American Sandwich Bread
Source of Recipe
"Baking Illustrated " by the editors of Cooks Illustrated
Recipe Introduction
This makes a beautiful loaf with a crisp crust. This is just simple, flavorful sandwich bread. It turns out a firm, ‘toothy’ crumb (no cottony texture). Very easy to make (only takes about 2 hours from start to finish) – I had a perfect loaf my very first time. This is from the folks at Cooks Illustrated – they have, as usual, figured everything out and made all the mistakes for us! I ended up using fat free evaporated milk because I was out of regular milk – it worked fine.
List of Ingredients
3 ¾ c. unbleached AP flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
2 t. salt
1 c. warm whole milk (about 110 degrees)
1/3 c. warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 T. sweet butter, melted
3 T. honey
1 envelope (about 2 ¼ t.) instant yeast
Recipe
Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Once the oven temperature reaches 200 degrees, maintain the heat for 10 minutes, then turn off the oven.
Mix 3 ½ c. of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix the milk, water, butter, honey, and yeast in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Turn the machine to low and slowly add the liquid. When the dough comes together, increase the spend to medium and mix until the dough is smooth and satiny, stopping the machine two or three times to scrape the dough from the hook, if necessary, about 10 minutes. (After 5 minutes of kneading, if the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add flour, 1 T. at a time and up to ¼ c. total, until the dough is no longer sticky.) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface; knead to form a smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds.
Place the dough in a very lightly oiled large bowl, rubbing the dough around the bowl to coat lightly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the warmed oven until the dough doubles in size, 40 – 50 minutes.
Gently press the dough into a rectangle 1 inch thick and no longer than 9 inches. With a long side facing you, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn the dough seam-side up and pinch it closed. Place the dough seam-side down in a greased 9 by 5 inch loaf pan and press it gently so it touches all four sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap; set aside in a warm spot until the dough almost doubles in size, 20 to 30 minutes.
Keep one oven rack at the lowest position and place the other at the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place an empty baking pan on the bottom rack. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the boiling water into the empty pan on the bottom rack and set the loaf onto the middle rack. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end just above the pan rim into the center of the loaf reads 195 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool t room temperature. Slice and serve.
NOTE: To freeze bread: In the test kitchen, we have had great success with freezing…our bread(s). Wrapped first in aluminum foul and then in a large, plastic zipper-lock bag, the bread will keep for several months. When you’re ready to eat the bread, just remove it from the freezer, slip the foil-wrapped bread out of the zipper-lock bag, and place it on the center rack of a 450 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the loaf. After the allotted time, carefully remove the foil (watch out for the steam) and return the loaf to the oven for a few minutes to give the crust a chance to crisp.
Makes one loaf.
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