Country Crust Wheat Bread Recipes

RUSTIC COUNTRY BREAD WITH HONEY BUTTER

Steps:

• For the bread: Heat the milk to between 110 and 115 degrees F. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk.
• Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add the sugar, butter and salt and stir to dissolve. Add the rye flour and mix on medium until smooth. Slowly beat in the all-purpose flour. When the dough has come together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn to coat the surface. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch down the dough and place on a lightly floured board. Divide it in 2, knead each piece a couple of times and form them into rounds. Put the rounds on an oiled baking sheet, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.
• For the honey butter: While the bread is baking, put the butter, honey and just a dash of salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk it together. Scrape out into a ramekin and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator about a half hour before using.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup warm water. Add the oil, sugar, molasses, salt and remaining water. Combine flours; add 4-5 cups flour to mixture. Beat until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each portion into a loaf. Place in 2 greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. , Bake at 350° until golden brown, 40-45 minutes. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks.

RUSTIC WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• Stir all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, instant yeast, and salt together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Whisk water and oil together in a cup; pour into flour mixture. Mix on low speed until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl into a ball.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead just until dough is smooth, about 1 minute. Divide and shape dough into 3 balls for small loaves or 2 balls for larger loaves. Dust loaves with flour and place onto a baking sheet; cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled in size, about 25 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Slash an "X" about 1/4-inch deep in tops of loaves with a sharp knife.
• Bake in the preheated oven until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven to cool completely on a wire rack.

COUNTRY CRUST SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the Sourdough Starter, eggs, sugar, oil, salt and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into loaves. Place in 2 greased 8x4-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. , Bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Brush with butter.

WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH RUSTIC COUNTRY LOAF

Steps:

• Combine salt with flour in a mixing bowl, then add water and mix either by hand or with a dough whisk until fully incorporated into a "shaggy mass."
• Add starter and mix / squish by hand until fully incorporated. The process of incorporating the starter is a bit of primary kneading and should result in the dough smoothing out some, but don't go nuts. As soon as the starter is fully incorporated, you're done.
• Cover mixing bowl and let sit.
• First Bulk Fermentation Period
• The first (of three) bulk fermentation period is at room temperature which for me is 73 - 75 degrees F, and lasts about 10 hours.
• At about an hour in, do 5-10 minutes of hand kneading (see notes and video below) until the dough develops some strength and elasticity and becomes noticeably smoother. Cover and let sit.
• Every 1-2 hours (exact timing is not important - really!) do a short round of stretching and folding to re-develop the dough's elasticity (see notes and video below). Then re-cover and let sit.
• Second Bulk Fermentation Period
• After about 10 hours, or whenever the dough has risen to about 1.5 times its original volume, put the covered bowl of dough into a cold (~40 F) refrigerator and let sit (for me, this is overnight) for about 10 hours.
• Third Bulk Fermentation Period
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature again.
• As the dough warms up, resume periodic stretch and folds. Dough should be feeling progressively more lively, developing a bit of sour aroma, and eventually starting to bubble some.
• This final bulk fermentation period is the hardest to put a time length on. Getting it right matters, and it will totally depend on how active your starter is, how warm your kitchen is, and a whole host of other mostly invisible things. You are shooting to finish this period when the dough has risen to 2 - 2.5 times its original volume and ideally is actively blowing a few bubbles. I've had this take anywhere from 4 - 8 hours depending on this and that. Your mileage may vary. Try not to overshoot this - you'll probably have a better result erring on the too soon side than the too late side.
• Shaping and Proofing
• (See notes and video below)
• Prepare a lined proofing basket by generously flouring the inside and set it aside.
• Lightly flour a large work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
• Wet your hands, punch down the dough and then stretch and flatten it into a large thin rectangle.
• Fold dough in half from top to bottom and press top into bottom, flattening again but not as big as the initial rectangle. At this point, you want the height of the dough rectangle to be right about the length of your proofing basket (no more than that).
• [Optional] Lightly flour the top of the dough (and your hands).
• Start at one end and roll the dough rectangle into a cylinder.
• Keep track of the seam and transfer the dough cylinder into the lined, floured proofing basket seam-side up.
• Cover and let sit for 1 - 1.5 hours.
• Baking
• From 30 - 60 minutes after transferring dough into proofing basket, pre-heat oven and clay baker to 450 degrees F ~ about 20 - 30 minutes.
• Uncover dough and transfer from proofing basket into base of clay baker, score top of dough, cover and bake at 450 F for 25 minutes.
• Uncover clay baker, reduce oven temperature to 400 F and bake uncovered for another 20-25 minutes (or until desired crust color develops).
• Remove bread and place on cooling rack for at least a couple hours before cutting.

TARTINE'S COUNTRY BREAD

Steps:

• Make the starter: Combine 1,000 grams white-bread flour with 1,000 grams whole-wheat flour. Put 100 grams of warm water (about 80 degrees) in a small jar or container and add 100 grams of the flour mix. Use your fingers to mix until thoroughly combined and the mixture is the consistency of thick batter. Cover with a towel and let sit at room temperature until mixture begins to bubble and puff, 2 to 3 days.
• When starter begins to show signs of activity, begin regular feedings. Keep the starter at room temperature, and at the same time each day discard 80 percent of the starter and feed remaining starter with equal parts warm water and white-wheat flour mix (50 grams of each is fine). When starter begins to rise and fall predictably and takes on a slightly sour smell, it's ready; this should take about 1 week.(Reserve remaining flour mix for leaven.)
• Make the leaven: The night before baking, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the mature starter. Mix the remaining starter with 200 grams of warm water and stir with your hand to disperse. Add 200 grams of the white-wheat flour mix and combine well. Cover with a towel and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours or until aerated and puffed in appearance. To test for readiness, drop a tablespoon of leaven into a bowl of room-temperature water; if it floats it's ready to use. If it doesn't, allow more time to ferment.
• Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine 200 grams of leaven with 700 grams of warm water and stir to disperse. (Reserve remaining leaven for future loaves; see note below.)
• Add 900 grams of white-bread flour and 100 grams of whole-wheat flour to bowl and use your hands to mix until no traces of dry flour remain. The dough will be sticky and ragged. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rest for 25 to 40 minutes at room temperature.
• Add 20 grams fine sea salt and 50 grams warm water. Use hands to integrate salt and water into dough thoroughly. The dough will begin to pull apart, but continue mixing; it will come back together.
• Cover dough with a towel and transfer to a warm environment, 75 to 80 degrees ideally (like near a window in a sunny room, or inside a turned-off oven). Let dough rise for 30 minutes. Fold dough by dipping hand in water, taking hold of the underside of the dough at one quadrant and stretching it up over the rest of the dough. Repeat this action 3 more times, rotating bowl a quarter turn for each fold. Do this every half-hour for 2 1/2 hours more (3 hours total). The dough should be billowy and increase in volume 20 to 30 percent. If not, continue to let rise and fold for up to an hour more.
• Transfer dough to a work surface and dust top with flour. Use a dough scraper to cut dough into 2 equal pieces and flip them over so floured sides are face down. Fold the cut side of each piece up onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf; this will become the crust. Work dough into taut rounds. Place the dough rounds on a work surface, cover with a towel, and let rest 30 minutes.
• Mix 100 grams whole-wheat flour and 100 grams rice flours. Line two 10- to 12-inch bread-proofing baskets or mixing bowls with towels. Use some of the flour mixture to generously flour towels (reserve remaining mixture).
• Dust rounds with whole-wheat flour. Use a dough scraper to flip them over onto a work surface so floured sides are facing down. Take one round, and starting at the side closest to you, pull the bottom 2 corners of the dough down toward you, then fold them up into the middle third of the dough. Repeat this action on the right and left sides, pulling the edges out and folding them in over the center. Finally, lift the top corners up and fold down over previous folds. (Imagine folding a piece of paper in on itself from all 4 sides.) Roll dough over so the folded side becomes the bottom of the loaf. Shape into a smooth, taut ball. Repeat with other round.
• Transfer rounds, seam-side up, to prepared baskets. Cover with a towel and return dough to the 75- to 80-degree environment for 3 to 4 hours. (Or let dough rise for 10 to 12 hours in the refrigerator. Bring back to room temperature before baking.)
• About 30 minutes before baking, place a Dutch oven or lidded cast-iron pot in the oven and heat it to 500 degrees. Dust tops of dough, still in their baskets, with whole-wheat/rice-flour mixture. Very carefully remove heated pot from oven and gently turn 1 loaf into pan seam-side down. Use a lame (a baker's blade) or razor blade to score the top of the bread a few times to allow for expansion, cover and transfer to oven. Reduce temperature to 450 degrees and cook for 20 minutes. Carefully remove lid (steam may release) and cook for 20 more minutes or until crust is a rich, golden brown color.
• Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when tapped. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees, clean out pot and repeat this process with the second loaf.

RUSTIC COUNTRY BREAD

Steps:

• The day before making bread, place 3/4 cup spring water, 1/4 teaspoon bread machine yeast and 1 3/4 cup bread flour into pan of a bread machine. Select dough cycle and let knead for 5 minutes. Stop machine and let rise overnight.
• The next day, pour starter from bread machine pan into a non-metallic container. Reserve 1/3 cup for this recipe and freeze remainder for later use.
• In a large bowl, mix together 1/3 cup reserved starter, 1 cup spring water, 1/2 teaspoon yeast, 2 cups bread flour, whole wheat flour and salt. Select Dough Cycle; press Start. After 10 minutes, remove dough from machine and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours. Deflate dough and let rise again until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a round loaf. Place loaf on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Spray loaf with water and place in preheated oven. Spray loaf again every two minutes during the first 10 minutes of baking. Bake for 40 minutes, until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

COUNTRY LOAF

Steps:

• Mix 2 cups of the flour, the sugar and yeast in large bowl. Add warm water. Beat with wire whisk or electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand about 1 hour until bubbly.
• Stir in oil and salt. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft, smooth dough forms. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and springy.
• Place dough in large bowl greased with shortening, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until double. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
• Grease uninsulated cookie sheet with shortening. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Gently shape into an even, round ball, without releasing all of the bubbles in the dough. Stretch sides of dough downward to make a smooth top. Place loaf with smooth side up on cookie sheet. Spray loaf with cool water. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place 45 to 60 minutes or until almost double.
• Place square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches, on bottom rack of oven; add hot water to pan until about 1/2 inch from the top. Heat oven to 425°.
• Spray loaf with cool water; sprinkle lightly with flour. Carefully cut three 1/4-inch- deep slashes on top of loaf with sharp serrated knife.
• Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown with crisp crust and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.

COUNTRY CRUST BREAD

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm (105-115 degree)water, let stand for five minutes.
• Add sugar, salt, eggs, 1/4 c oil, and 3 cups of flour. Mix well, and gradually add the remaining flour.
• Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
• Form into ball and place into a well greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled (1 1/2-2 hours).
• Punch down, divide in half and shape into two loaves and place in well greased pans.
• Grease tops, cover and let rise until doubled.
• Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.
• Remove from pans and brush with melted butter.
• A few tips:.
• For a quick rise: When you start the yeast to bloom, turn your oven on to the lowest setting. When yeast is bloomed, turn oven off. After placing the dough into the bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in the warm oven. It took mine 1 hour to double. Do the same thing after punching down and shaping the dough.
• Make sure to really oil the pans well, including the lip of the pans, or they will stick.

BASIC WHOLE WHEAT YEAST BREAD

Steps:

• Saltolyse
• Mix the flour, salt, and 390g of the water. Cover and let the dough hydrate for 20-60 minutes. Longer is okay too.
• Yeast Prep and Mixing
• Combine the instant yeast, a pinch of sugar, and 35g water and let it sit for about 5 minutes. You can use 100-110F water if you want to further boost its activity. This step isn't necessary for making instant yeast work well, but I find the yeast mixes in more evenly when it's hydrated.
• Pour the bloomed yeast over the saltolysed dough. Squish it into the dough with your hand, and knead and slap and fold the dough until it's fully incorporated.
• Note the level of the dough in your bowl or make an aliquot jar with a small piece of the dough, marking the level with a rubberband.
• Cover the dough and let it rest 20 minutes.
• Gluten Development and First Rise
• Laminate the dough on a clean, damp surface. Be gentle but expect some tearing as you stretch the dough out because it's early in the development of gluten.
• Fold up the dough, return it to the bowl, cover, and let it rest another 20 minutes.
• Laminate the dough a second time, then let it continue rising in the covered bowl until it has roughly doubled. In warm summer months, this is about 20 more minutes or an hour total since mixing in the yeast. In a cold kitchen, this could be two hours since mixing the yeast, and in that scenario, you might want to add in a round of coil folding 20 minutes after the second lamination.
• Preheat, Pre-Shaping, Shaping, and Final Proof
• In warm seasons, begin preheating the oven and baking vessel to 500F as soon as the dough is finished with the first rise. In cold seasons, you might wait to preheat until after the shaping the dough.
• Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a well floured countertop and pre-shape it into a tight ball. Cover with your bowl and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
• Shape the dough to suit the shape of your proofing basket and baking vessel.
• Place the dough seam-side up in your floured proofing basket.
• Cover and let rise again for 15-30 minutes depending on your room temperature.
• Baking
• Flip the dough out of the proofing basket and onto a sheet of parchment paper or onto the base of your hot baking vessel. Score the dough, then cover and return the vessel to the oven.
• If your baking vessel is a ceramic cloche, bake at:
• 500°F for 20 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10-15 minutes, lid off
• If your baking vessel is cast iron, bake at:
• 500°F for 15 minutes, lid on. At the 15-minute mark, place a baking sheet directly under the cast iron on the same shelf. This will prevent the base of the bread from burning.
• 450°F for 5 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10-15 minutes, lid off
• When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature over 205F and it should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf.
• Let the bread cool for at least a couple of hours before you slice it.

COUNTRY CRUST WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm milk in large bowl. If using stand mixer, use the mixer bowl. Stir in honey, salt, eggs, oil, and 3 cups whole wheat flour. Beat until smooth with paddle attachment, or with hand mixer. Stir in just enough remaining unbleached flour to make the dough easy to handle.
• Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. If using stand mixer, switch to dough hook and knead in bowl 8 to 10 minutes. Watch it to make sure the dough cleans the bowl, and does not climb up the hook.
• Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn so the greased side is on top. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape each half into loaf, pinching as you roll to avoid holes in the middle, and place in greased loaf pan. Brush with oil and allow to rise until double, about 1 hour.
• After a half hour of rising, turn on oven to preheat to 375 degrees F. Adjust rack so the tops of the loaves will be in the center of the oven.
• Bake fully risen loaves 30 to 35 minutes, until deep golden brown, and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Internal temperature should be 195 to 200 degrees F. If using long, narrow pullman loaf pans, begin checking at 25 minutes. Rotate loaves half-way through baking.
• Remove loaves from pans and brush tops with butter. Cool completely on wire rack before slicing.