Yeah, Toast! (or, Great White Bread)

I grew up – healthily – eating wheat bread with the crusts left on. How I used to beg my mom to buy white bread at the grocery store! How I used to bellyache about having to eat the crust! Meanwhile, my mom read the labels and considered prudent things like fiber and sugar, and a brown, nutty loaf would end up in the cart regardless of the whining crescendo I produced. We had  baguettes and Italian loaves for special occasions and wheat bread otherwise, and that was that.

Fast forward 25+ years, and you find me obsessing over multigrain breads and sourdoughs and really crusty French baguettes. I’ve developed a cool-weather habit of weekly bread-baking, and that bread is usually whole wheat focused. Turns out that seeking out fiber and avoiding empty calories are important to me, just like my mom, which is why you’ll almost never find a loaf of white bread at my house, home-baked or not.

Unless, that is, I am condemned to eat soft foods for at least a week. Though there is a way of thinking that suggests that treating oneself to “bad things” is not actually conducive to happiness, I said screw it. I’m making white bread.

I found the recipe I was looking for on the King Arthur website: just a basic enriched white bread, neither too empty nor too fancy. Unlike the whole wheat breads and high-gluten artisanal loaves I tend to favor, this dough mixed up soft and squishy, thanks to simple all-purpose white flour.  The dough was exceedingly easy to work with and baked quickly (a must for summer!). As we only had 2% milk in the house, I enriched the liquid with a few tablespoons of heavy cream, giving the bread an extra dose of richness in line with my driving indulgent impulse.

And while eating treats might not be the key to long-term happiness, this white bread definitely lifted my spirits. It also makes great toast.

White Sandwich Bread
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

7/8 cup (7 ounces) milk (whole or 2% will work)
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) heavy cream
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter, at room temperature
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) sugar
2 teaspoons salt
Bread flour, for dusting

Combine the milk and cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for one minute, then add the butter and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt. Add the milk mixture and mix until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add more flour to get to this point; I used bread flour for a tiny bit of additional gluten. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 6-8 minutes, until the dough is soft and pliable.

Transfer the kneaded dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set aside. Allow to rise until the dough is puffy, though not necessarily doubled in size, about one hour.

Lightly oil an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Pat the dough out to a rectangle that is about 7 inches wide on one side. Roll the dough into a loaf, creasing the loaf with the side of your hand at every turn. Transfer the loaf to the greased loaf pan, tent lightly with plastic wrap, and allow to rise until the loaf has domed about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. When you press your finger into the dough, it should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until light golden brown. Test for doneness by measuring its interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer (190 degrees F at the center of the loaf.) Turn the bread out onto a wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

Store in a plastic bag a room temperature. Then, make toast!

Tagged as: bread, cream, King Arthur