Our Bread Bakers challenge for July celebrates America’s semiquincentennial, and 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, with American breads. With a country is comprised of so many different cultures banded together in one nation, that’s a challenge in itself! So many American traditions have their start in their immigrant originators. English muffins are quite American, yet came from an British immigrant as a fork-split version of a “toaster crumpet”. Monkey bread came from Hungary; the quintessential New York Bagel came from Jewish immigrants, along with challah and deli rye. San Francisco sourdough has French tradition, and sourdough can be strongly traced through the gold rush into something very American. There are so many Old World recipes that have American adaptions and that’s what is so great. Old traditions kept, adapted to new ingredients, grains, and shared culture, celebrated as something both old and new in the new land of opportunity. So in that fashion, all of those old world adapted recipes totally count as they have become part of American tradition. I do think of Southern biscuits as strictly American. Even with roots in biscotti and hardtack, they are so far removed from those origins as to be a completely new creation. You could compare them to scones. You could… but you would be wrong. And you would never find a Brit putting sausage gravy on a scone. Unless of course they had visited the South and fallen in love with the idea, which does tend to happen!
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| Different pan, different shape. |
And now to my choice: No-knead breads have become very popular, (used for centuries and relatively recently popularized by a New York bakery), and my hands really prefer to get some rest nowadays so I can still play piano. Batter bread or no knead, this is kind of both. Definitely higher hydration. It is super easy, made with the paddle attachment in the mixer, and my new favorite sourdough wake-up recipe! I have made it numerous times now with both all bread flour and part (150g) fresh ground, sifted Edison wheat (a variety cultivated specifically for our Pacific Northwest climate). The bread has a delightfully soft and springy texture and I was amazed at how well the loaves held! Twenty four hours later, and still soft and bouncy; 48 hours and no signs of staleness. Very impressed with the crumb as well, open, yet sturdy and bouncy. And it made fantastic sandwiches.
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| Seriously some of the best sandwich bread I have ever made. |
No Knead (Batter) Bread
adapted from Red Star Yeast
Makes 1 loaf
290g water (110-115°F) (to make with just yeast, use 340g (1½ cups))
100g sourdough starter, fed or unfed
14g (1 tbsp) butter, melted
370g bread flour (to make with just yeast, use 420g (3¼ cups))
10g 1¼ tsp) sea salt
13g (1 tbsp) sugar
8g (2¼ tsp) instant yeast
butter (for brushing on top)
In large mixer bowl, thoroughly combine half the flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the water, unfed starter, and melted butter to the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until moistened; then increase to medium speed for 3 minutes. Gradually stir in the remaining flour with a dough whisk or large wooden spoon to make a stiff batter. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.
Stir down the batter with a spoon. Spread the dough evenly into a greased bread pan, either 9×5-inch or tall sided 9×4 inch. Cover and let rise in warm place until the batter reaches the top of the pan, 45-60 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Unmold and place on a wire rack to cool. Brush with butter straight out of the oven, and cool before slicing.
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| Kind of a sloppy, wet, battery dough. |
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| Be sure to let it really double for best results. |
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| Smooth into the pan as evenly as possible. |
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| With a slack dough or batter like this, the tall pan really worked best for me for shaping. The 8×4-inch pan didn’t give it enough room to fully rise so it was a shorter loaf. |
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| Still room for oven spring, even with rising to the rim. |
Check out some more American traditional breads:
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a
month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all
our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are
also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take
turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
