I make this bread once a month for sandwiches for lunch. This recipe makes 4 loaves. This started as the “Soft white Sandwich Loaf, American Style” from the Home Baking cookbook by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (highly recommended book). There are some (very) minor deviations from the recipe in that book.
Biga
Make the biga 12-16 hours before making the bread. I usually make it the night before (around 7ish), and start making the bread mid-morning (11-12ish) after I get back from my Sunday morning run.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water (back of hand under tap)
- 4 cups all purpose flour (or 2 cups all purpose, 2 cups whole wheat)
Directions:
- Add water to stand mixer bowl, dissolve in yeast.
- Add flour and mix for 2 mins.
- Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead briefly.
- Spray a large bowl with olive oil misto. Cover with a damp towel and leave overnight (12-16 hours).
Bread
Ingredients:
The directions below will end up doubling these ingredients. There is no need to math it because the doubling is in repeating the steps 1-5 (the doubled recipe didn’t fit in my stand mixer well).
- 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 4 cups all purpose flour (or 2 cups all purpose, 2 cups whole wheat)
- 1 tablespoon salt
Directions:
- Add water to stand mixing bowl and dissolve in yeast.
- Turn biga out onto a well floured surface and cut into 6-8 pieces
- Add 3 cups of flour to the mixing bowl, half of the biga, and the salt.
- Mix for 2 minutes at low speed using the dough hook.
- Add another cup of flour and continue to mix for another 2 mins, then 2 mins at next fastest speed.
- Turn out onto a well floured surface and let it rest.
- Repeat steps 1-5 using the other half of the biga.
- Turn out on top of the dough from the first part, and knead both together well.
- Misto a very large bowl with olive oil, and put the dough in it. Cover with a wet towel.
- Let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size.
- Misto 4 loaf pans with olive oil.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cut into 4 equal sections.
- Roll each quarter into a fat log and pinch the ends. Place in the 4 pans, pinched side down.
- Cover the 4 pans with a wet towel and let them rise for another 2 hours until doubled in volume.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Just before putting the loaves in the oven, slice them down the middle with a razor blade (this isn’t 100% necessary, but you may get a big ugly bubble or two on the top).
- Bake for 45 mins.
- Remove from loaf pans and return to oven for another 5 mins.
- Turn out onto a wire rack.
- “Paint” the tops of the loaves with unsalted butter. I usually use a half-used butter stick leftover as a butter crayon to do this.