Originally posted by: M2008S
forgive me for not looking thru every page... buy can i make the regular size loaf and put it in a bread pan in a conventional oven? any ideas on cook time/ what to look for? ive never baked bread but all the + feedback makes it look awesome. PM me if you can thx
I'm PMing this, too.
Generally bake at 350 degrees, possibly 375. Check your oven's temperature with an oven thermometer. Get a decent one. I have two, and I think the newer one is off, to be frank. Anyway, bake most loaves of bread around 45 minutes. Take a peak a few minutes before to see if it's browning but not too brown. My particular oven tends to bake the back of the loaf darker than the front, so I open the oven at 30 minutes and rotate it 180 degrees. It's only for bread that I do this, nothing else. Then I bake 15 minutes more. If your bread's coming out too light or not totally cooked in the center, increase temperature or bake time. You want it brown but not burned and after it has cooled completely (give it a good 3 hours!) on a rack, slice with a very sharp knife. I'm really really good at slicing bread evenly. It takes practice, and of course you have to be careful not to cut yourself. I have a technique in which I shove the loaf against a vertical surface (by the end), and this stabalizes the loaf while I'm cutting each slice. It keeps my hands safely away from the knife, too.
Following is my WW bread recipe from my table of recipes. I've made hundreds of loaves of bread, and mostly WW. I have
never used a bread baking machine in my life! I have nothing against them, just don't know the first thing about them. If someone gave me one or if I see one cheap used and it looks OK I'll check it out.
OK, here's my whole wheat bread recipe. I've made this one for years and several loaves just the last few weeks (T means tablespoon):
12 oz. water, heated to warm in order to dissolve yeast
1 T active dry yeast (put this in the warm water, let dissolve 5 minutes or so)
Add the following:
1 T salt
3 T sugar
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk (if you prefer, just use milk instead of water and skip this)
1/3 cup untoasted wheat germ (Optional. I store this in the refrigerator for freshness).
1/3 cup wheat bran (Optional)
1/2 cup millet
1/2 cup sasame seeds
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 raw egg
White flour (I get 50 lb. bags of bread flour at Costco!)
Mix these together in a mixing bowl, well and add white flour with a mixing spoon until thick enough to turn out on a floured kneeding board (a large cutting board will work). Scrape out most of what's left in the bowl onto the kneeding board. Kneed in more flour until the loaf is "smooth and elastic" and does not stick to the board. Continue to kneed for up to 5 minutes - this activates the gluten in the flour.
Put a 1/2 teaspoon or so of oil into the mixing bowl (You don't have to clean the bowl), and spread all around the bottom and up the sides, and toss the loaf into the bowl and swish it around to get oil all over it. Cover (plate or plastic) and put in a warm place (85 degrees or so) and let the loaf rise until around double in size. If it doesn't feel warm to the touch before doing this, heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds (maybe 30).
Pull out of bowl onto the kneeding board and kneed a few seconds and form into a loaf shape and press down into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Cover, if desired, and place back in the warm place (85 degrees or so), and let rise until around doubled in size (can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour) and put in preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit 5 minutes and remove from pan and let cool thoroughly (a couple of hours) on a wire rack before slicing with a very sharp knife. Refrigerate in a plastic bag and it will keep for weeks (if you can resist eating it all first!).
I also make this recipe with 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds instead of the millet and sesame seeds. Or, for plain WW bread you can skip the seeds, of course.