Johnny Bake Bread Real Good Like. Uh Huh.

I decided to spend some quality time in the kitchen yesterday.  My friend, Adam, semi-requested some more baked goods from the house of Baxley Support and Sales so I submitted a support ticket to the oven and this is the response it gave me:

I had to time these just right as all the loaves had different cook temps.

First, I made the boule.  A recipe I've been working on for a month... I think I got it. Tis a round loaf, with just the right balance of wheat flour, hard white wheat flour (bread flour), vital wheat gluten, salt, honey, and yeast.  I had problems in the oven until I experimented with high then low temperatures.  It requires constant attention, and is easy to burn.  I can pretty much trust my stove but this one is unpredictable.  Cook time is 15 to 35 minutes.  It produces a wonderful crispy brown crust that quickly becomes that perfect chewy container for the excellent yeasty/salty ratio.  Texture is soft, with some chew factor.  The wheat adds just enough grain but it's not like eating crumbs at all.  This is my favorite bread so far.  A table bread, it is perfect for oil and vinegar, butter, toast, soup, whatever.

This one came out perfect, I threw oats and sesame seeds on top. I love oats!

Next I made my sandwich loaves. I, like all from-scratch bread-bakers, strive to create the perfect sandwich loaf.  We love sandos!  We bake bread.  We want out sandos on our own bread.  I have great success with buns, so burgers are good on my own bread, but a nice cold cut or PB&J sando is what I've been dying for.  Trying to make a fluffy, soft textured, mild tasting bread that won't fall apart while eating is the goal.  Well, it looked wonderful out of the oven, browned as I had planned it...

Looking good so far!  Can't wait to cut into it!

Once I sliced it, I was amazed.  It was near my version of perfection for a sando bread. Light, great texture, and wonderfully mild. I do have improvements, however.  #1 improvement: Replace 1/2 sugar with honey.  #2 improvement: Add egg for more structural integrity. (Flax meal would be a good egg substitute).   Even though my knife was a great buy at eight bucks, it needs to be thinner for sandwich bread.  #3 improvement: Get a really nice bread knife.  Other than those things, it is almost a perfect sandy loaf.

The bread is wonderful. Mild on the mouth, heaven in the body.

Last up:  The baguettes.  Been wanting to do a nice french bread for a while.  Chewy, chewy, soft center, chewy, chewy.  That's my mission.  Status: success.  I surprisingly used a small amount of flour, and had to bust out the rolling pin.  An egg wash finished the giant bread stick, and it was so good I ate half of it before it was fully cooled.  I ate the rest of one of them with my pasta.  

These a pretty long.  About 18 inches from end to end.  About 3-ish inches at the fattest point.

Well there ya have it.  A wonderful day of success.  I am getting better and better as time goes on.  The right tools help out a lot, but the real trick is getting to know your yeast.  How are its rise times in your own kitchen?  What does it like or dislike when eating?  To proof or not to proof?  Some things that also worked for me:

• Slow or small rises=Not warm enough or yeast not proofed
• Slow or small rises=Instant yeast doesn't need proofing (depends on ingredients)
• Try cooking bread with instant yeast after the first rise for a uniquely dense and yeasty bread
• Cover tightly during the first rise with plastic wrap.  This made a HUGE difference for me. Rise times cut in half and increased in size!
• Know your dough.  Never pay attention to knead times.  When it's done it's done. That's why all my recipes just say, "Knead." 
  
• Vital wheat gluten (you CAN use it with bread flour for fantastic fluff)
• Experiment with higher temperatures when using mixed flour recipes
• Always use steam, even with egg washes.  You can remove if bread is browning too fast.  I use a water bottle and just spray into stove for extra steam in addition to my water sitting in the stove.
• Use adjuncts!
• Always use less wheat flour than you think you need, unless it's all wheat. Same goes for oat flour.
• Sweet bread is the sh*t.  If you have a so-so loaf of bread, paired with a sweet bread, you are winning.