bee_pipes
06-04-2009, 07:49 AM
I’m no expert on bread making. I have done a little reading on the subject, but no secret formulas. I saw the thread about tough bread and thought I’d chime in with my two cents.
Here’s the basic recipe we started with:
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 cup warm water
2 pkgs yeast
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 egg, beaten
3 tsp salt
8 cup flour
Combine sugar, warm water and yeast in a large mixing bowl; let stand for 10 minutes. Combine cooking oil and egg and add to yeast mixture. Stir in salt and 3 cups flour; mix well. Stir in additional 3 cups flour; mix well. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft, sticky dough. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise until double in bulk; punch down, turn dough over in bowl and allow to rise, covered, until double in bulk again – about 45 minutes. Shape dough into three loaves and put in greased loaf pans; cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 400ºF for 25 minutes, or until loaves are lightly browned. Brush crusts with melted butter to soften.
We have tweaked this recipe somewhat and are not so attentive when rising the dough. The results are pleasing and I prefer the bread to anything we can purchase in the store. I will often have a glass of OJ and two slabs of bread toasted and swimming in butter as my breakfast – it holds my appetite at bay until lunch – sometimes until dinner. We use the bread for sandwiches, French toast, and slim slices as hotdog rolls – wrapped around a dog with ketchup and mustard.
First off, we have substituted ¾ cup of honey for the sugar. We have bees so honey is more readily available than sugar, which must be purchased. We also substitute 3 cups flour with whole wheat flour; more than three cups seems to make the loaves too heavy to rise adequately. The remainder of the flour is bread flour – a higher protein than all purpose flour. We use a duck egg, which is significantly larger than a hen egg. One time I ran out of duck eggs and tried substituting two hen eggs – it affected the flavor of the bread so don’t use more than one hen egg. Lately I have been using canola oil just because I heard it has a milder flavor than vegetable oil.
We use a kitchen aid mixer with dough hook to blend the dough. Generally I can’t get more than 7 – 7 ½ cups of flour into the dough – any more than that and the dough starts crawling up the dough hook.
I have a 6 qt bucket with lid that I put the dough into to rise. Rise time is a matter of convenience for me, rather than a timed even. I am usually doing other things and don’t want to be held captive by the dough. If the dough rises to high, I just bang the bucket on the counter two or three times to get the dough to drop back to the bottom of the bucket. It is not unusual for me to make the dough in the morning and not getting loaves into the oven until 11 PM.
The only kneading I do is to work in flour to the point where the dough is not too sticky to handle and I am satisfied that all large bubbles in the dough are pressed out.
I divide the dough into thirds and shape into loaves, dropping these loaves into the loaf pans and flattening them out into the corners. The loaf pans are covered with a damp dish towel and I check them every thirty minutes until they have risen to the size I want.
The oven is set to 400ºF and I place a glass 13x9 pan on the bottom oven rack. I get the hottest tap water I can and pour a quart or two in this pan. When the oven has reached temperature, I put the loaves in the oven for 25 minutes called for.
The bread freezes well. The loaves, when cooled, are wrapped in freezer paper and frozen. When the current loaf is getting low, I pull one out of the freezer and place upside-down in the fridge (so condensation does not settle to the bottom of the loaf). The loaf thaws overnight and is ready for use the next day.
Like I said, I’m no expert bread maker, but the results of this recipe and process is quite pleasing for me. We have been eating homemade bread for over a year now, and some neighbors are buying bread from me.
Regards,
Pat
Here’s the basic recipe we started with:
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 cup warm water
2 pkgs yeast
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 egg, beaten
3 tsp salt
8 cup flour
Combine sugar, warm water and yeast in a large mixing bowl; let stand for 10 minutes. Combine cooking oil and egg and add to yeast mixture. Stir in salt and 3 cups flour; mix well. Stir in additional 3 cups flour; mix well. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft, sticky dough. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise until double in bulk; punch down, turn dough over in bowl and allow to rise, covered, until double in bulk again – about 45 minutes. Shape dough into three loaves and put in greased loaf pans; cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 400ºF for 25 minutes, or until loaves are lightly browned. Brush crusts with melted butter to soften.
We have tweaked this recipe somewhat and are not so attentive when rising the dough. The results are pleasing and I prefer the bread to anything we can purchase in the store. I will often have a glass of OJ and two slabs of bread toasted and swimming in butter as my breakfast – it holds my appetite at bay until lunch – sometimes until dinner. We use the bread for sandwiches, French toast, and slim slices as hotdog rolls – wrapped around a dog with ketchup and mustard.
First off, we have substituted ¾ cup of honey for the sugar. We have bees so honey is more readily available than sugar, which must be purchased. We also substitute 3 cups flour with whole wheat flour; more than three cups seems to make the loaves too heavy to rise adequately. The remainder of the flour is bread flour – a higher protein than all purpose flour. We use a duck egg, which is significantly larger than a hen egg. One time I ran out of duck eggs and tried substituting two hen eggs – it affected the flavor of the bread so don’t use more than one hen egg. Lately I have been using canola oil just because I heard it has a milder flavor than vegetable oil.
We use a kitchen aid mixer with dough hook to blend the dough. Generally I can’t get more than 7 – 7 ½ cups of flour into the dough – any more than that and the dough starts crawling up the dough hook.
I have a 6 qt bucket with lid that I put the dough into to rise. Rise time is a matter of convenience for me, rather than a timed even. I am usually doing other things and don’t want to be held captive by the dough. If the dough rises to high, I just bang the bucket on the counter two or three times to get the dough to drop back to the bottom of the bucket. It is not unusual for me to make the dough in the morning and not getting loaves into the oven until 11 PM.
The only kneading I do is to work in flour to the point where the dough is not too sticky to handle and I am satisfied that all large bubbles in the dough are pressed out.
I divide the dough into thirds and shape into loaves, dropping these loaves into the loaf pans and flattening them out into the corners. The loaf pans are covered with a damp dish towel and I check them every thirty minutes until they have risen to the size I want.
The oven is set to 400ºF and I place a glass 13x9 pan on the bottom oven rack. I get the hottest tap water I can and pour a quart or two in this pan. When the oven has reached temperature, I put the loaves in the oven for 25 minutes called for.
The bread freezes well. The loaves, when cooled, are wrapped in freezer paper and frozen. When the current loaf is getting low, I pull one out of the freezer and place upside-down in the fridge (so condensation does not settle to the bottom of the loaf). The loaf thaws overnight and is ready for use the next day.
Like I said, I’m no expert bread maker, but the results of this recipe and process is quite pleasing for me. We have been eating homemade bread for over a year now, and some neighbors are buying bread from me.
Regards,
Pat