White Sandwich Bread

I have been baking for over 20 years, and I have marked my learning process by being aware of my anxiety level each time I attempt to make bread. My first attempts were filled with anxiety about getting the water temperature just right, or kneading the dough enough or having the right flour or ensuring that I have the right proportions or adding things to make it fancier. Through many trials and errors, I have slowly come to realize that bread is a very simple thing to make. At it's very basic level, it's just water, sugar, yeast, salt and flour. I have also realized over time that it is a process that lends itself to fudging and that one doesn't need to be so exacting or calculating, and it can be done with little or no hand wringing. The only rule for success in bread baking is this, and it's a rule that I learned from acting that I now apply to this process: Don't hurt yourself or anyone else. The entire bread baking process is to ensure that the yeast stays alive and thrives until you are ready to kill them all and eat them. With that in mind, I would like to present to you a recipe for white sandwich bread which is adapted from the first recipe in "The Bread Book: A Baker's Almanac" by Ellen Foscue Johnson published by Garden Way Publishing. This book, more than anything else, helped me to relax and enjoy baking at home!

White Sandwich Bread

Ingredients

1 Cup Water
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
2 Tbsp. Honey or Sugar
1 Cup Flour
1/8 Cup Wheat Germ
1/8 Cup Wheat Bran
1 Cup warm Milk
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Salt
4 to 5 Cups Flour

Butter for pans


Firstly, take a cup of warm water and mix it with the 2 Tbsp. honey or sugar in a bowl. The water should feel kind of tepidly warm. Make sure to mix it well, especially if you are using honey.








Then you add the yeast. I have found that if you sprinkle the dry yeast gently on the top of the sugar water, it incorporates easier. It give the yeast a chance to soak up the water before you mix it in.

Once the yeast starts to activate, it will create a foamy dome above the water. Once you see that dome, it's ready. Now, take about one cup of the flour with the wheat germ and wheat bran, salt and olive oil and dump it in the bowl. The next thing to do is mix. I've found that it is best to mix it slowly and steadily for 10 minutes and then start counting strokes until you reach 200. It takes about 15 minutes and the result is a lighter bread because this mixing starts the gluten making process.


















When the mixing is done, it should have the consistency of loose porridge and have a glossy sheen on the top.












Next thing to do is add flour. I add between a 1/2 to a cup of flour, mix it down until it's fully incorporated and do it again and again until the dough begins to not stick to the bowl when you mix it down. I would estimate that it is about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of additional flour. At this point, the dough will be kind of sticky and a damp. Take a spatula and scrape the spoon off, then scrape the dough on to a well floured surface, flour your hands and begin kneading. Anybody who doesn't think kneading is fun, should have their head examined. It is fun and there are no specific rules in how you do it. Basically, kneading needs two things to happen: 1. The dough needs to be gently stretched so that it creates gluten to hold the gas in dough to create holes. 2. You need to incorporate and thoroughly mix more flour to create a consistent and lightly moist loaf. I make sure that my hands are well floured before I begin. The dough starts out slack and a little lumpy. Then, I push the dough forward with the heels of both hands, give it a three quarter turn and push again. I work pretty quickly and gently to start, and as the dough becomes more elastic, I can slow down. With each turn and push, be mindful of keeping a light dusting of flour over the work area. I always keep a little pile off to the side where I can quickly incorporate flour.












At the end of the kneading process, the dough should look smooth, slightly dry and have a matte finish. You then butter a bowl, put the dough in, swirl it around, flip it, swirl it around again and let it sit in a warm dry place with a warm damp towel over it.













When the dough has doubled in size, test to see if it has risen enough. If you stick your finger in and the depression stays, it's time.










Next, you pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently press down on the dough with your fingertips. Then, you gently stretch and fold the dough until it begins to resist, at this point gather the dough into a ball by pulling down on all sides and gathering the dough underneath and set it down on a lightly floured surface and cover for 15 to 20 minutes. At the end of the resting process, it should look a little puffy.












Next, you cut the dough in two and lightly flour where you made the cut. Then, you gently shape them into loaves and place them in buttered pans, swirl 'em, flip 'em, swirl 'em again and let 'em sit in a warm dry place with a warm damp towel over 'em.












When they've just about doubled in size, preheat your oven to 375, get a sharp knife or razor and cut the top of the loaves. Then, you take a food brush and brush water on top of the loaves.












Then you stick them in the oven for 30-35 minutes and they are done. At the end, you can pop them out of the pans and put them back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp them up a bit.












Enjoy.

Chicken Stock: Why bother?

I bother because it's healthy, versatile and economical. Whether it's for soup, sauces, risotto or basting liquid, home made chicken stock makes everything that I use it in taste so much better. Plus, with this recipe, you end up with a whole chicken that you can store and use for soups, tacos and sandwiches.
So, I got this recipe from Patricia Wells. She is another personal rock star. Her recipes are simple and really adaptable. I've tried beets or turnips instead of parsnips and I even subbed in potatoes in one batch. It doesn't work; the potato gets everywhere.

Chicken Stock

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (either whole or in parts, it should add up to one chicken)
4 Carrots
3 Medium Leeks
2 Spanish Onions
2 Celery Sprigs
2 Parsnips
1 Bouquet Garni (fresh parsley and thyme, whole peppercorns, dried tarragon, mustard seeds)
6 Quarts of Water
1 Pinch of Salt

Start with a chicken. It can be any chicken or part of a chicken. If you use parts, it should equal about 4 lbs. of meat. I have chosen a lovely grocery store chicken at $2.70 a pound!







So, you cut the chicken up into 4 pieces. Then you put the chicken in the biggest pot that you have and fill it with water so that when you stick your finger in the water and touch the top most piece of chicken, your finger should be wet to the second knuckle.



Then you turn the heat up to high and just when you start to see chunks of scum start to float to the top, turn the heat to medium and periodically, scoop the scum and fat off the top of the water into a separate dish or bowl. You keep doing this until the broth is basically clear of scum and the fat starts to look like water droplets on a freshly waxed car. I use a cheap spoon that I bent into a 90 degree angle. It works like a charm.










As you periodically skim scum, prepare the vegetables. First, take the tops off the carrots and save a little for the bouquet. Then wash and peel them. Wash and cut the celery into pieces that will fit into the pot. Cut the tops and bottoms of the leeks, and then cut them lengthwise leaving the outer layer intact. Next, wash the grit from the leeks. Now, cut the top and bottom of the onions, peel them and stick three whole cloves a piece in the onions.










Instead of having the herbs float around, make a bouquet garni. It's basically a 2 ply piece of kitchen cheesecloth. The cheesecloth and kitchen string are in every grocery store that I've ever been in; I usually need to look very hard for them. So, you take your parsley, carrot tops, thyme, peppercorns and tarragon and wrap them up in the cheesecloth and tie it up at the top. Take some scissors and trim the top of the bouquet. Then take some of the kitchen string and tie up the leeks. If you don't, they will fall apart and go all over.










Then, you add everything that you have prepared into the pot, and as much as possible, try to push some of the vegetables under the chicken. Next, you turn the heat up to get the whole thing to just boiling and then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer gently for 2 to 3 hours.












After it is done cooking, take the pot off the heat and pull everything out of the pot. Before I got those nice kitchen tongs, I used whatever I could to get the stuff out. Things that work are a couple of forks or tablespoons, a roast fork, etc. You should end up with a nice pile of vegetables and a healthy portion of chicken. Set them aside to cool.











Now, get another pot that is big enough to fit all of the stock. Take a strainer and line it with the 2 ply cheesecloth. Then pour or ladle the stock into the strainer. From here, you can let it cool a bit in the pot or transfer it to containers. I use the plastic to-go containers. They last and last and are easy to wash and reuse. Let everything cool to room temperature and then shred the chicken and put it in containers in the fridge to use later for other dishes. Take the stock and put it in the freezer. When I am using this frozen stock in a recipe, I never thaw it out beforehand. I just run some hot water over the container and pop it out into whatever dish I'm heating up and let that melt the rest of it. I hope that you enjoy making this excellent base. Thanks.