Made It: Brown Bread

In my quest for a doable bread recipe, I decided to try our old standby, the bread Dave used to make when he started baking bread.  I'm not really sure what kind of bread this is, since his ingredient list changes every time he makes it, depending on whims and what we have on hand.  This time, I added:

2 cups warm water
2 cups warm milk
2 t. yeast
3 t. brown sugar
2 t. molasses
1 egg

Into our giant bread bowl (this bowl was big enough to bathe Charlie, our massive baby).  Stir together with giant wooden spoon.  Add 6 - 8 cups flour, substituting in whatever else you want.  I added oats, ground flax, and rye flour.  I'm afraid the flour measurement is totally a guesstimate because I lost count and we were both adding things at the same time.  Basically, add flour (or the like) until it has the right sticky "ball" consistency.  And do not forget to add the 2 tsp salt when you add the flour!

After mixing it all together I let it sit covered in a warm spot for about half an hour to autolyze. Hmm.  I just checked around and apparently, the autolyze will work better if you add the salt after.  It serves to kind of soften up the dough by hydrating the flour.  At any rate, leave the dough to rest before you start kneading.

I think because this bread had so much extra stuff and rye flour in it (in addition to all purpose), I ended up having to knead it for a VERY long time. 

Once you figure you've kneaded enough - maybe if you stretch out a piece of dough and it doesn't break off, but rather stretches - put your big ball of dough back into your now clean giant bread bowl that has been oiled.  Rub some oil over the dough as well and put it covered in a warm place to rise.  Once the dough has doubled in size, punch down and divide into portions to put in oiled bread pans.  Allow to rise just over the top of the pans and bake for 25-35 minutes at 350. 

What happened with my bread: I punched it down twice because Dave was sick and napping and I wasn't sure what to do.  This is okay though!  I think you can punch it down numerous times and still be okay.  It might even be better! (?)  Also, I let the bread rise for too long in the pans, so then when I baked it, they sort of fell.  Later, when Dave was feeling better, he let me know that we could have punched them down in their pans to remedy this.  Ah well...  the bread came out very nice indeed - a lovely daily bread type of bread.  Good for toast, good for sandwiches, good for snack.

One more thing for the people who tend to NOT follow recipe instructions (like me):  Cooling on a cooling rack is really a good idea.  I just flipped my loaves out onto a baking tray and kind of left them there upside down and they got sort of weird marks from the humidity from the pan.  So use a cooling rack.