Making sandwiches the hard way

Making sandwiches the hard way

Posted July 25, 2011 by

Every now and then we like to make sandwiches. However, we haven't found a sandwich bread we like, so I make my own, with whole wheat flour, oatmeal and flaxseed (a recipe borrowed from a book called 올 아바웃 브레드. I have to start mixing up the dough around 6am in order to have the bread ready in time to have lunch around noon... hence, "the hard way."

If you've made bread before, this is a pretty easy one. (Probably even easier if you have a bread machine... but I don't, so I wouldn't know.) If you haven't, it isn't the easiest to start with (particularly since you may not have all the ingredients handy) but it could be fun anyway.

Annie likes this bread because the flaxseed and oatmeal make it taste "healthy." I keep reminder her that it also contains some "cheats" to make it more palatable: oil for softness and honey for sweetness. The other breads I make without those extras are probably healthier.

Total: 225g water / 350g flour => 65% hydration, + oil

Wake up the yeast — Combine well and set aside until creamy:

  • 45g warm water (heated to ~40°C)
  • 20g whole wheat flour
  • 5g yeast

Dry ingredients first — Whisk together in large bowl:

  • 130g bread flour (빵용밀가루/강력밀가루)
  • 100g all-purpose flour
  • 50g whole wheat flour (통밀가루)
  • 50g oatmeal
  • 10g flaxseed (아마씨
  • 5g salt

Then add:

  • 155-160g water (160 if air is dry, 155 if humid)
  • yeast mixture
  • 27g oil
  • 36g honey

Mix until shaggy, then let sit for 15-30 minutes, mixing every 10 minutes or so. Cover if your house is particularly dry.

Turn out onto a clean countertop or other suitable surface and knead intermittently (knead 3-5 minutes, rest 10-15) for 45-60 minutes until smooth and stretchy. Dough should be rising noticeably between kneadings.

For the shaping step, you could roll a single log and place it in the pan, but these days I prefer the two segment method.

Two balls of dough

Divide into two balls

First, divide the dough in half and work them into two nice dough balls.

Rolled and placed in pan

Rolled and placed in pan

Next, roll out each ball to about 4-5" by 20", then roll them up like jelly rolls (from the short side) and place them in opposite ends of the bread pan. Cover with a wet towel and rise until tall and puffy (1-2 hours). When you lift the bread pan, it should feel surprisingly light.

A nice rise

A nice rise

This is what it should look like after rising. Unfortunately, today I was a little lazy and didn't knead enough, so if you look closely, you can see the dough tore a little in several places as it was rising in the pan (sandwich bread rises a lot, more than double). Still, the dough was strong enough to survive a full rise and bake, and the end product was delicious, despite being a bit funny looking.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180°C. (~10 minutes)

When oven is heated, place loaf in oven and reduce temperature to 160°C. Bake to internal temp of 95-99°C (~33-35 minutes). Reduce temperature and extend bake time if crust darkens too much.

Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely (~40 minutes). For a softer crust, store in an airtight container while still somewhat warm.

Finished bread

Finished bread

As always, if you have a conventional (non-convection), bottom-heating oven, increase the baking time and temperature.

This recipe doesn't use any preservatives (ingredients or techniques), so you will want to finish the bread within a day or two.

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