Bread Machine (15 page)
White breads and egg breads are the mainstay of the home bread baker’s kitchen. That is why I categorize them as daily breads; they are good made fresh every day and have basic, versatile flavors so they can be eaten at every meal and are easily consumed in a day. I consider them gourmet breads, with delicate flavor and texture, yet completely accommodating at the same time. Loving white and egg breads is like choosing vanilla ice cream—often thought of as plain. But those who love white bread, like those who love vanilla ice cream, appreciate its subtleties of flavor and the myriad foods with which it can be combined. White bread textures vary with the addition of water, milk, buttermilk, yogurt, evaporated milk, or dry milk. Non-dairy milks, too, such as coconut or soy, can be used with wonderful results. White bread can be spartan, with just a tad of oil and sugar, or rich, with lots of butter and milk. Water makes a chewy, coarse-textured loaf, while milk makes a fine-textured, softer loaf. The combination of water and milk is a favorite in bread baking; it should be your tipoff to a delicate crumb. For toast, sandwiches, dinner bread, hamburger or hot dog rolls, croutons, French toast, or for use in a
strata
or bread pudding, these are the breads to use.
H
oney is a great favorite in breadmaking—for good reason. It is a natural sweetener with up to 80 percent of its weight composed of sugar. “The land of milk and honey” was what the promised land was called in the Old Testament, and today honey, a miracle in a jar, certainly still connotes luxury. Since honey is collected mainly from leguminous plants, look for familiar clover, sage, eucalyptus, tupelo, or buckwheat honeys. I like to search out nice local honeys to use in my breads, such as star thistle honey from Sonoma County, or cherry honey from the fruit stand down the road.
1
1
/
2
-POUND LOAF
1
/
2
cup water
1
/
2
cup milk
1
1
/
2
tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
2
7
/
8
cups bread flour
1 tablespoon gluten
1 teaspoon salt
1
3
/
4
teaspoons SAF yeast or 2
1
/
4
teaspoons bread machine yeast
2-POUND LOAF
2
/
3
cup water
2
/
3
cup milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons honey
3
3
/
4
cups bread flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon gluten
1
1
/
2
teaspoons salt
2
1
/
4
teaspoons SAF yeast or 2
3
/
4
teaspoons bread machine yeast
Place all the ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Set crust on medium and program for the Basic cycle; press Start. (This recipe is not suitable for use with the Delay Timer.)
When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.
The Baker’s Glossary of White Flours Ground from Wheat
Wheat comes in many varieties. Hard red winter wheat, hard red spring wheat, soft red winter wheat, hard and soft white wheat, and spelt are known as the bread wheats. The gluten-rich, genetically complicated, hard Ukrainian wheat known as Turkey Red was introduced to the American Midwest and Canada in the nineteenth century by Mennonite settlers, and provided a significant increase in wheat production. Today, hybridized high-protein winter wheat,
Triticum aestivum
, hybridized from Turkey Red and Egyptian spelt, is the world’s leading cultivated grain, producing wonderfully elastic doughs.
Each kernel of wheat has three parts—the bran, endosperm, and germ. How these parts are milled or sifted out determines what type of flour is created. White flours all have the bran and the germ sifted out. Each wheat has distinctive properties that dictate what it will best be used for. The hard wheats are the most important in bread bakery language. A higher protein percentage tells you the flour is best for breads, and the dough will turn out best if worked by machines—such as the electric mixer, bread machine, or food processor—in which the flour is worked much more vigorously than it could be by hand.
The following list includes many types of white flour and my favorites for bread machine baking. Remember that all pre-bagged brands will differ slightly from each other, giving slight variations to your bread’s character.
Bread Flour
For the best results in making premium white breads I use cream-colored unbleached bread flour made from hard red spring wheat that is aged without chemicals or preservatives. It has a protein content of 12 to 14 percent. High-gluten wheat flour absorbs more liquid than other flours, creating a more elastic dough and a lighter-textured bread. I like Organic Hi Protein Hi Gluten Unbleached Flour or Organic Old Mill Flour with Reduced Bran from Giusto’s. Other brands of bread flour that may be found around the country are Arrowhead Mills, King Arthur, Great Valley Mills, Hudson Cream, or one of the most commonly available brands such as Pillsbury, Gold Medal, Hecker’s, or Hodgson Mills.
High-Gluten Flour
High-gluten flour is ground from hard red spring wheat and has some malted barley added. It is unbleached, that is, aged without chemicals or preservatives. It functions very much like bread flour, and is fine for bread machine baking.
All-Purpose Flour
Unbleached all-purpose flour, also called refined white flour, is blended from a combination of approximately 80 percent hard wheat and 20 percent soft. Note that the content of different brands of unbleached flour varies in different locales. Unbleached flour in the southern states has a higher percentage of soft wheat, and in the northern, midwestern, and western states it contains a higher percentage of hard wheat. Un bleached flour is aged to naturally oxidize the proteins and bleach out the natural yellow pigment present in freshly milled flour (also known as green flour). Bleached flour is aged quickly with chlorine dioxide, has less gluten, and lacks the vitamin E that naturally remains in flour after milling. I consider unbleached flour superior to bleached flour for use in bread recipes.
Bolted Flour
Bolted
, or sifted, is the name for whole wheat flour that has had most of its bran sifted out. Bolted flour is new to home bakers, but well known to professionals. The only brand available through retail is Giusto’s Old Mill Reduced Bran Flour, stone-ground, with 80 percent of the bran sifted out. It makes fabulous sandwich or country breads on its own or in combination with other whole wheat flours (it is good with spelt, kamut, and triticale). Make your own bolted flour by combining 3 cups unbleached white flour, 1 cup fine or medium stone-ground whole wheat flour, and 3 tablespoons raw wheat germ. This is an excellent all-purpose bread flour.
Clear Flour
Clear flour is not the name of a certain type of flour, but a milling term for the high-protein bread flour that is the least refined of white flours. There can be a few grades of clear flour, depending on how much it has been sifted. Often called straight flour, it has long been available to the professional baking industry but now King Arthur sells it to home bakers. It has a darkish cast to it, reflecting the high ash content—coarse particles that are partly bran—that is left in it after minimal sifting. Clear flour can be made from a blend of wheats rather than just one, depending on what type of flour the miller wants to create. Use it in place of bread flour in white breads or in combination with whole wheat flour, and especially in rye flour doughs. Clear flour makes delicious, chewy breads with lots of flavor.
Italian-Style, French-Style, and Irish-Style Flours
These are special flour blends offered by King Arthur Flour Company. The Italian-style flour mimics the pure grade “00” flour used in Italian baking for focaccias,
grissini
, pasta, and in combination with other bread flours. The French-style flour is higher in protein, mimicking the special flour used by the Poilâne bakery in Paris for creating French breads. The Irish-style blend is a whole meal flour made especially for soda bread and brown bread. These flours are fun to use if you are a baking enthusiast.
Gluten Flour
Gluten flour is made by washing the starch from the endosperm several times, then further grinding the remaining gluten proteins before mixing them with the finest white flour, known as patent flour, in a 75/25 proportion. It is exceptionally high in protein and low in starch, particularly useful in special diet breads and in doughs made with whole grain flours that are low in, or completely lacking, gluten, especially in bread machine baking. I don’t call for gluten flour, though, in this book. Do not confuse vital wheat gluten with gluten flour or high-gluten bread flour.
