linbakesbread

Good morning bread bakers.

Today I will revisit the Incredible Toast Basic Loaf bread. If you recall, the texture of the bread was great, but the flavor was lacking. I guessed that it was possibly due to the minimal salt in the recipe. So, this time, I will double the salt and use 2 teaspoons instead of 1 teaspoon.

Here is the revised recipe. Please bake Incredible Toast Basic Loaf with me.

Special Tools you will need:
Heavy duty mixer such as a Kitchenaid

ALL those ingredients!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup non-fat dry milk
1 ¼ cups cool water
1/3 cup dried potato flakes
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 ¾ cup plus 2 ½ to 3 additional cups bread flour
¼ of a 500 milligram vitamin C tablet, crushed
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 large egg yolk
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
¼ cup crushed ice
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 Tablespoon oil for bowl
Nonstick cooking spray
1 large egg, beaten for glaze

Making the sponge: Stir the dry milk into the 1 ¼ cups cool water in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until almost simmering. Turn down the heat. Hold below a simmer for 1 minute, then turn the heat off. Let cool for several minutes, then stir in potato flakes.

In a measuring cup, stir together the yeast , ½ cup warm water and ¼ teaspoon sugar. Let stand until foam forms. Dump into the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer and add 1 ¾ cup flour. Pour in the milk-potato mixture and beat on low-medium speed with the paddle blade for 4 minutes. Let sit for 30 minutes to 2 ½ hours.

Making the Dough: Remove the paddle blade and insert the dough hook. Add the vitamin C, melted butter, egg yolk, corn syrup, ice and salt. Turn the mixer on for a few seconds just to stir it. Add the remaining 3 cups flour. Knead on low-medium speed for 5 minutes, until dough is very elastic.

First Rise: Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat well with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Shaping the Dough: Punch down risen dough and dump out onto work surface. Divide in 2 equal pieces and shape into smooth rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 15 minutes.

Here Shirley goes into great detail on how to shape the dough into tight loaves. Basically, you have to pull the dough together and pinch it until you have a nice, smooth tight loaf. Repeat with the other ball of dough.

Second Rise: Spray 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray and place a loaf in each pan, seam side down. Brush with beaten egg. Let the dough rise until slightly more than double, about 1 hour.

Baking: Position oven racks on the two lowest possible positions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a shallow pan on the on the lowest rack and fill with ½ inch of boiling water. Place bread in oven and turn up the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake until bread is well browned, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on a cooling rack.

The finished bread: