Today I decided to try my hand at baking bread loaves. I chose to make a Crusty White Sandwich Loaf because the recipe looked so easy. Happily, creating the dough was very simple.
Acknowledgement: The full and original version of this recipe can be found in The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast
- 3/4 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl, then cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 2 hours. Grease a nonstick loaf pan. When you’re ready to do some baking, dust your hands with flour and shape the dough into a ball and then into an oval. Dust the top with flour and use a knife to lightly slit the top. Drop the dough into the greased pan, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let it rest again for 90 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Don’t forget to put a broiler tray on the lowest oven shelf. You will use this while you’re baking.
After the resting time, put the loaf on the middle shelf of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray, and close the oven door fast. (You don’t want to get burned.) Bake for 45 minutes.
Once done, take out the loaf from the oven and allow the loaf to cool on a cooling rack. Yeah, I should’ve taken the loaf off the pan before taking the picture. I forgot. 😀
So how did the bread taste? I usually go for breads with soft crusts, but this one had a firm crust. However, since this bread was freshly baked, it still won me over. Next time though, I’ll try baking loaves with softer crusts.
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