Brown Bread

As a teen i hated brown bread....i always felt it was a little to dense for my palette. Now as an adult i have come to enjoy the earthiness of it and i love whole grain and other rustic bread...but honestly, i still love white bread :)

I was looking thru the blogs..my fav. pass time..and realized that world bread day was on Oct. 16th... and i have been dreaming paninis for a while, so i decided to bake some bread...so that i could make paninis. Actually after my experiments with baking, i have become a sort of snob if i must say so...i only love the bread baked super fresh and home-made.....which translates to....i like only what i bake (shameful!) I got this super easy recipe from the book called 'Bread' by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno and i decided to go ahead and give it a go. I did make a few changes and that is documented in brackets ().


Ballymaloe Brown Bread - adapted from 'Bread'

Ingredients:

Dry Yeast - 3 1/2 tsp. (i used 2 sachets - which is 4 tsp.)
Water - 1 2/3 cups. ( i needed 1/4 cup more than what was asked)
Mollases - 1 tsp.
Whole Wheat flour - 3 3/4 cup ( i used 2 3/4 cup whole wheat and 1 cup bread flour)
Salt - 2 tsp.

Method:

1. Grease a loaf pan and warm it in a 250 F oven for 10 mts. Remove and keep aside in a warm place.

2. In a bowl take 2/3 cup of warm water and add the yeast and let it sit for 5 mts. After 5 minutes give it a stir to dissolve the yeast completely and add the mollases. Let this mixture stay for 10 mts, till it is frothy on top.

3. In a big bowl,combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center and add the yeast and start kneading the dough. Slowly add the remaning 1 cup of water as needed and add more water if the dough is still dry 1 tbls at a time.

4. When the dough comes together knead it well till it leaves the sides of the bowl and forms a soft dough.

5. Place the dough in the preheated loaf pan, cover with a dish towel and let it rise for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 450 F and bake the bread for 30 minutes, then lower the heat to 400 F and bake for a further 15 minutes.

7. Take the bread out and place it in the oven bottom side up in a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes (i skipped this) . You will know the bread is done when a hollow sound comes when you tap underneath.

8. Cool the bread on a wire or metal rack.

Note:

I would not substitute the bread flour for the whole wheat flour next time, as the bread turned out great...not too grainy.

I love this bread as there is no double rising time...just one rise and done! but it tastes really good.




This is off to Zorra who is hosting the World Bread Day.