I've been twiddling around in the kitchen, a LOT, trying to come up with some kind of bread that doesn't need a bread machine - and yet is affordable, simple, not hard on the wrists... And, of course, no milk, butter, etc. Eventually, I might come up with a wheat-based challah bread, which is an egg bread as well (and insanely yummy!) But, for now, I've just been struggling to get a good loaf of regular wheat bread that doesn't need a machine. Why give up the machine? LOL. Seriously. If there are just going to be nights when I'm awake, I might as well do something useful with my time. And that machine is very noisy, hands down. Not great for apartment life, at all. Well, here's what I have so far, though I will need to cut this in half next time around, to make just one loaf at a time.
This is a bread that's still made with Red Star Bread Machine Fast Acting Dry Yeast. Seriously, people, that machine isn't magic or something. It's a machine. You can do what it does - so long as you have the right recipe/instructions, and you aren't arthritic or suffering from back problems. In any case, this is a rather "damp" dough, so it's easy to work with, and the nice thing is, really, you only have to use your bare hands to work with it once.
Dry Ingredients
2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C White Flour
1/2 C Gluten Flour
1/2 C Potato Starch
1/2 C Soy Protein Isolate
1/2 tsp. Iodized Sea Salt
3 tsp. Red Star Bread Machine FAST ACTING dry yeast
2 tablets Vitamin C, crushed (be sure to check the label to avoid lactose).
Wet Ingredients
2 C Water (do NOT substitute, trust me)
1 tsp. Fair Trade Sugar
2 tsp. Plain Light Corn Syrup (no high fructose corn syrup, check the label)
2 T Oil
Optional Topping Ingredients
3 T Egg whites (or just a single egg white will do)
3 T Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or other seeds/grains/nuts
Instructions
1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Add all the dry ingredients, in order, and mix thoroughly together in a large bowl.
3. Add all wet ingredients, in order, and mix thoroughly together in a separate glass baking dish that's also microwaveable and has a lid (do not use the lid yet). Microwave for 2 minutes or until 85 degrees (for this recipe, ignore the sites/pages/instructions that say 110 degrees).
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix thoroughly until a soft, very sticky dough forms. You should need to wash your hands after this. Dump the whole mass of dough into the glass baking dish you used before. Be sure to get all the extra bits of dough out of the large bowl and add them to the dough in the baking dish.
5. Put the lid on the glass baking dish, then place it in the oven, and then turn the oven off. Allow the dough to rise into a sponge for 30 minutes. The dough should at least double in size and still be a good sponge. Prepare a large bread pan with either pan spray or oil in a Misto container. Do not use flour in the greasing process. You may need to use two pans, so preparing two ahead of time is wise, even if you don't wind up using the second pan after all. It depends on the size of the pans, as well as how well the dough rises. From here on out though, I'll write as if you'll only need one pan. Rinse out the large bowl well - do not use dish soap yet, then dry it thoroughly, inside and out.
6. Remove glass baking dish from the oven, turn the oven back on to 200 degrees, then pour the dough from the baking dish into the cleaned large bowl. Kneed for about 10 minutes, until it's firmer and "tacky" rather than "sticky/messy." It should form a real ball of dough. Add more white flour, 1/2 cup at a time, if necessary to achieve this consistency. Use the large bowl as an easy means of keeping the dough together as it forms a ball, and as you kneed it (to form excellent gluten strands, a basic necessity of making bread).
7. Shape the dough into a large, smooth cylindrical form, tucking the ends under if necessary, then place in the prepared bread pan. For a more "square" bread shape, be sure to flatten the dough down in the pan so that the pan's corners are equally filled with dough and the top surface of the dough is flat. The dough will still rise over the bread pan's edges a bit, but it will be more square-ish rather than rounded at the top.
8. Place the bread pan in the re-heated oven, then turn the oven off again, and allow the dough to rise for 10 minutes (for more square-ish bread) or 20 minutes for more round bread. Remove from the oven again, then preheat the oven to 350 degrees, in preparation to bake the bread.
9. If using egg whites as an egg wash, then use a sandwich baggy over your hand (don't use a brush) to smear egg white over the now risen loaf of bread dough. Use a light touch, you won't need to pat it into the dough or anything. Don't worry if it drips down over the sides of the dough - just wipe any excess off of the outside edges of the pan to keep it from burning/smoking. Then if using any other toppings (seeds/grains/nuts) which can be baked without burning them, add them after the egg-wash layer. A second layer of egg wash can be added after this, though that's delicate work. For a golden brown tinge, a layer of pan spray or Misto oil can be spritzed on instead of a second layer of egg-wash. Some people, when making an egg wash use the whole egg. That's to taste - I just don't happen to prefer it. The white is what really does the work, not the yolk, in this case, and the yolk can "water down" the white and cause it to be less effective.
10. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Increase the time, not the temperature, if you need to use two pans. You'll have to determine how much to increase the time by playing it by ear. Use 5 minute increments and separate testing sites in the centers of the loaves of bread until you are sure the bread is done in the middle. If making buns instead, then decrease the time considerably. I would start by using 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and if that isn't enough, then add 10 minutes, then use 5 minute increments to add more time until the buns are fully done. Only you will know the size of the buns or even the bread pans you may use this recipe for, so it's good to play with the amount of time it takes to bake either kind of recipe, and just keep good notes.
11. Remove the bread from the oven, and let it sit right side up, in the pan, for 5 minutes to start cooling. Then, on top of a counter or cutting board, and while using oven mitts, turn the pan and bread upside down and remove the pan, placing the pan on a cold stove burner to cool. If the pans was greased well enough, the bread should slide right out on it's own. If not, use a knife as a wedge between the bread and the pan to loosen just the sides of the bread from the pan. Do NOT use the knife to try to remove the bread! Once the sides are loosened, unless there is serious trouble in the bottom of the pan (like burning or toughness/sticking), the weight of the bread, once the pan is turned over again, should pop the bread right out. If you had to wedge the bread out, you probably used too much water in the dough (particularly if 40 minutes wasn't enough time for a single loaf). If it's too tough or burning on the bottom, you didn't use enough water.
12. IMPORTANT: Immediately rinse, wash, and dry all cooled bowls, pans, and utensils. Use cold water, not hot, and both dish soap and a little salt are also recommended for thorough washing. Also, be sure to wash your hands the same way. Bread yeast is still a form of Candida, which can infect everything on your body that allows contact with bodily fluids, including eyes, nose, mouth... It's just NOT something to mess around with carelessly. Also, be sure to wash your counters well and sweep your kitchen floor thoroughly after baking bread. I've personally learned the hard way because of minor oral yeast infections that "shouldn't have happened." They just do. If you do suspect trouble with yeast contamination in your body, use cold water to rinse well for 15 minutes, and if your eyes are involved, keep a bottle of fresh eye drops on hand. For nose and mouth, a cold salt-water wash (do not swallow or snort) is appropriate. For any other yeast related problems, or if these solutions don't help, see a Dr. or ER immediately. That's usually not a problem, but don't hesitate at all if it becomes one.
Eventually, I may work out some instructions for hoagie style buns, as well as yeast based pita pockets.
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