Valentine’s Day Gift: Breads 1 and 2
This weekend had its romantic overtures (see Temple Grandin post), but there were some small sentiments, too, for my Valentine. (Though, in hindsight, making three kinds of bread and a shepherd’s pie for dinner meant the better part of the day was spent in the kitchen, so it’s not SUCH a small sentiment).
French Baguettes and Light Oat Bread
I made two French-ish baguettes and a loaf of oatmeal sandwich bread for Valentine’s Day. My fella isn’t too keen on sweets, so bread and meat pies tend to do the trick.
Recipe 1: French-ish baguettes (link)
I call these French-ish, because they are not crusty like a real French baguette. They are a little crispy on the outside, but they are soft on the inside. They make fantastic sandwich rolls (think Banh Mi sandwiches!), and this is the second time I’ve made this recipe in as many weeks. You can either hand knead, stand-mixer knead, or use the dough cycle on your bread machine and the results are consistent.
Modifications: boiling water in a pan at the bottom of the oven to get a chewier crust and honey instead of white sugar.
Recipe 2: Light Oatmeal Sandwich Bread (link)
It’s hard to get a decent sandwich bread out of a bread machine, namely, because the shape of the pan is so weird and the bread often gets too dense. So I modified this recipe a bit and got excellent results.
Modifications: A little more salt (heaping teaspoon). Use on dough cycle (about 1.5 hours), then punch down, press into a rectangle, and roll loosely. Place in a lightly oiled 9x5 loaf pan, cover, and rise in a warm place for another 35 minute
