“When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one’s ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.”
- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Now, I have never been a huge Wind in the Willows fan. And by that, I mostly mean I never really read it as a kid. I developed this mental block that I would occasionally get for some books, most of which I wound up loving later. Key examples of this are; James and the Giant Peach and A Wrinkle in Time.
So I was surprised, but probably shouldn't have been, by how much I love the little bit I read of this book. I added it to my Goodreads 2012 book list, and then felt the undeniable urge to make toast for Toad. But, as you may know, toast generally starts with bread. So I made bread... again. Seriously, I never bake this much bread. I'm on a DIET for crying out loud. But clearly, Toad is forcing my hand here.
This bread turned out to be slightly sweet and dense but not 'chewy.' Absolutely perfect toasted, with a little honey, lots of butter and a cup of tea. As I ate it, I realized that there is very little that a well executed meal (or I guess, 'snack') can't fix.
So here is Wind and the Willows molasses and honey, soft wheat toasting bread.
Ingredients:
- 5 C. bread flour
- 2-4 C. white wheat flour (bread is not an exact science)
- 2 packets (about 2 Tbsp) active dry yeast
- 1/3 C. honey
- 1/3 C. molasses
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 3 C. warm water
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt (if using regular salt, halve it)
Equipment: one really really big bowl, pastry cloth (not entirely necessary, but nice), two 9x5 bread pans (if you don't have those...well, you could probably just shape your bread and bake it on a pizza stone. I'm not sure.)
Alright, assemble all the ingredients, and make sure you have everything you need. Also, make sure you have some great distraction material available. Bread making isn't hard, but it is a looooong process. You could always read, but I'll be honest and say I spent my free time watching Boy Meets World. Whatever floats your boat.
Pour your two packets of yeast into the (empty) big bowl, add the warm water, and then stir in the honey.
Then (this gets a little tricky) stir in the 5 C. of bread flour. It might be a little lumpy, that's fine, just make sure there aren't any dry flourey spots.
When you're done it should look a little like this:
Pour your two packets of yeast into the (empty) big bowl, add the warm water, and then stir in the honey.
Then (this gets a little tricky) stir in the 5 C. of bread flour. It might be a little lumpy, that's fine, just make sure there aren't any dry flourey spots.
When you're done it should look a little like this:
Anyway, now you have to wait about thirty minutes, or until the flour/yeast gets big and...I don't know, yeasty. If you aren't sure, just wait thirty minutes and then go for it.
Oh and important point here: NEVER add salt to yeast during this stage. It kills it. Sad for the yeast, sad for the bread. Okay, just a warning.
So here is where I should have put a picture of the dough as I was mixing in the rest of the stuff, because it's pretty cool and definitely strange. But I forgot SO, I'll just do a great job explaining it instead.
Mix the melted butter with the molasses and salt. Then pour this mixture into the mixing bowl. Okay, now it gets strange: you're going to start by adding two cups of flour --very slowly-- and then work your way up to three or four (total). You do not, I repeat do not want to add all four cups at once.
So go ahead and put 1 C. into the bowl. Grab your spoon and stir. Ohhh wait... you can't stir it because all of a sudden it's become weird and not-really liquid. It's like some creature from an old horror movie. Relish this moment, it just looks SO COOL.
At this point, I recommend switching to your hands. Flour them well and then start mixing the dough up. Go ahead and add the second cup of flour. Now things should be getting significantly less sticky. Work it together until it holds into a ball-- also don't forget to get that molasses mixture incorporated. Once it starts to hold together, transfer it to a well floured area. The best thing to use here is a pastry cloth, but I've seen people knead bread on the counter as well.
If you've made dough before, and are comfortable kneading, skim this paragraph. If you've never kneaded before (say that five times fast), it's really not that hard, but there is a trick to it:
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| my dough right before it went into the bowl. See? not sticky, but obviously not 'firm' |
While you're doing this, you will need to add flour. At least one more cup, maybe two. Add it gradually and knead it in, until the dough is a little sticky to the touch but not sticking to the cloth/counter. Knead it a few more times for good measure. It should hold together and not stick to you when you pick it up, but if you pull a piece off it should still be sticky.
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| Like I said, I forgot to take pictures. This is actually the dough after it had already started to rise. Yours should be slightly lower when it goes in. |
Now take that dough and put it in another really big bowl (or do what I did and clean the mixing bowl super fast) that you've greased pretty thoroughly. I used butter. Turn the dough over so that the entire 'ball' gets coated with the grease. This keeps it from drying out while it rises.
Cover with a cloth and put in a warm place. Warmth is essential to yeast's happiness. If it gets too cold, it refuses to come out and play, so if you have a very cold kitchen, turn on the over and crack the door, or find a heating vent in your house. Unless you have animals, then please do not put the dough on the floor. Please.
Alrighty, now is the aforementioned 'really long process' settle in with a book. Or some 90's TV. Preferences, preferences.
One thing you might want to do here, is go ahead and grease your two loaf pans. You'll need them later, and you might as well use the time wisely.
What you're waiting for here, is the dough to 'rise' and 'fall.' If you read my previous (also bread releated) post 'Thoroughly Thoreau' you might be familiar with this process.
This will take at least an hour, and maybe as many as three. If it isn't rising at all, you may not have a warm enough location, or your yeast may be dead. Yikes.
Once the dough has roughly doubled in size, it's ready for the next step. If you aren't sure if it's doubled (because who would be?) poke it. Seriously. If the hole fills in really fast, it needs more time, if the hole stays depressed (Awww, poor thing) then it should be ready.
Before you take the dough out of the bowl, use your fist and push it (punch it!) into the dough. Do this eh, a couple times. Just don't get carried away.
After you've punched the dough down, divide it in half ish, and shape each half into an oval. This is so it fits better in the greased loaf pans. If you have extra (I did) you can keep it in the fridge for a bit, or make a free form loaf (a loaf without a pan) which is what I did. Get creative, if you want, but what you don't want to do is cram too much bread in the pan. It should be no more than 2/3 full. Otherwise the bread won't have enough room to expand, leading to all kinds of problems, like not fully cooked dough, and the crust coming off. No good.
If the dough seems super sticky when you divide it, flour your hands and sprinkle a little more flour on it while you work it into an oval.
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| again, I didn't get my camera fast enough. This dough has risen just an eensy bit already. |
After you've put the dough into the loaf pans, cover and...guess what? Leave in a warm place! This is called the second rise. It shouldn't take quite as long, half an hour to two hours. Time for more boy meets world! Oh, and during a commercial break, heat your oven to 350.
The dough should have roughly doubled again, and again, you can use the highly scientific 'poke it and see what happens' method to check.
When the dough has risen, lightly brush with water (optional), and score a couple times with a knife. I forgot to do that with mine, and it turned out just peachy, so don't worry if you forgot. It does look pretty though... now, slide those puppies into your pre-heated oven, set the timer for 20 minutes and step away.
After your timer beeps, check the bread. Resist the temptation to check it every five minute or your oven will lose heat. Is it kinda a tan to golden brown on top? It probably needs another five or ten minutes, but if you think it's done pull it out and check. Here's how: rap (gently!) on the top of the bread with your knuckles.
Does it sound hollow? Then it's probably done. Over the counter with a cloth laid out, and probably while wearing oven mits, you know, if you like your fingers, invert the pan and gently shake it. The bread should fall out. Hopefully, you didn't have the pan too high up. If so, you may have broken bits of bread. Next time, don't do that.
Carefully pick the loaf up and look at the bottom. Is it a nice tan/golden color?
If you realize the bread isn't done, you can put it back in the pan and return to the oven. If just the bottom needs crisped up, put it in the oven directly on the rack. Oh yea. Sans pan.
If it is done, place on a cooling rack/bread rack/anything to let air circulate under it, and, while it's still hot, brush the top with butter. This keeps the crust nice and soft and delicious. Let cool for several hours, slice and enjoy. Or toast it, butter it, cover it with honey and eat it with a cup of tea.
And, even though it's not related to bread, remember:
Kenneth Grahame-- Wind in the Willows.
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