Whole Wheat English Muffins

Last week, after making a pot of mushroom barley stew, I wanted to bake something to have with it. My first thought was biscuits and then I switched my thinking to corn bread, and finally settled on some whole wheat muffins. I had made some savory whole wheat muffins to have with some dinner at some point in the past, but I couldn't remember what recipe I used. The internet turned up quite a few options, but it was this recipe for whole wheat English Muffins that caught my eye. Having wanted to give English Muffins a go for quite a while, I figured there was no time like the present (which I guess is now the past), and set to work.

About 3 hours later, I was pulling my first muffins off of the griddle and was quite happy with the results. The muffins looked good, tasted even better, and after a quick fork-splitting, had all the requisite nooks and crannies. If you've got a few hours on your hands, give this one a go.

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I did make a few minor alterations to the recipe as written. First and foremost, I substituted instant yeast for the dry yeast called for. Because of the way it's produced, instant yeast can be mixed directly into flour without proofing first in water. I find this to be quite convenient, and I'm sure you will too. If you're going to do any significant amount of bread baking, I highly recommend picking up a pound of SAF Instant Yeast (which can be stored in your freezer, and will last for months). I just made sure to add an extra 1/4 cup of water to the wet ingredients in the recipe (since I didn't have to proof the yeast). Second, I wanted my muffins to be 100% whole wheat, so I subbed 1 cup of white whole wheat flour for the white flour. Third, I added the wet ingredients to the dry all at the same time, mixed until the flour was moistened, and then did the kneading with my Kitchen Aid.

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Start by mixing the dry ingredients, and then the wet, in separate bowls.

As Alton Brown would say, add the wet team to the dry team. Mix everything until the flour is moistened, then knead either by hand or by mixer. I mixed on speed 2 in my Kitchen Aid for 4 minutes, allowed a 5 minute rest, then gave it 4 more minutes. If your kneading by hand, I'd probably go about 10 minutes (and try to resist the urge to add too much extra flour, the dough should be a bit sticky).

Round the dough into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap until doubled in size. The tip in this recipe about using the microwave and a cup of water to create a warm, moist place for the dough to rise is an excellent one that I've used many times with great success. Give it a try.

Punch the dough down and roll it out about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 3 inch rounds.

After all the dough is cut, cover the rounds with a damp cloth and allow them to rest for 20 minutes. Begin preheating a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium/low heat.

The most interesting aspect of making English muffins is the fact that they are not baked, but cooked on a griddle. This gives a distinctive browned top and bottom with a tender, soft middle to the cooked muffin. The trick is to have the pan just hot enough to brown the top and the bottom in about 8 to 10 minutes (5 minutes on first side, 3-5 on second side), and cook the muffin through the middle. If the heat is too low, they won't cook properly, and if the heat is too high, the top and bottom will brown (and burn) before the middle is cooked through. As the recipe says, you may sacrifice the first few while you get used to the cooking process.


Sprinkle some corn meal on the griddle and place a few rounds on the pan. Cook for 5 minutes then flip and cook for 3 to 5 additional minutes. Remove to a rack and cool completely.

If you want the aforementioned nooks and crannies, split the muffins with a fork. Toast, top as you like and enjoy! These went great with the stew, and the few that I had leftover froze beautifully. Just split them before you freeze them, then just pop one or two in the toaster whenever you need a warm, toasty muffin.

Recipe: Whole Wheat English Muffins

Easter

Aside from Thanksgiving, Easter is probably my favorite food holiday. Roast lamb, rice pie, ham pie (pizzagain)...all things that I love, made even more special because I only have them once a year on Easter and the fact that they are all expertly made by my mother. Oh yeah, how could I forget the Cadbury Mini Eggs...I really love those too!

Here's my contribution to this years meal, two loaves of french bread and an Easter Rye.

Whether or not you celebrate Easter (you can still have the Mini Eggs at least), have a great day!

Falafel and Pita

There were three lunch trucks outside the library where I worked in college, one of which was affectionately known as the "Greek Truck." I am pretty sure that this had to do with the fact that they had gyros and a big Greek guy, who whenever you would order anything with the works, would yell into the back of the truck to whomever was working the grill, "Give me a gyro all the way!" From this man I had my first pita with hummus, sprouts, and cucumber and I was hooked right away. Soon after I had my first falafel, and all was right with the world. Now anything on a pita always makes me think of that lunch truck and the man who taught me that it's not pronounced "jahy-ro," but "jeer-oh."

I have made a few pita recipes over the past year or so with pretty good results, but I have tried a different recipe pretty much every time. Recently, when I saw a post about pita on the Smitten Kitchen blog, I knew that I had yet another new recipe to test. Now, what to put in the pita once they were baked? Falafel sounded good to me, so I decided to try my hand at frying some up. Except for one somewhat failed attempt many years ago at one of my first all-veggie meals to try and impress my new fiance (she married me anyway so I guess those falafel couldn't have been too bad), I have never made falafel at home. I perused a few recipes and settled on this one from Mark Bittman.

The pita recipe worked beautifully. The dough was very easy to work with and the pita puffed nicely in the oven.

Now I think I'm finally ready to take the plunge, settle down, and commit to a pita recipe.

The falafel were very good as well. I cut down the cayenne in the recipe by half and forgot to add the onion, although I don't think the falafel were any worse for it. I am definitely going to be making this recipe again as well. I prefer a light, tangy yogurt sauce on my falafel rather than a tahini-based sauce. I just combined some yogurt with a bit of lemon juice, some minced garlic, and a dash of salt, pepper, and cumin. Delicious!

All I can say is, "Give me a falafel, all the way!"

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Pita Bread Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Falafel Recipe from Mark Bittman's Bitten Blog

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch pretty much every day (which I believe I've mentioned before). I prefer the kind of peanut butter with nothing but peanuts on the ingredient list. You know, the stuff that you have to stir the oil back into it when you first open it, which I admit is annoying, but well worth it to me. I also prefer strawberry jelly, but will settle for basically anything except goopy grape, as long as it tastes like fruit rather than sugar. My peanut butter and jelly is pretty much the anti-stereotypical soggy grape jelly white bread version that I saw so many of my peers eating on a daily basis all throughout elementary school. Of course the key to this sandwich, as with any sandwich, is the bread.

I want a bread that is substantial enough to maintain its integrity when peanut butter is spread upon it and won't be a soggy mess if I make it at 5:30 am and eat it at lunch time. I want it to be 100% whole wheat, but I don't want it to be dense and dry like so many whole wheat breads. Lastly, I want to make it myself because I like to know what's going into my food, it's cheaper than buying bread and tastes better, and I just like baking bread.

So after trying a few different recipes, most of which were very good, I've settled on the one on the back of the King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour bag. It's relatively easy to make, stays nice and fresh all week long, freezes well, and meets all of my other requirements listed above. For the past 5 or so months I've been making 2 loaves of this bread a week and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Oh, and it makes the house smell absolutely incredible while it bakes.

And of course, I just could not resist doing this:

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I always double this recipe to make sure I won't run out of bread midweek and have to bake more. Since it freezes so well, I don't have to worry about one loaf going bad. Start by mixing flour, yeast, salt, and non-fat dry milk (which apparently adds vitamins and nutrients, imparts flavor, tenderizes the bread, helps color the crust, AND increases the keeping quality of the bread - wow).

Add honey, vegetable oil (I use canola), and water. Stir until all the flour is hydrated. If you don't feel like stirring, you can have a helper do it for you.

Knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes until you have a smooth, slightly tacky ball of dough. Or, if you're lazy like me, knead with the dough hook of your mixer for about 5 minutes. You might need to add additional flour at this point if the dough is sticking to the sides/bottom of the bowl. Add just enough so that the flour clears the sides and bottom.

Place the dough into a container that has been lightly sprayed with oil.

Allow the dough to double, which takes about 1 hour.

Dump the dough out onto a cutting board and knead it lightly to degas it. Form the dough into a ball and divide it into two equal pieces.

Spray two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pans lightly with spray oil. Take one of the dough balls and flatten it out into a rectangle.

Form the dough into a loaf by rolling it up, pushing down on the seam with the side of your hand as you go. Fold the ends under the roll, and pinch all the seams closed. The roll in this picture is actually kind of lopsided, it should look much more even.

Place the roll of dough into the pan and lightly press down (it will spring back a bit). Cover the dough with plastic wrap. I've actually been placing the pans in a large plastic bag lately instead of covering them with plastic wrap, and the results have been better for me. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Allow the dough to rise for approximately one hour, or until the dough crests about 1 inch above the top of the pan. Slash the loaves - I like to them with a long straight slash right down the middle. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes, turn them, and bake another 20 minutes. When the loaves are done, remove them from the pans and allow them to cool completely on a rack. If you're not going to use them right away, wrap them well in plastic wrap and freeze them immediately. When you want to use a loaf, just take it out of the freezer a few hours before you want it.

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100% Whole Wheat Bread (adapted from King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour bag)
About 3 hours - makes 2 loaves

• 8 cups of King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup of non-fat dry milk
• 5 teaspoons of instant yeast
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 2/3 cups of room temperature water

1. Mix the flour, dry milk, instant yeast, and salt in the work bowl of a standing mixer (or a regular mixing bowl)
2. Add the oil, honey, and water and stir until all the flour is hydrated
3. Knead with the dough hook on low speed for 5 minutes (or knead by hand for 10 minutes) until a smooth, slightly tacky ball forms. The dough should clear the sides and bottom of the bowl, add flour to achieve this if necessary.
4. Place the dough in a bowl sprayed lightly with oil, cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise until doubled, approximately 1 hour
5. Dump the dough onto a counter and gently knead a few times to degas
6. Work the dough into a ball and divide it into 2 equal pieces
7. Spray two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pans with spray oil
8. Form each dough ball into a loaf and place into pans
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
   
10. Cover pans with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise until it crests 1 inch above the top of the pan, approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour
11. Slash the loaves down the middle
12. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes, turn the loaves, and bake another 20 minutes
13. Remove the loaves from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack
    

Bretzel Rolls (or Bavarian Pretzel Sandwich Rolls)

Since Memorial Day has become the de facto start of the "summer grilling season," I decided to go with the flow and make barbecued chicken. Almost immediately my mouth began watering as I thought about delicious sandwiches of tangy, warm chicken topped by cool, creamy cole slaw on a nice soft roll. I really love Stop & Shop's Nature's Promise brand whole wheat sandwich rolls for something like this. They're nice and soft, not loaded with all the crap you find in many brands of soft rolls (like high fructose corn syrup, miscellaneous binders, and artificial colors), and are slightly larger than normal burger buns so you can make a nice size sandwich. Unfortunately, many people must not share my love, because the Stop & Shop I regularly shop at usually has only 3 to 4 bags of them at any given time. Sunday morning when I went shopping, they were nowhere to be found in the entire store. Not wanting to settle, I left roll-less with the idea that I'd come back Monday morning and see if some had miraculously appeared overnight.

I guess I should have known that there was no way I'd feel like going back to the store on Monday just to get rolls (when technically, sandwiches were not absolutely essential to the meal, we'd still have the chicken and all the sides), but I really wanted a barbecue sandwich. I believe it was Plato who first described necessity as "the mother of invention" about 2400 years ago, and he was right on the money. Since I was basically too lazy to drive to the store (which is literally 2 miles from my house and takes about 5 minutes to get to), I decided I would bake some rolls. After a few minutes searching on the internet, I settled on an adapted version of this recipe for bretzel rolls, which are basically soft pretzel-like sandwich rolls. I'm not sure what it is that makes somebody too lazy to drive 5 minutes, but willing to enter into a 2 hour roll making process instead, but I'm glad I have that trait because it led to some great rolls (and some great sandwiches too).

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Let me start off by saying that even if you don't bake bread, this recipe is worth a shot. It's not very difficult, doesn't take tons of time, the dough is easy to work with, and you'll be amazed at how deliciously soft and pretzel-ly these rolls come out. You'll be hard pressed not to just keep eating them one after another, trust me. I made my rolls using my Kitchen Aid, but it is by no means necessary, as the mixing and kneading for this recipe is minimal.

Start off by mixing the flour with the yeast (make sure you are using instant yeast, which you can find in the store labeled fast rising, rapid rise, or bread machine yeast, if you use active dry yeast instead you'll have to use a little more than the recipe calls for and proof it first). Combine the melted butter, warmed milk, warm water, and sugar in a bowl and mix until the sugar is dissolved. The recipe calls for 4 cups of all purpose flour, but I substituted 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of white whole wheat. I'm sure you could experiment with different types and ratios of flours, but I wouldn't recommend going more than 50 percent whole wheat at first.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until you have a nice, shaggy dough ball.

Using the dough hook, knead for 2 minutes, or alternately, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 2 minutes. The dough should be smooth, soft, and pliable but not sticky. If it is very sticky, you should knead in some more flour to achieve the proper consistency. Round the dough into a ball.

Using a bench scraper, or a sharp chef knife, cut the dough ball into 2 even pieces. When cutting dough, you want to use downward pressure to cut through the dough, not a back and forth sawing motion. Round the pieces and cut them again. Repeat this process until you have 8 even size dough balls. Cover the balls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for 10 minutes.

Pat the balls into slightly flat rolls about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Place the rolls on a lightly floured counter, cover them with plastic wrap that has been sprayed lightly with oil, and let them rest for 30 minutes. They will rise a little bit during this time.

While the rolls are resting, preheat the oven, get the baking pans ready, and bring the water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the baking soda. My advice is to use a deep pan and add the baking soda a little at a time (I used a shallow pan and added it all at once, resulting in an eruption of water all over my stove top and down into my oven, not fun). Boil the rolls two at a time for 30 seconds, turning once. Drain the rolls and place them on the prepared baking sheet (the original recipe said to place them on a lightly oiled baking sheet, but when I make this recipe again, I will use parchment paper sprayed with a bit of oil, as I think this will prevent the bottoms from getting overly browned - I almost burned mine but caught them just in time). Sprinkle the rolls with a bit of kosher salt.

Bake the rolls for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are nicely browned all over. Remove the rolls to a rack and allow them to cool. These rolls are absolutely delicious. They are chewy and slightly sweet, perfect for a sandwich or eating by themselves. I didn't have any leftover, but I've read that you should store them uncovered, for no more than 2 days. If you place them in a covered container, they apparently get soggy (I doubt you'll have leftovers).

You could easily scale this recipe up or down to make more or less, cut the rolls into smaller pieces and use them as dinner rolls, roll the dough into long strips and shape them into pretzels, or anything else you can think of. I bet they would be a huge hit at a children's party. I can't wait to try these out for burgers.

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Bretzel Rolls (adapted from Recipezaar.com)
2 hours start to finish - Makes 8 sandwich size rolls

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast which will need proofing)
  
• 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons warm milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 quarts of water
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• kosher salt
• spray oil (I really like this stuff, the high heat canola is great)
  

1. Mix the flour and yeast in the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl)
2. Melt the butter and warm the milk
3. Combine the butter, milk, water, and brown sugar in a separate bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved
4. Add the butter mixture to the flour and stir until all the flour is hydrated and you have a firm, pliable dough ball
5. Using the dough hook, knead the dough for 2 minutes, or if you're kneading by hand, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2 minutes
6. Round the dough into a ball and cut it in half with a bench scraper or chef knife
7. Continue rounding and cutting 2 more times until you have 8 even dough balls
8. Arrange the balls on a lightly floured surface, cover with a damp cloth, and allow them to rest for 10 minutes
9. Pat the dough balls into rolls by slightly flattening them (you should have a semi-flat disc about3 to 4 inches in diameter)
10. Arrange the rolls on a lightly floured surface about 1 inch apart, cover them with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and allow them to rest for 30 minutes
11. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, line one large 3/4 sheet pan, or two 1/2 sheets with parchment paper, spray the paper lightly with oil
12. In a large stockpot, bring the water to a rolling boil and add the baking soda (make sure the pot is deep enough that it doesn't boil over when you add the baking soda, you may also want to add the baking soda slowly to lessen the chance of boil over)
13. Drop 2 rolls into the boiling water and boil for 30 seconds, turning once
14. Remove the rolls from the water with a slotted spoon, drain them, place them on the prepared sheet pans, and sprinkle lightly with salt
15. Once all the rolls have been boiled, bake on the upper and middle rack of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the rolls are nicely browned all over, shifting the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through cooking
16. Remove the rolls and transfer them to a wire rack
17. Serve warm or at room temperature

Rustic Bread

I have not purchased a loaf of bread (except for a day old ciabatta to make croutons) in three weeks. It's taken me about 2 months of reading and practice, but I can now produce all the bread I need for a week over the weekend. When I decided I wanted to start baking my own bread, this was my only real goal. Now that I've been baking bread though, I must say it's become quite an addictive hobby, and the desire to turn out better and better loaves seems to haunt me lately on a daily basis. The really amazing thing I've learned so far about baking bread is that the most minute changes in ingredients or techniques can have major effects on the finished loaf. It is because of this fact that almost endless experimentation is possible. I can see myself baking the same recipe 20 times in a row, every time changing some little nuance just to try and get the bread to be all it can be.

My bread baking breaks down into 2 basic categories. First, are what I've been referring to as sandwich breads, of which oatmeal bread would be a good example. These breads are usually enriched, deriving some of their flavors from additions like honey or butter, and are baked in loaf pans. Second, are artisanal breads, of which ciabatta would be a good example. Artisanal bread baking basically refers to the idea that the breads are hand crafted, and elevates bread baking almost to an art form. These breads are usually baked on the floor of a stone oven, or stone tiles in a home oven. They typically feature beautiful crusts, a somewhat open, airy, crumb, and derive their flavor from sugars that are the result of fermentation by yeast and bacteria, and from enzyme action. This process takes time, so artisan loaves can't be made extremely quickly. Most involve some type of starter, a long fermentation period, or a combination of both in order to maximize flavor.

My early attempts at artisanal style baking were focused on ciabatta, with mixed results. I definitely need to keep experimenting (and I will). Last week though I decided to try a recipe I found on The Fresh Loaf website for something called rustic bread. The results were my first loaves that I was truly proud of. They looked beautiful and tasted even better. So of course I have a batch in the oven right now as I write this to see if I could repeat my success or if maybe I just got lucky that first time. I'll let you know how it turns out at the end of the post.

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The recipe starts the day before you want to bake the bread with a starter. Mix the bread flour and salt, and stir the yeast into the water.

Add the yeast/water mixture to the flour and stir until all the flour is hydrated. Add a little water if there is still flour on the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the starter with plastic wrap and leave it out overnight (up to 16 hours, then refrigerate if you're not ready to continue).

The next day make the main dough by mixing bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt, yeast, and more water until all the ingredients are hydrated.

Dump the starter onto a board and chop it into a bunch of tiny pieces, if it sticks to the board a bit, use your bench scraper, but resist the urge to add extra flour (so far in my limited experience, erring on the slightly wetter side of things makes for better bread).

Add the chopped up starter to the main dough and knead by hand for about 10 minutes or with the dough hook of your mixer for about 5 minutes. Again, this dough is pretty wet (which is referred to in bread baking as "slack dough") and can be hard to knead by hand, but try not to add too much flour.

Put your dough into an oiled bowl and allow it to ferment for 2 1/2 hours. I turn the thermostat in my house up to 70 degrees when I'm fermenting but if it's cooler in your house you might need to let it go a bit longer. According to Peter Reinhart, fermentation time doubles with every 17 degree Fahrenheit decrease (and halves with an equivalent increase). So adjust your fermentation time according to the temperature in your house. After 60 minutes, lightly punch down your dough and flatten it into a large rectangle.

The dough is then folded which helps the gluten to develop. Folding is a great technique for working with slack doughs since they are hard to knead due to their high water content (very sticky). By the end of the second folding, you should be able to feel the development of the dough (it will feel stretchy) and be much easier to handle when its time for shaping.

Cut the dough into two even pieces (I'm still getting the hang of this - I swear I'm always cutting exactly evenly, but it never seems to turn out that way). Shape the pieces (I made batards) and place them on a floured peel or parchment paper on the back of a sheet pan and let them proof for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. About 45 minutes before baking, preheat the oven (and your baking stone if you have one) to 450 degrees.

The loaves will noticeably swell. Slash them, spritz them with water and put them onto your baking stone. After 30 seconds open the oven and spray the walls, the back of the oven, and the loaves. Be careful not to get any water on the oven glass, as it will shatter (I found this out the hard way and it cost me over $200). You can also put a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven to create more steam. I used to preheat the oven with the pan inside and throw the water into the pan to create a burst of steam, but this is how I shattered my oven door, so now I heat the water in the pan on the stove top until just about to boil, then I place the pan into the oven. It doesn't create that burst of steam, but it keeps the oven environment a little more humid during the first few minutes of baking which helps promote good crust development. Rotate the loaves after 15 minutes and continue to bake another 10 minutes. The internal temperature of the bread should be 205 to 210 degrees and the bread should be nicely browned. If the bread is browning too quickly, try turning down the oven temperature. Cool the bread completely on a rack.

Once the bread has cooled, slice and enjoy! This bread is fabulous, with a crisp, chewy crust and a terrific crumb.

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So my second batch of rustic bread has long since come out of the oven, cooled, and been eaten (one loaf at least), and I think I can safely say that this recipe is a total winner. The bread was just as delicious as the first time, and baked up beautifully as well. I made 3 smaller loaves instead of 2 larger ones, which would have been fine had I not tried to proof them all on one peel and bake them at the same time. There wasn't quite enough room in my oven to maneuver and the loaves ended up touching each other for the first few minutes of baking until the were set enough that I could open the oven door and separate them with my bench scraper. The end result was pretty much cosmetic only, as some of the crust on the sides of the bread did not properly brown. The loaves also may have been a little higher if I hadn't had to handle them so much on the peel before putting them in the oven (they were a little too close for comfort after proofing and I tried to slide them apart with limited success). I'll make this one again the next 2 weekends just to be sure, but I think this is going to become my first "go to" bread when I need something extra special to put on the table.

Now that I had some great bread, I needed a meal to go with it. I had a few leftover shrimp in the freezer, so I made a modified scampi style dish. Lots of olive oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper over whole wheat sphaghetti.

When I finished my bowlful there was all this garlicky, peppery oil left in at the bottom. The rustic bread performed admirably.

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If you're interested in baking bread, but never have before, it might be best to read through this excellent tutorial before attempting this recipe.

Rustic Bread (slightly adapted from Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes)

2 days (about 1 hour total hands on time)

For the starter:

• 16 ounces bread flour
• 9 1/2 ounces of water, room temperature (~70 degrees)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

For the main dough:

• 10 ounces bread flour
• 6 ounces whole wheat flour
• 12 1/2 ounces water, room temperature
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• all of the starter

Make the starter the night before you want to bake (or very early in the morning):

1. Stir the yeast into the water
2. Mix the flour and the salt
3. Add the water mixture to the flour mixture and stir until all the flour is hydrated (no loose flour in the bowl). Add a few drops of water to pick up the last bits of flour if necessary
4. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours (refrigerate after 16 hours if you're not ready to bake

Make the dough, ferment, shape, proof, and bake the bread:

1. Combine all of the dough ingredients except the starter in a large bowl (or the bowl of your mixer) and stir until all the flour is hydrated
2. Cut the starter into small pieces and add it to the dough
3. Mix the starter into the dough by kneading. If using a mixer, mix with the dough hook on the suggested speed for 5 minutes (I knead on 2 in my Kitchen Aid). If kneading by hand, knead for about 10 minutes. Try keeping your hands wet so the dough doesn't stick, this will also offset any flour you may add while kneading.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow it to ferment for 2 1/2 hours
5. After 1 hour, empty the dough onto a floured surface, gently spread it into a rectangle and fold it in thirds like a letter then rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold again, place the dough back in the bowl. Repeat this process after 2 hours of fermentation.
6. After the dough has fermented, divide it into 2 equal pieces, shape them into either boules or batards, and place them on a floured peel or an upside down baking sheet with parchment paper and cover them with a towel.
7. Allow the loaves to proof for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours
8. 45 minutes before baking, preheat your oven and stone (if you're using one) to 450 degrees
9. Slash the loaves, spray them with water, and put them into the oven (either directly onto the stone or bake them on the back of an inverted baking sheet). Use whatever method you prefer for creating steam. I suggest placing an oven-safe pan (like cast iron) with about 1 cup of simmering water on the bottom rack of the oven below your stone.
   
10. After 30 seconds, open the oven and spray the oven walls, back of the oven, and the loaves themselves with water. Repeat this 2 more times in 30 second intervals.
11. Allow the bread to bake for 15 minutes then rotate the loaves.
12. Bake 10 additional minutes (watch the bread at this point to make sure it's not browning too quickly) and check the temperature of the bread, it should be over 200 degrees, ideally 205 to 210. If the loaves are brown but have not reached an ideal internal temperature, lower your oven temperature and try to continue baking (if you think they're about to burn, then remove them). The total baking time for this bread can be anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes depending on the oven (In my oven the bread is almost done after 20 minutes).
13. Allow the bread to cool completely on a rack.
14. If you're going to save bread more than 1 day, wrap it in a double layer of plastic wrap upon cooling and freeze. To use, take bread out of the freezer a few hours before you wish to eat it. Just before eating, place unwrapped bread in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.
    

Oatmeal Bread

When it comes to lunch, I'm a sandwich guy. I eat a sandwich for lunch almost every day, and it's to the point where if I don't eat a sandwich, I feel like I'm missing something. It doesn't matter how delicious the leftovers are from last night's dinner, when it comes to lunch today, I'd rather have a peanut butter and jelly (which is pretty much what I eat every weekday - not that soggy jelly on wonder bread kind of sandwich though, I never did dig that). If there is bread available at any meal, I pretty much always make a sandwich. My perfect eating day begins with an egg sandwich, continues with a fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil sandwich on fresh ciabatta, and ends with a burger (which may or may not be a sandwich, but it's close). I've eaten sandwiches from tons of different restaurants, delis, lunch trucks...you get the idea, and there's invariably one thing that sets apart a good sandwich from a great sandwich, no matter what the filling, and that of course is the bread.

When it comes to my weekday sandwich, which as I said is usually PB & J, but occasionally could be something like egg salad, leftover chicken, or other leftover meats, I'm looking for a bread that is whole grain and nutritious without being overly dense and dry. I've been eating Stop & Shop's Nature's Promise Whole Wheat Bread pretty consistently for about a year now, and while it's very good bread, I still have that feeling that I could be doing better. One of my goals when I got into bread baking a few months ago was to one day be baking my sandwich bread on a weekly basis. Towards that end I've begun trying out some enriched dough, loaf bread recipes. Enriched means that the dough is made richer and more flavorful by the addition of milk, eggs, butter, fruit, etc. as opposed to just using flour, yeast, and salt and relying on fermentation and enzyme action to coax sugars out of the wheat for flavor. I started last week with the whole wheat bread recipe on the back of the King Arthur Flour bag. It had a very noticeable wheat flavor that's almost completely absent from the bread I'd been eating, which I enjoyed immensely. The bread was a bit on the dense side, but not dry at all and still in the acceptable part of the denseness spectrum (which only exists in my mind). I will be making it again in the future. Today I tried another recipe, Oatmeal Bread.

I got the recipe for this bread on a site called The Fresh Loaf where is was posted by another site user who got it originally from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. When reading over the recipe I noticed that it called for oatmeal made with steel cut oats rather than rolled oats. No problem there, as steel cut oats are a frequent Saturday morning breakfast at my house. So about 6:30 this morning I got up and made a batch of oatmeal (which takes about 45 minutes), reserved a cup for the bread, mixed the rest with some bananas and maple syrup and gave it to my wife and daughter (none for me because I'm still eating bagels from the batch I made on Thursday).

Mix the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, dried milk, salt, yeast) in one bowl and the wet ingredients (oatmeal, water, oil, honey) in another.

Combine the wet with the dry (the recipe said to add the dry to the wet, but I had already mixed the dry in the larger bowl, so I did the opposite - I don't think it made a difference) and stir to loosely combine all the ingredients. This makes quite a crumbly mixture that doesn't really resemble dough yet.

Dump the flour mixture onto the counter and knead. The dough begins to come together after a few minutes and after about 10 minutes of kneading, form the dough into a ball.

Place the ball of dough in a bowl, cover it and allow it to rise in a warm spot for about 2 and 1/2 hours.

Test the dough by poking it . If the depression does not spring back quickly, the dough is good to go. Put it on the counter and prepare to fold it by giving it a stretch into a rough rectangle shape. Try not to handle the dough to roughly.

Fold the dough down and then up, from the left to the right and finally from the right to the left. There are some good videos and written instructions showing and describing the stretch and fold method at the Sourdough Home Website.

Form the dough back into a ball, put it back in a bowl, cover and allow it to rise for another hour.

Form the dough into a bread pan loaf. I used the technique described in Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. Basically you stretch the dough into a rectangle and roll it up from one of the narrow ends. Roll the top of the bread in some rolled oats soaked in milk, then place it in an oiled 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. As you can see, I rolled my loaf a bit small. It should be touching both ends of the pan to ensure a more even rise, but I didn't re-roll it.

Once again cover the dough and allow it to rise one final time until the dough crests about 1 inch above the pan. For me, this took about 2 additional hours.

At least 1/2 hour before baking, you want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the bread in the oven and bake it for 45 to 55 minutes. An amazing aroma will begin to permeate your house almost immediately, which is one of the great joys of making bread at home. The best way to tell when it's done is with a digital, instant-read thermometer. You're looking for 190 degrees in the center of the bread. For me this took 45 minutes. Remove the bread and cool completely on a rack (at least 1 hour) before slicing.

This bread smelled great when it was baking, looked great when it came out of the oven, and tasted wonderful upon slicing. The flavor of the oats really adds an interesting dynamic that was absent in the straight whole wheat bread I'd made before. The honey does not dominate, but provides a subtle hint of sweetness in the background. I can't wait to make a sandwich.