So far in my homemade sandwich bread foray, I've tested 3 recipes:
I did tweak them all a bit. I like to put whole wheat flour in everything. I got the Grandmother Bread recipe off of Chickens in the Road and it can be made white or wheat or anywhere in between. This is a very hearty, old-fashioned, very textured bread. The flavor is very good and the recipe has a ton of variations on her website.
The Buttermilk Wheat Bread recipe came from Cookingbread.com. I used to by Mrs. Baird's Buttermilk Wheat Bread, but its not always in stock, so I switched to Sara Lee Soft and Smooth Whole Wheat, but we started going through it like there was no tomorrow and at about $2.19 a loaf, it was starting to add up. I looked without much success for a buttermilk wheat bread recipe online. In a search for something else, I came across the cookingbread.com site and lo and behold there was the buttermilk wheat bread recipe! Yay, thought I. Well, the outcome wasn't as grand as I expected. The bread didn't rise very well and it burned. I cooked it according to directions and everything, but each time, it came out the same. I tried turning down the oven, but it still didn't turn out well. I thought it was my oven, but I now don't think it is. The taste is very strong and doesn't taste at all like Mrs. Baird's and the texture is very crumby. :( Its okay and I didn't mind it very much, but the rest of the family gave it a thumbs down. Oh, well.....:)
The Country White bread also came from cookingbread.com. It is VERY good. I of course added a bit of wheat flour to it. I really can't help myself.;) The texture is very nice, its delicious and it rises and bakes beautifully. Very light and fluffy. I haven't had ANY complaints with this bread. I intend to make it our staple sandwich bread.
Other breads I have tried:
Challah bread - I got some from a bakery in Austin when we lived there because I saw a recipe for stuffed french toast on that Paula Deen party show. They were making cranberry stuffed french toast, but I decided to see if I could come up with a version of pumpkin stuffed french toast. Yeah, its now a favorite, too. Anyway, the bread is a sweet bread and it really did make the french toast. I decided I wanted to try my hand at making it, so I did. I got the recipe from cookingbread.com. (I like to stick with what works, ya know?:) It turned out okay. I think I over baked it because it was too dry. I will try again soon and see if I can't get it better next time.
I've also been making Amish Friendship Bread like crazy! I made a starter and every ten days I bake up a big batch of bread. My favorite so far has been the chocolate chip, with the chocolate and chocolate/chocolate chip following close seconds. :) Man, those things disappear fast! I make some of them the little loaves and then go around the neighborhood and meet the neighbors. I've gotten some funny responses so far, from suspicion, as in not even wanting to take it or even open the door and talk to me for that matter all the way to being asked if I'm selling them. So funny! Won't you be my neighbor?
Here's that link:
The funny thing is I haven't even made it the normal way, only with the pudding.
There is a Lemon Monkey Bread on the Cookingbread.com site that I fully intend to make soon.....
2 comments:
hey i just made homemade white bread- totally white because I was too lazy to grind the wheat and forgot to buy ww flour at the sto'. Anyway- I used white bread flour because that's what I had on hand- it made such a nice fluffy yummy textured bread!!! loved it- anyway just a thought :) but I don't want to get you started down another dangerous path because bread is EVIL!!
Well, I can't just make it all white because....I dunno, just can't do it unless I'm completely out of wheat. I even put the wheat flour in the choco chip cookies, biscuit and pie crusts. Normally, I buy King Arthur's unbleached all-purpose flour and KA white whole wheat flour. I will generally use a 3 parts unbleached to 1 part whole wheat ratio. Seems to work out pretty well. The country white came out pretty light and fluffy doing it that way. OH, and I KNOW about the evils of bread.....don't even get me started on that yummy factor!
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