‘Oh the places you’ll go!’ Bread edition: ricotta toasts, cucumber sammies and cinnamon French toast for a start. # 295: Whole Wheat Loaf

There’s a specific kind of satisfaction that comes from finally making a recipe that you’ve had bookmarked forever. Not sure what to call it, but I’m doing a little happy dance as I type!

Definitely not the prettiest thing I’ve made, but a beige/brown rectangle is never going to be as pretty as patisserie. Though the braid on top is proof that this loaf is feelin’ cute.

To be honest, I don’t think this style of bread is my thing. It has a soft crumb with very minimal gluten development, so it doesn’t hold up to thin slices or lots of toast toppings. It kneads to spend a lil extra time at the gym.

The dough leaned slightly more towards brioche then a crusty loaf. It had a long and finicky ingredient list including orange juice, butter, potato starch and milk powder. The orange juice was a suggestion from the King Arthur’s Flour recipe to offset the bitterness of 100% whole wheat flour, and it worked! The flavor turned out very mellow, without that tannic aftertaste.

Wheeee! This looks so intense but in reality the dough hook can only go up to speed level 2. My stand mixer is a gentle metal giant.

Poof.

The braid felt extra, but you gotta trust a recipe the first time you bake it. Despite the potential for doom, the plaited bread baked with the same crumb as the rest of the loaf, didn’t impede the rise and held its shape. *golf clap*

The top almost felt like a built-in tear and share situation. Dipped in melted butter? I’m here for it.

Did you know that in the 17th century (and apparently all the way back to Roman times!) it was relatively normal to put toasted bread in your wine? Soggy toast sounds horrible to me (unless it’s French toast fried in lots of butter, duh) but it supposedly helped with the flavor of crappy wine and was a good way to use up stale bread. File that away for your next bar trivia night.

Happy munching!