I had a bread machine for a while, when they first came out. After trying countless recipes, I ended up with only one that I really liked -- a crusty, salty white bread that was addictive warm from the machine and part of which usually ended up as breadcrumbs. {I miss that bread. I miss those breadcrumbs!} I've been looking for a replacement for that recipe...a good, simple sandwich bread, good for lunches, or toast, or breadcrumbs, something that I could make whenever there's the need. Today I came close!
This is a recipe that's been on my mental to-bake list for ever. {It's from Cook's Illustrated issue no.20, and the newest one, which I just brought home yesterday, is no. 110.} Officially, it's the Master Recipe for American Loaf Bread, Oatmeal Loaf variation + {see below} Slow-Rise Loaf variation.
The idea behind this recipe is that you can make a very good loaf of white sandwich bread in about two hours, using a stand-mixer or a food processor, and using rapid-rise yeast and a warm oven to accelerate the rising times. You also put a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to help make a good crust. Beyond the basic honey-sweetened white bread, there are five variations -- Buttermilk, Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, Cornmeal and Anadama -- plus instructions for what to do if you don't have rapid rise yeast. {Or if you do have rapid rise yeast but your package expired last October. That's why we've cleaning out the pantry, after all...}
It seems to happen that when I bake bread, nothing ever goes according to plan and I still sometimes end up with good bread. This time, instead of 'coming together' and being 'smooth and satiny,' my dough was slack beyond belief; the first rise, even using regular active dry yeast, was rocket-fast; and the bread that came out of the oven was beautifully browned and risen, but suspiciously airy in the middle {I was sure it was going to collapse, though it didn't}. But the bread is very promising: lovely color, light crumb, and nicely salty. I'm not sure what it is about salty bread, but it's very appealing to me.
I want to try this again once or twice before I share a recipe for it, maybe to see how the rapid rise method works, and maybe to see if on another try my dough behaves a little like the original recipe says it should. {I also want to try the cornmeal variation. Can't you just imagine a BLT on toasted cornmeal bread?} In the meantime, if you're interested in looking at the recipe, it's in several Cook's Illustrated cookbooks, including Baking Illustrated (page 75). I'm happy enough with this first try to send a slice over to Yeastspotting, an excellent weekly round-up of yeast bread recipes.