Sandwich Bread

Before getting the idea to start a blog, I've tried my hand at sandwich bread several times.  I think I might be up to trial 4 or 5 even!

Sandwich bread, or bread in general is really hard to make perfectly, so why go through the effort? It's about a 4 hour process where as buying a loaf of bread from the store can take about 4 minutes! Who has time for a 4 hour baking process? Well, once you've tasted a homemade slice of bread, then you know why you can make time for the process.

In each of these trials, I've learned something new and applied that to the next loaf. The key things I've learned involve the following:

• Kneading
• Rise Time
• Yeast and liquid temperature
• Flour
• Salt

Well, isn't that just about everything regarding baking bread? Yes! I said it was hard to make perfectly. In each of my trials to date, I've learned that all of the elements are important by themselves and togethernd need to be treated with respect so that everyone gets along!

Kneading
I'm kneading my bread by hand because I don't have a bread machine or a fancy stand mixer.  Kneading by hand is hard work and a great workout for your arms and shoulders!  The technique is difficult to get down and I'm having problems with "knead[ing] the dough until smooth and elastic." What does smooth and elastic mean anyway? You want the dough to be stretchy without ripping. You want to develop the gluten in the flour so that the gluten becomes long strands that make your bread stand up straight.  Still not sure what that means? Me neither which is why this blog exists!

Rise Time
Rise time involves timing and watching the dough until it is doubled in volume.  Sounds easy doesn't it? Well, with bread you can overproof it and that's just not good.  I'm not sure if I've accomplished that yet, but I know that I've had underrisen bread.  Underrisen dough for me has come from killing the yeast.

Yeast and Liquid Temperature
Yeast is a living organism and one that is rather picky.  My recipe called for having the milk and water at 110F.  That's a bit warmer than body temperature.  I nuked my milk and water for 3 minutes and it was well above the right temperature!  In my last trial I took the temperature of the milk and water  to ensure that it was 110F and I believe that made a huge difference.  It also pays to follow the directions of your yeast.  There are several types of yeast and the yeast I have requires it to be mixed with a little water and sugar first.  I had been throwing in the dry yeast with the flour!  My next trial will have the yeast "proofed" according to the package.

Flour
Flour is a tricky ingredient as well. You don't want too much flour and you don't want too little.  In my later trials, I've learned to take the last 1/2 cup flour out of the mixing bowl and using that too knead my dough.  This is to make sure that I don't have too much flour going in the bread.  You don't want a dry loaf after all.

Salt
Salt is also one of those secret little ingredients that doesn't seem like it makes a big difference, but it really does.  In my last loaf, I forgot the salt.  My dough rose beautifully in both rises, but once I put it in the oven and took it out, my bread deflated! After some google sleuthing this was due to forgetting the salt.  Evidently, yeast needs salt to stop growing.  My yeast just kept growing, growing, growing and then popped in the oven.  It was definitely something good to learn.

Best mistake of all?
In my first trial, I forgot the water!  I was mixing the flour with milk and saw that the dough was really dry and I had no idea why.  I added water just because I thought it was dry, but didn't realize until after the bread came out of the oven, that I forgot the water.

Read the recipe and follow it exactly!
It might be tough (it is if you're me), but it will make a difference and that's what I'm trying to accomplish! This the quest for the perfect sandwich bread!