This is a slightly sweet bread that makes delicious toast. The dough can be put into a couple of loaf pans, or braided as shown here.
It's so much fun to make bread - I just love it. I've heard people say that they find it so satisfying to knead bread dough by hand while waiting for the moment it turns from being a fitful glob of flour and water into a smooth, puffy piece of dough. I can't speak to that as my Kitchen Aid does all the work, but it is satisfying nonetheless to take a gorgeous and delicious loaf of bread out of the oven and slather some butter on it. Mmm!
The original recipe called for bread flour, but I used all-purpose flour and added one tablespoon wheat gluten per cup of flour. The wheat gluten adds protein to the dough which helps with the rise.
The loaf seemed to be dry after only a day or two, so we ate most of it toasted. I still have some in the fridge and will make bread pudding with the rest of it.
We live in "the land of fantastically delicious breads" now. When we lived in west Texas, I made a lot of bread using my trusty sidekick, the Kitchenaid!! Your braided bread looks perfect--and delicious. Nothing wrong with toast.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
I've always wanted to try this! Looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful braid! You are such a good baker, you need to come give me lessons!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful bread like this one would not last a day in my house. This is awesome. Thanks for reminding how good fresh baked bread can be-
ReplyDeleteVelva
This is such a gorgeous loaf! I bet it makes for some seriously lovely french toast!
ReplyDelete