Daily Bread (revised June 2007 - and check upgrades below)) always in preparation

If It's The First Time You're Baking Bread

2 cups wholewheat flour (I prefer King Arthur's Traditional) 2 cups white flour (Gold Medal Better-for-Bread) (if you don't have wholewheat flour, use 4½ cups white flour) 1 packet (1 TBsp) dry yeast 1 TBsp + ½ tsp sugar 1 tsp salt 3 TBsp olive oil small bowl for dissolving & proofing yeast (1-cup) small spoon for stirring medium (2-cup) measuring cup for water large bowl for kneading 1-cup, 1 TBsp, 1tsp measuring spoons wooden spoon cake rack to let baked bread cool

Kneading: squeeze dough between your fingers and your upper hand while pushing down with the palm of your hand

The Bread I Usually Make

• 2¼ cups (10 oz wt, 280 g) wholewheat flour (stoneground, 'high-protein' (>10%); I use King Arthur's Traditional)
• 1³/₄ cups (8.6 oz wt, 235 g) 'white' flour (Better-for-Bread or unbleached)
• 2 tsp dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp + 1 TBsp sugar
• 2 TBsp olive oil

1. Rinse a small cup, put in ½ teaspoon of sugar;
2. Bring a little water to a boil (the minimum amount for most tea kettles is about a cup, 250 ml;)
3. Measure 7 oz. (210 ml) cold tap water, add 4 oz (120) ml (3½ oz) boiling water (to the 11 oz (330 ml) mark); stir to mix, then pour about half (5-6 oz., 165 ml) in the small cup with sugar; stir lightly to dissolve sugar;
4. Put 2¼ cups (285g) wholewheat flour in a large bowl, make a well in the middle, put in 1 TBsp sugar and 1 tsp salt;
5. The water in the small cup should be about 100°F (37°C), measure with thermometer or put a drop on your wrist; sprinkle 2 tsp yeast over it while stirring, then leave it alone for 5-10 minutes;
6. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil and remaining half of water to wholewheat flour in the large bowl and mix with a sturdy wooden spoon;
7. Pour bubbling, foaming yeast over flour and dough and mix well, then cover with 1³/₄ cups of white flour;
   you could take a 5-30 minute break here;
   mix in white flour, most effectively done by hand, though it's a bit unpleasant; you could still use the wooden spoon;
8. Let the mixed dough rest for about five minutes;
9. Take the ball of dough out of the bowl and knead by hand on a flat surface for about ten minutes; I use a 12x15-inch (30x40 cm) glass cutting board, but any clean countertop will do except tiles; add a little flour or water as needed (it shouldn't be too dry or too wet, add small amounts of water when the dough is too tough, a little flour when it's too sticky, it should not stick to your hands;
   then knead for 8-10 minutes: at first squeeze between fingers and upper hand while pushing down with lower hand (use your body weight), rotate dough a little on each push down; about halfway start flattening dough and folding over, in the last minute just squeeze and push again;
10. Put dough back in large bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes or an hour to rise ("double in volume"), when it's cold put it in the sun or in a preheated oven at about 110°F (40°C) (turn oven on for 1-1½ minute);
11. Knead dough lightly ("punch down");
    I always make rolls: divide dough in nine equal portions (each about ~95g, 3½ oz: you'll need a scale. and maybe this is the time to switch to metric); let dough rest for a few minutes (while you preheat oven to 100°F (40°C) and bring a little water to a boil), then shape rolls by pushing thumbs or fingers into the bottom of the ball to get a smooth top surface, then flatten the dough balls; cover baking sheet with parchment paper, put rolls on it, into the oven, also put pan with boiling water in the oven; let rolls rise in the oven for an hour or longer;
    you can also shape the dough into a loaf (flatten and roll up), put it on parchment paper on a baking sheet and let rise again in preheated oven at about 110°F (40°C); have a metal container (like an old cake pan) in the oven and pour some boiling water in it, or bring water to a boil in an old all-metal pan;
12. When your bread is at the size you want, empty the water container and put in some fresh boiling water or bring the water in your old all-metal pan to a boil again and put it back in the oven, then turn the oven to 425°F (225°C) and bake for 19-27 minutes (the oven is NOT preheated);
    take it out of the oven and knock on it: it should sound hollow, measure internal temperature (it should be 180-205°F; let it cool down on a rack (a loaf for about 30 minutes, rolls can be eaten in five minutes).

print version

Divide dough in nine equal portions, let rest for 5-10 minutes

Flatten, let rise in oven for an hour or so The rolls are ready for baking! Notice the pan for hot water.

Notes

• Water: I mix specific amounts of boiling and cold water to bring it to body temperature - that's best for reviving the dry yeast and having it do its thing
• If your yeast is not foaming after five or ten minutes, something is wrong: maybe the water was too hot and killed the yeast, make a new 80 ml of tepid water, sprinkle new yeast over it; or maybe your yeast was too old, try another batch. It could also be that you forgot to put sugar in the yeast bowl.
• Baking times vary: I used to have an electric oven that would bake a loaf in 19 minutes, 14 minutes for rolls; my present gas oven bakes a loaf on a baking sheet in 27 minutes, a loaf in a bread pan in 23 minutes and rolls in 22 minutes; this oven reaches 225°C (425°F) in about ten minutes. My baking times include the heating-up of the oven: I usually do not preheat, but in a preheated oven rolls bake in 15 minutes. For regular bread, a few minutes over is OK, breads high in sugar (see below) burn more easily, so try to find the right time with regular bread first.
• Wholewheat flour should be stored in the refrigerator. Buy it at a store that does. To make 100% wholewheat bread, at least half should be fine-ground, and that is hard to find. Pastry flour is too low in gluten for yeast bread.
• I've come to prefer rolls over loaves, maybe it's the taste of larger crust surface. As my baking sheet accomodates nine, I divide the dough in nine parts (by weight, ~95g, 3½ oz); sometimes I just make a ball or an oblong shape; .I bake rolls for 22 minutes; they can be cut and eaten five minutes or so from the oven. A braided roll has even more crust, but doesn't keep so well and is harder to slice.
• Dough sticking to your hands after the mixing and first (2-minue) kneading can easily be removed by rubbing your hands with a teaspoon of flour.
• When available time is fractured, sponge doughs allow you a break between the mixing and kneading of the dough: mix the bubbling yeast into the wholewheat flour etc. (step #7), then cover with white flour without mixing, and you can leave it alone for an hour or so before kneading. (It does not work for high-sugar breads.)
• You can also punch the dough down a second time, let it rise again, if that fits your schedule better, i.e. to have it ready just before mealtime.
• Freeze bread when you're not eating it on the day of baking; slice first, so you can take out just what you need. Don't keep bread in the refrigerator.
• Instead of 3 TBsp olive oil, you could use 1½ TBsp butter, but I think it hardly makes a difference in taste and olive oil may be better for your health.
• For a kneading surface, most countertops are OK, or use a clean (non-smelling) cutting board (if it doesn't have feet, a damp towel can keep it in place), but between tiles dough will pick up some grout, and you don't want that between your teeth.

Some Possible Additions

• Milk: instead of water or part of the water: scald to deactivate enzymes harmful to bread, but I never get it to raise right;
• Egg(s), instead of part of water;
• 2 TBsp Rye Flour;
• Wheatberries, cracked wheat: cook first;
• Wheat bran: for fiber;
• Blackstrap molasses: for iron, but I got bored by the taste;
• To make bread more nutritious, milk powder, wheat germ and soy flour (1 TBsp of each in each cup of flour);
• Rye flour in large amounts may make kneading difficult;
• Wheat germ (toasted), 1-2 TBsp a loaf
• Bread without oil or butter doesn't keep well, but right out of the oven it can be very nice, with a "pure," "clean." taste.

Basic Bread recipee in steps (print version) - The rolls I usually make

Afterword 2013

At a boy scouts camp I made about 300 dinner rolls a few times. I had a tub-sized dough kneader and of course some helpers. I changed a few more things since the last revision. No more boiling water in the oven. I think it damaged the mechanism that lights the gas in the oven. Nowadays I usually add 1 Tablespoon of Wheat Germ and 1 Tablespoon of Ground Flax Seed (Flax Seed Meal) - use 10 g less White Flour. The nine rolls I used to make were a little too much - so now I always make 10 rolls, and to better fit the baking sheet I make them in a kind of hot dog bun shape. A breadroll of this shape is called (het) kadetje 2 in Dutch, but in Holland it's always of pure white flour. I'm a bit mystified why I used to flatten the dough for the rolls on the baking sheet in the old recipe. When I make dinner rolls nowadays I just put balls of dough on the baking sheet.

Upgrade 2016

Unexpectedly, wholewheat flour absorbs more water than white flour, so I changed the proportions of flour. What works for me now is:

• 1 tsp salt
• 3 TBsp flaxseed meal
• 30 g olive oil
• 1 TBsp + ½ tsp sugar
• 215 g stoneground whole-wheat flour
• 240 g fineground whole-wheat flour
• 11 oz water (7 oz cold, 4 oz boiling)
• 2 tsp dry yeast

Occasionally, when my freezer is filling up I work a smaller amount of dough:

• ¾ tsp salt
• 2 TBsp flaxseed meal
• 20 g olive oil
• 1 TBsp + ½ tsp sugar
• 140 g stoneground whole-wheat flour
• 175 g fineground whole-wheat flour
• 210 g water (140 g cold, 70 g boiling)
  7¾ oz water (~4¼ oz cold, ~3½ oz boiling)
• 1½ tsp dry yeast

Upgrade 2019

• 285 g (2¼ cup) wholewheat stone-ground
• 140 g wholewheat fine-ground
• 100 g white flour (unbleached)
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 TBsp + ½ tsp sugar
• 11 oz water (7 oz cold, 4 oz boiling)
  330 ml water (210 ml cold, 110 ml boiling)
• 2 tsp dry yeast

A smaller amount of dough (for 5 or 6 rolls) I sometimes work with:

• 145 g (1 cup + 2TBsps) wholewheat stone-ground
1. 70 g (½ cup???) wholewheat fine-ground
2. 50 g (⅓ cup) white flour (unbleached)
3. (or just 120 g (¾ cup + 2TBsp) white flour)
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ TBsp + ½ tsp sugar
• 5½ oz water (3½ oz cold, 2 oz boiling)
  165 ml water (105 ml cold, 60 ml boiling)
• 1¼ tsp dry yeast

See also: Dutch Lunch
Bread-Related Dutch Words

After you've made regular bread a few times you could advance to raisin bread and yeast bread fruit pies; you could also try pizza, but that never worked really well for me

Other Baking

Banana Bread - Not too hard, low in fat - sour cream, sugar, eggs, flour, banana, raisins, nuts

Mochi Rice Flour - with milk, eggs, butter and sugar

Dutch 'Breakfast' Cake - very low fat - flour, milk, honey, ginger, raisins, pecans, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, cardamom, fennel, pepper - no butter! no eggs!

Rye Bread, Pumpernickel - surprisingly little rye wholewheat flour, wheat bran, bulgur (cracked wheat,) spelt flakes, rye flakes, molasses

More recipees - Your chef: Marco Schuffelen - email