I’ve posted this recipe before, but I’ve made some changes since then, and I wanted to share them. Outside of bagels, this is typically the main request from MM when he’s looking for bread.
The original recipe yields two loaves – baked in 9×4-inch loaf pans. That’s too much for the two of us, and because it doesn’t have the same amount of preservatives that a store-bought loaf, it goes bad pretty quick if we’re not interested in a full out carb coma.
So, the recipe below is the result of dividing my original one in half, using the bread formula. I’ll tell you how I did it below the recipe.
Sweet White Bread
Equipment
- 9×4-inch loaf pan, lined with parchment paper, or well greased.
Ingredients
- 292 g water lukewarm is better, but all it really impacts is rise time
- 8 g instant yeast SAF Instant, for example
- 65 g sugar
- 405 g bread flour
- 4 g Kosher salt
- 24 g canola oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in water, then add yeast and stir.
- Add remaining ingredients in this order: Flour, salt (make sure flour is between yeast and salt), then oil. Using a spoon, combine until a shaggy dough forms. Begin kneading to form the dough in the bowl, then turn out onto a floured surface. Continue kneading until dough is smooth and elastic, and slightly tacky to the touch.
- Place dough in lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Prove in a warm room, or in a cool oven with the oven light on for 60 minutes, or until the dough has doubled.
- Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and gently press into a rectangle. With the short end of the dough toward you, fold the bottom third up, then the top third down to overlap fully. Using the heel of your hand, seal the seem, and gently roll the dough until the seam is on the bottom.
- Place the dough in prepared loaf pan, and let rise 30 minutes, or until it rises to about an inch above the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake loaf for 30 minutes, or until the center of the loaf registers 190°F using an instant read thermometer. Remove from the loaf pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
First things first – you’ll need a crash course in the Baker’s Percentage. Basically, it’s finding the percentage of the ingredient when compared to the flour in the recipe. (This is a huge reason why I converted my original recipe from volume to weight.) In formula, it looks like this:
Ingredient % = (Weight of Ingredient / Total Weight of Flour)*100
To scale my recipe, either up or down, I need to know the ingredient percentage. So, if I want to change the yield of this recipe, I calculate the following:
- Flour – 405g – 100%
- Water – 292g – 72% ((292/405)*100)=72)
- Sugar – 65g – 16%
- Yeast – 8g – 2%
- Salt – 4g – 1%
- Oil – 24g – 6%
If I want to double the yield, I double the amount of flour – 810g – then multiple 810 by the percentage for each ingredient:
- Water – 583g (810 * 0.72)
- Sugar – 130g (810 * 0.16, rounded up)
- Yeast – 16g (810 * 0.02, rounded down)
- Salt – 8 g
- Oil – 49g
See? Now you can easily divide bread recipes!
I was tempted to divide this one in half today, as MM suggested a smaller loaf. I have a single small loaf tin that I was planning to use, but rethought – why not use the second half to do something I’d never done before: braiding, or plaiting, as our friends on the Great British Baking Show would say.
The result was a very positive first attempt, though I know Paul Hollywood tell me that I’d lost definition – probably overproved the second time around. Still, I’m pleased with the attempt. What do you think?
