Recipe: Coy Loaf (Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread)

My roommate had a copy of a bread recipe from an old Martha Stewart magazine that was almost vegan. Last week I made it using whole wheat flour, but this affected the baking time in a way I wasn't ready for and I ended up with a dense loaf with a thick crust and a condensed crumb. It was edible and I was happy to have it, but it was't quite what I wanted. So today I went back and tried again, this time stripping the recipe down and re-building it into the bread I wanted.

The name comes from the picture my roommate took--I thought it looked like an over-the-shoulder shot, if, you know, bread had shoulders. And could pose.

Coy Loaf (or Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread) Recipe



INGREDIENTS:

- ½ TBSP and ¾ TSP yeast
- ¼ Cup and then 1 Cup Warm Water later
- 1 ½ TBSP and 1 TSP Brown Rice Syrup
- 2 TBSP melted Buttery Spread (like Earth Balance)
- 3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 TBSP coarse salt
- 1/3 Cup Wheat Germ
1/3 Cup Flaxseed Meal
- 2 TBSP Vital Wheat Gluten

METHOD:

1. Sprinkle yeast over mixture of ¼ cup water and the brown rice syrup. Whisk until yeast dissolves. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. In a small mixing bowl, sift in whole wheat flour (when measuring flour, make sure to use a spoon, not scooping—this allows air to get mixed in with the flour right away, which is important when making bread with whole wheat flour as whole wheat flour needs a little more care to form air holes in the bread). Mix in salt, wheat germ, flaxseed, and vital wheat gluten.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, pour yeast mixture. Add the rest of the water and the buttery spread.
4. Pour in about 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix with hands. Keep adding flour until bread forms a slightly sticky ball.
5. Knead dough on a floured surface (or in floured bowl if there is enough space), until smooth and elastic but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball.
5. “Butter” sides of a bowl large enough for the dough to grow to twice its size. Transfer dough ball into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough stand in a warm place until it doubles in volume (it should not spring back when pressed), about 1 hour.
6. “Butter” a 4 ½-8 ½-inch loaf pan. Punch down dough.
7. Shape into an 8 ½-inch-long rectangle (about ½ inch thick/deep). Fold long sides of dough in to middle, overlapping slightly. Press seam to seal. Place dough, seam side down, to pan. Brush with buttery spread or dust with flour. Cover with plastic wrap. Let stand until dough rises about 1 inch above top of pan (45 minutes to an hour).
8. Preheat oven to 450°F.
9. Reduce oven temperature to 400°F (having the oven a higher temperature when bread initially enters the oven allows for one last, quick rise). Bake for about 20 minutes, until top is golden brown.


I was pretty shocked when this bread came out looking beautiful, more shocked when it came out soft (since the hardness of my last loaf was pretty much its defining character).

When I make this bread again, I'm definately using less salt. But I'm notorious for prefering the lower-sodium side of flavor. This is the first recipe that I feel I can call "mine", so let me know what you think. Also, if the recipe needs to be clarified, let me know so I can learn how to do this better!