Here's my this year's birthday present from Carrie. It's a Soehnle food scale and it both works wonderfully and looks stunning. It was one of those perfect presents, something I would probably never have bought for myself, but it's wonderful to have, all the same.
I used it today in making one of my stand-by recipes, American Loaf Bread, standing mixer method. My new scale allowed me to weigh instead of measure the flour; weighing is the preferred method. I found that one cup of all-purpose flour equals 5 ounces. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Crisco is just for greasing the pan.
The bread is in the oven right now, and I must say it looks much better than the last time I made it, which was a failure for some reason. This recipe is usually very reliable. It may have been the humidity or lack thereof? I'm not sure. But this loaf about to come out looks just like it should.
This recipe uses a standing electric mixer. You can hand-knead the dough, but we found it’s easy to add too much flour during this stage, resulting in a somewhat tougher loaf. If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour.
Makes one 9-inch loaf | 3 1/2 | cups bread flour , plus extra for work surface |
2
| teaspoons table salt |
| 1 | cup milk , warm (110 degrees) |
| 1/3 | cup water , warm (110 degrees) |
| 2 | tablespoons unsalted butter , melted |
| 3 | tablespoons honey |
| 1 | package rapid-rise yeast (also called instant) |
1. Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Once oven temperature reaches 200 degrees, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat.
2. Mix flour and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Mix milk, water, butter, honey, and yeast in 1-quart Pyrex liquid measuring cup. Turn machine to low and slowly add liquid. When dough comes together, increase speed to medium (setting number 4 on a KitchenAid mixer) and mix until dough is smooth and satiny, stopping machine two or three times to scrape dough from hook if necessary, about 10 minutes. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead to form smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds.
3. Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; place in warm oven until dough doubles in size, 40 to 50 minutes.
4. Form dough into loaf by gently pressing the dough into a rectangle, one inch thick and no wider than the length of the loaf pan. Next, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn the dough seam side up and pinch it closed. Place dough in the pan and press it gently so it touches all four sides of the pan. Finally, place dough in greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan.
5. Cover with plastic wrap; set aside in warm spot until dough almost doubles in size, 20 to 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees, placing empty loaf pan on bottom rack. Bring 2 cups water to boil.
6. Remove plastic wrap from loaf pan. Place pan in oven, immediately pouring heated water into empty loaf pan; close oven door. Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted at angle from short end just above pan rim into center of loaf reads 195 degrees, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove bread from pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.
