tp crisco shortening
- about 1/2 cup water
- about 1/4 cup evaporated skim milk
Procedure:
Day 1
Mix 1/4 cup whole wheat flour and a pinch of yeast in warm water. Stir to mix well. Then allow to sit on counter top covered overnight.
Day 2
1. Stir starter.
2. Mix together 1+1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1+1/2 cup unbleached flour, 1+1/4 tp salt. Add about 1/2 cup warm water. Stir in the starter. Stir mixture to form dough. To adjust hydration, add evaporate milk about 1 TB at a time while mixing dough.
3. Once dough is at a good hydration level, allow it to rest for an hour or until volume doubles.
4. Punch dough down once. Add honey and oil. Knead.
5. Let dough rise again. Then punch it down again vigorously. Repeat this once more. Each rise takes about 2 hours. Keep dough in warm environment, such as a warm stove top, during the proofing time.
6. Grease a 8x4 loaf pan lightly with crisco shortening.
7. Punch dough down again gently this last time. Shape into a log. Place in loaf pan to proof.
8. After dough has risen for about 1 hour, brush top with evaporated milk to prevent drying out.
9. Preheat oven to 350F.
10. When dough has risen above the rim by 1/3 its height, start baking at 350F, middle rack.
11. Bake for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out and continue to cool on rack.
Results:
Day 1, 11:27pm, starter mixed and allowed to stay on counter top, with a cover:
Day 2, 10:55am, starter after overnight rest:
Day 2, 11:23am, lean dough formed with 1+1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1+1/2 cup unbleached flour, water (salt forgotten at this stage):
Day 2, 11:23am, lean dough's height before proofing:
Day 2, 12:28pm, lean dough proofed 1 hour:
Day 2, 12:28pm, lean dough's height after 1 hour of proofing:
Day 2, 12:34pm, dough punched down; salt, honey, oil added to dough:
Day 2, 12:34pm, final dough's height before proofing:
Day 2, 4:08pm, final dough proofed almost 4 hours on warm stove top, punched down once after the first 2 hours and allowed to rise for another 2 hours:
Day 2, 4:16pm, final dough shaped into a log in greased pan:
Day 2, 4:16pm, log's height before proofing:
Day 2, 4:53pm, log proofed 45 minutes, milk wash applied to prevent drying out:
Day 2, 4:53pm, log's top after applying milk wash:
Day 2, 5:22pm, dough's top after 1+1/2 hour of proofing:
Day 2, 5:22pm, dough's final height before baking:
Day 2, 5:22pm, baking started at 350F middle rack:
Day 2, 5:56pm, loaf baked about 35 minutes completely undisturbed, internal height reaching 200F:
Day 2, 5:57pm, thermometer coming out really clean:
Day 2, 5:57pm, loaf's top:
Day 2, 5:57pm, loaf's height:
Day 2, 6:10pm, loaf's side, turned out after 15 minutes:
Day 2, 6:11pm, loaf's heel:
Day 2, 6:11pm, loaf's top and corner:
Day 2, 7:01pm, slicing loaf, clean knife:
Day 2, 7:03pm, center slice:
Day 2, 7:03pm, heel slice:
Day 2, 7:48pm, crumb:
Day 2, 7:48pm, crust:
Day 2, 7:48pm, elastic and soft:
Day 2, 7:03pm, sliced to serve:
Observations:
1. The use of crisco shortening makes it much easier to turn out the bread. Since the amount of shortening used is minimal, it's worth the effort.
2. Punching dough down vigorously every 2 hours results in very nice crumb with evenly distributed small holes.
3. Allowing dough to proof in low warmth helps the proofing greatly. But be extremely careful not to overheat dough.
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