Well well well, it has been a while, hasn’t it? You look different — did you get a haircut? Oh, me? I didn’t get a haircut, but what I did get is a new apartment. I’ve been busy with moving these past few weeks, so for a while I was living in what seemed to be a very boring box-themed amusement park. But now I’ve officially bid farewell to my first Seattle home, and hello to my second — now with 800 square feet of lounging space! Finally, room enough for me to stretch my legs, and maybe dabble in the occasional breakdance routine.
Ready to get that boombox pumpin’
With the new apartment is a much bigger kitchen, and I am delighted to report that my range and oven setup is no longer fun-sized. That’s right, my oven can now hold two — that’s right, two — 9-inch cake pans at the same time on the same rack. This shit’s about to get real, y’all.
I don’t know about your method of unpacking and nesting, but the first box I always tackle is the one holding all my records and record player. This way, I can have some tunes immediately. Then, it’s on to unpacking and organizing the kitchen so I can break in the new cooking space pronto. All those other boxes can wait just a while longer.
The first meal made in a new kitchen is always a little special. When I moved out for the very first time in Houston, my boyfriend at the time and I made spaghetti in my new place. When I first moved here to Seattle, I hauled out my stock pot and made a chicken and rice soup. Now for this place, I made a loaf of sandwich bread.
That may not seem very exciting, but sometimes when everything else seems like a whirlwind, what I crave is not excitement; what I crave is comfort. And what is more comforting than a warm slice of white toast slathered with peanut butter and jelly? Or better yet, two slices of toast sandwiching a melty, cheesy filling?
I know rustic rounds of artisan bread are all the rage these days, but don’t forget the simple joys that a plain white sandwich loaf can bring. Buuuuut if you just want to feel a little snootier, tell people you’re making a Pullman loaf, or better yet, pan de mie, which are both just fancier ways of saying “white sandwich bread.” And do it with your pinky up.
White Sandwich Bread
Based on Peter Reinhart’s White Breads: Variation 3 from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice
Yield: one 9.25″ x 5.25″ loaf
Prep Time: 5 hours and 20 minutes (including proofing)
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours (including proofing)
Sponge:
2 ½ cups (350 grams) unbleached bread flour
2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast (or one packet)
1 cup whole milk, heated to lukewarm between 90°F and 100°F
¼ cup heavy cream, heated to lukewarm between 90°F and 100°F
Dough:
Sponge (see above)
1 ⅔ cups (225 grams) bread flour
¼ cup (40 grams) powdered milk
1 ½ tsp salt
3 tbs sugar
1 large egg yolk, room temperature and slightly beaten
¼ cup butter, melted and cooled so it’s no longer hot but is still liquid**
1 tbs honey
9×5 loaf pan
1 egg white (for egg wash)
Make the sponge:
Combine the sponge ingredients in a large bowl and stir until all of the flour and yeast is hydrated with the milk and heavy cream. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let it ferment at room temperature until it froths and swells, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Make the bread:
When the sponge is ready, add the additional bread flour, powdered milk, salt, and sugar to it. Stir until it begins to come together. Add in the yolk, honey, and butter and stir to combine. If the dough still seems too dry and stiff, trickle in some water one teaspoon at a time until it is soft and supple. My dough needed about 3 teaspoons of water to get it to the right consistency.
Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 20 minutes until the dough feels smooth and elastic. You can use an electric mixer with a dough hook running at medium speed for the same amount of time. The resulting dough should feel tacky, but not sticky. You’ll know it’s ready when you can pinch off a hunk of it and stretch it until it’s so thin that you can see light coming through it (also called the windowpane test). If the dough breaks apart before you can stretch it that thin, keep kneading!
Once the dough is ready, put it in a lightly oiled bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic or a damp towel and let it rise at room temperature for two hours, or until it doubles in size.
Carefully remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a boule. Cover it with a damp towel and let it rise for 20 minutes.
Flatten the dough into a 5″ x 8″ rectangle. Starting at the short end, tightly roll the dough up like you would a poster. With each roll, pinch the dough at the crease to tighten the surface tension, which will help your loaf to rise up instead of out. With your new dough log, pat it on the ends back and forth until it looks relatively uniform.
Put the dough log into a lightly oiled loaf pan. The ends should be touching the loaf pan, but the sides probably won’t until it proofs some more. Mist the dough in the pan with some oil and cover it lightly with plastic or a damp towel. Let it proof for a final 90 minutes at room temperature, or until the dough looks nice and tall in the pan.
Preheat the oven at 350°F.
Brush the dough lightly with egg wash. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through if needed. If the bread begins browning too quickly, lightly tent some foil over the top of it to stop the top from browning further as it bakes. The finished bread should have an internal temperature of about 190°F, and sound hollow when thumped from the bottom.
When the loaf has finished baking, immediately turn it out of the loaf pan and let it cool on a wire rack for about an hour before cutting into it.
Serve with butter, jam, turkey, avocado, or anything else that tickles your fancy!
** If you find this bread to be a little too buttery, replace the butter with vegetable oil
4 Comments
Congrats on the new place!! And as always, thanks for the recipe!
March 25, 2015 at 10:00 am@Blair — Aww, thank you!!
March 25, 2015 at 3:08 pmThe new place looks great, and the recipe made me want bread so much….. :) Good thing I’m too lazy to actually make it.
March 29, 2015 at 5:58 amThe bread seems great! I tried few times to bake bread myself and I simply can’t do it! Thanks for sharing! I’m sure that with a little bit of practice I’ll be able to do it , too! Greets!
April 8, 2015 at 5:03 am