how steph makes bread

I've had lots of people ask me about my once a week bread making ritual, so I thought it'd be fun to whip up a little tutorial. Here goes:


The starting lineup: 2 1/3 c. warm water (abt. 110 degrees)

1 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast
1/4 c. honey
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. wheat bran
3 c. whole-wheat flour
3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (if I'm out of wheat bran, I use 4 c.
wheat flour and 2 c. white flour)
non-stick cooking spray-- use it on the honey measuring cup, the
rising bowl, and the bread pan

This recipe makes 2 loaves of bread. My family eats about 8 loaves of bread a week, so I make 4 batches of dough, one after another . I can whip out 4 batches of dough in less than 45 minutes-- not bad for a week's worth of bread.

Step 1: Combine water, yeast, honey, butter, salt, and wheat bran in a 4 c. measuring cup. Pour into the bowl of standing mixer and add one cup each of whole-wheat and all-purpose flour, combine with a rubber spatula. Using the measuring cup for this step lets you get a head-start on the next batch of dough while you've got one in the mixer. You'll see what I mean in a minute...



Add the remaining 2 cups each of the whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, attach your mixer's dough hook and knead at low speed until smooth and elastic-- about 8 minutes. Take those 8 minutes to start mixing up the wet ingredients for the next batch of dough. (see?)

This is a picture of my high-tech mixer-about-to-walk-off-the-edge-of-the-counter-alarm-system. In the event that the mixer starts to run for the border, it'll push the cups off the counter first and I can come to the rescue. Genius, I know. (that clear cup is plastic, by the way)



After 8 minutes of mixing, the dough will have pulled away from the sides of the bowl, but will still be sticking to the bottom. If for some reason, it's still really sticking to the sides of the bowl, you'll want to add a little more flour. But go easy on it! Too much flour makes for tough bread.



Plop your dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand a few times to shape into a smooth ball. Dough will be slightly sticky. Cut dough into two equal pieces, set aside. Pour the second batch of wet ingredients into the now empty mixer bowl (I don't bother to wash it until I'm all done), add your flours and get that second batch mixing. And so on and so forth, with the remaining batches.



Now take those dough pieces you've just made and stick 'em in gallon size freezer bags and toss them in the freezer. Or set them in gently, if you prefer. The gallon size bags are important-- the dough needs room to expand a bit before it freezes. If you try to wrap it tightly, you'll end up with exploded dough packets in your freezer. Trust me, I know.

(oh, and I wash and reuse my freezer bags)

At this point, you can wash your dishes, clean up, and be done for the day.



Each night before you go to bed, pull out a ball of frozen dough and put it in a lightly oiled, covered bowl and set it out on the counter.



When you wake up in the morning, punch the risen, defrosted dough down and then shape it into a cylinder. Put that dough cylinder into a lightly-oiled 9 by 5-inch bread pan and push it down gently so that it touches all four sides of the pan. Let it rise, covered, until the dough just comes over the top of the pan, as pictured above. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.



Bake your bread for 35-45 minutes, or until the bread is a lovely golden color. Immediately remove your bread from the pans and cool on wire racks (or you'll have a soggy crust). Reward yourself with the first piece of hot bread slathered with butter and homemade strawberry jam.