It’s the first anniversary of Zeb Bakes, one of my favourite blogs written by one of my favourite people.
To celebrate Joanna’s auspicious occasion, I baked a loaf of her white toast bread yesterday. I’d been given a sample of Ben Furney Mills’ premium bakers flour, and this seemed like a good opportunity to test it out.
The flour was a pleasure to work with, and the finished loaf sliced very well. It was delicious toasted for breakfast this morning.
Pete’s sister Penny and I made another loaf of this bread today. Pen thought it might be a perfect every day loaf for her family, so I promised to post up the recipe for her.
Please also have a look at Joanna’s original post, as well as the fabulous loaves made by her clever husband Brian!
- 765g bakers/bread flour
- 500g water
- 15g unsalted butter
- 13g fine sea salt
- 10g sugar
- 6g (1½ teaspoons) dried yeast
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugar and dried yeast. Cut the butter into pieces and rub it into the flour mixture. Add the water, and mix to form a shaggy dough. Cover the bowl and allow it to rest for about half an hour.
2. Give the dough a quick knead in the mixing bowl until smooth, then cover again and allow to prove until doubled in size.
3. Turn the risen dough onto a lightly oiled bench and shape it into a log. I find it easiest to first form the dough into a ball, and then to flatten it out into a circle. Starting at one edge, roll the dough up tightly to form a long fat sausage.
4. Place the shaped dough into a lightly oiled 28cm/11″ loaf tin, seam-side down. Cover the tin and allow to rise until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 210C with fan.
5. Slash the top of the loaf, spritz with a little water and dust with rye flour. Bake the loaf for about 40 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Happy Blogaversary, Joanna and Brian, a toast to you both!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Celia the Courageous! I didn’t think you baked this sort of bread ever! Thank you so much for having a go at this one. This is Brian’s go to recipe for white bread at the moment as you have noticed. It’s worth making it with alternative sugars like honey or malt, the sugar I think is mainly in there for the sake of tradition; to entice the yeast to wake up and play, but modern bakers yeast is so reliable you don’t really need it. Makes great melba toast too :)
I think I should repost your poem here in case people haven’t seen it on my blog as I love it so much…
‘Twas the day before Friday
And all through the house
Not a loaf to feed anyone
Not even a mouse
Then into the kitchen
Leapt Brian the Brave
There was no toast for breakfast
The moment was grave
He spoke not a word
but went straight to his task
The Kenwood was whirring
The kneading was fast
And soon he cried out
To Fair Jo where she sat
“Be a love, please come help
Give my good dough a pat”
Into tins went the dough
Where it rose like the sun
And in the blink of an eye
All the baking was done!
Happy Anniversary, Jo! This bread really was the bee’s knees – I think the tiny bit of sugar actually does make a difference, as does the butter – if nothing else, this loaf lacked the obvious bakers’ yeast flavour that I sometimes find in non-sourdough loaves.
I didn’t have a pullman tin, but your dough quantities fit exactly into my tall 11″ black steel loaf tin.
The new flour is truly grand – I didn’t use any extra strong at all, just standard bakers flour. And I cut the salt back just a tiny bit – personal preference on our part!
Thanks again for such a fantastic recipe! :)
What a wonderful idea you had, to bake her a bread in honor of Zeb Bakes first anniversary…
and a great looking loaf, I haven’t made sandwich bread in ages!
Sally, it seemed fitting! ;-) And this was such a nice loaf!
I love toasting bread.
But not as much as my husband who insists I make it weekly. This is a very good recipe/bread!
( and I am so impressed with Brian for making his own!)
Heidi, it’s been so long since we’ve had a non-sourdough loaf in the house – this made for a nice change!
Wow, that crust looks just wonderful. I think I could eat half that loaf.
Rufus, thank you! I think I did eat half that loaf..hahaha
I love Joanna’s blog too. I’ll have a slice of that.
Deb, a toast to Joanna and Brian! hehehe
What a beautiful crust! This looks perfect for breakfast or lunch!
Thanks Helen! It didn’t make it to lunch! ;-)
I get so jealous when I see the lovely breads here and on Zeb Bakes! I wish I could do it, but I just don’t seem to be able to a) fit ibread-making into a normal day b) get consistent results. :(
Suelle, my sis-in-law Penny has similar time issues, which is why I made this loaf with her. There was very little hands-on time required to make it, just a bit of rising and baking time. We figured she could mix this up when she came home from work, and then stick it into the oven after dinner and let it cool overnight, ready for toast and sandwiches the next day!
Lovely crusty crust. I must bake a loaf of bread for someone – I’d love to receive one myself. It’s a great idea for a gift.
Sally, thank you – I think the sugar helps with the browning of the crust. It’s been years since I’ve baked a loaf in a tin – most of mine are free-formed – so this made a very pleasant change!
A guilty indulgence made better! Nothing better than buttered hot toasted white bread. Unless it’s encasing some good bacon and HP sauce! Going to give this recipe a try, see how we get on for making sandwiches.
Helen, don’t laugh – yesterday I took the second loaf to a barbeque, and Big Boy ended up eating a potato chip (crisp) sandwich made with the bread. He said it was surprisingly good! (Poor deprived man went through his entire childhood without ever having a potato chip sandwich! ;-))
Nice poem! I think it’s cool that Brian will do some of the bread baking!
I thought you only used sourdough, Celia!
Will have to try this bread. Nice way to celebrate an anniversary.
Manuela, I usually only bake sourdough loaves, but I do use yeast for pizza dough, and a little is added to our sourdough foccacia as well.
What a beautiful loaf of bread! I am also an enthusiastic home bread maker . I don’t make sourdough as my family doesn’t like it (I do) and have always used yeast. Until very recently I’ve used fresh yeast but because my supplies are now unavailable I’ve started to use instant dried yeast. I was just going to suggest that you could probably use less yeast. I would use that amount for 1500g of flour. I love reading your blog especially since I can usually buy things you use as we both live in Sydney.
Thanks Heather! Although the loaf wasn’t too light and fluffy – for white yeasted bread, it really had a lovely texture. I used to use fresh yeast as well, but it kept dying on me, so now I just use dried. ;-)
What a lovely tribute to Joanna, her husband and their bread. I’ve come to see that Zeb Bakes makes some mightly fine bread. And your white toast bread is right up there Celia. Really, really impressive. I wish I had the bread-making bug. I’m trying to make myself have a go, but I always end up making something else instead. Oh well. One day. In the meantime, I’ll keep enjoying yours and Joanna’s amazing efforts.
Yum – I love fresh bread!
I worked in a bakery for 9 1/2 years and got so used to the smell of freshly baking bread that I couldn’t smell it anymore. A tragedy that was! It’s now been about 8 years since I worked there and I can smell the bread again – hooray!
I love the crust the best – especially just out of the oven and still piping hot smothered with butter – yum! Is it coincidence that all my loaves manage to come out of the tin when no-one else is home….I think not!!
I love your tribute poem too – very catchy!
Hi Celia,
That loaf looks impressive. I’m not one to eat white bread, but this one might turn me.
Have a lovely week.
Kitty
Aww what a lovely idea celebrating with her by baking her bread :D I do love a freshly baked loaf!
A beautiful loaf, Celia. I use Ben Furney flours most of the time and think they’re really good. Made some white bread with a poolish last week that smelled so good it brought tears to the eyes.
Gorgeous loaf, Celia, with a great crust!
I do love the flash bread tins with lids that Joanna has, though. Makes it all much easier to fit in lunch boxes.
Yum Celia. Are there no limits to your bread-baking repertoire?!
You get a thinner crust all round with the pullman tins as well as the square shape, that’s why in French it’s called pain de mie, which basically means bread with lots of soft crumb. But the tins are expensive to buy and there don’t seem to be any for the home baker that aren’t imports on the UK market, I don’t know about Australia? One home baker I know has created her own version with clamps very cleverly :)
A fine loaf, Celia, and even finer poem! You clever thing :)
Kitty, thank you – it really did turn out surprisingly well! Jo’s recipe is very robust! :)
Lorraine, it seemed a fitting way to celebrate! :)
Liz, thanks for letting me know that – this is the first time I’ve tried the BF flours, and I have to say I was very impressed!
Amanda, I saw pullman tins at Chefs’ Warehouse last time I was there – they’re pretty pricey though!
Claire, that’s kind of you, thank you! :)
Jo, thanks for the info – I have a question – do you need to oil the pullman tin and lid? I was wondering if the dough would stick to the top of the lid. Also, how do you know when it’s baked? ;-)
Chris, thank you – as I said to Jo, I’m a rubbish poet, but I can manage the odd limerick…hahaha
Hi Celia, yes you are quite right. You oil the pullman and its lid, the instructions come with the tin usually. If it is a new tin you should season it as well. I use rapeseed oil at the moment, (canola?). I let the dough prove to about 2 cms below the rim and then slide the lid on and bake it. The tin I like best is the Chicago Metallic one which takes 1.2 kg of dough from this recipe. I have used three different types of pullman so far and unfortunately the most expensive is the best, (sigh) It takes 40 – 45 minutes to bake to how we like it. However, if you tip the bread out of the tin and find it is underbaked you can just put it in back in the oven on the rack for a bit longer, or if you find the colour pale. You can do this with any tin baked loaf of course.
Gorgeous! And I love toast in the morning. Is there anything better? Well, if you make it, love. Then it would be better.
Sigh…you know nothing would make me happier than to be able to have you and Bruce over for breakfast one morning! When’s your Aussie book tour scheduled for? ;-)
[…] I realise from reading Celia’s lovely White Toast Bread post and her questions about this loaf that there is a bit more guidance that I should give anyone […]
What a lovely post Celia and a nice tribute to Joanna. Love your poem too – I managed to miss the original. White bread is such a treat, but in all my years of baking I’ve never made a white loaf.
Choc, it’s funny, I make a white sourdough, but rarely white toast bread like this. And it was so popular with the tribe – every last bit of it was eaten, the last slice was toasted for breakfast yesterday, three days later (and the bread was still fine!).
Looks wonderful, ten times better than the bread you can buy in the supermarket.
Looks fantastic Celia, and a great way to enjoy a change to white yeasted for old comfort without the conditioners, extra enzymes and the long list of ingredients with the store-bought stuff. I’m sure there were some nice aromas flowing through your house – for that matter there probably always is!
Cheers, Craig
Wouldn’t the world be a much better place for a daily diet of bread and poetry. This bread looks and sounds so do-able. You and Joanna are so generous with your time and advice.
Susan, Craig, thank you, it was really much better than white supermarket bread, it didn’t have that strange “stick to the roof of your mouth” thing happening! I really can’t figure out if it worked so well because of the flour, or because of the tiny addition of butter and sugar, but it was quite different to the standard white yeast loaf I used to make.
Jan, thank you! :) Jo’s recipe really is very easy!
Celia, thanks to your demonstration on Sunday and posting this recipe I made my first loaf of bread!! (and it wasn’t a rock :)) I halved the recipe as I only had a small loaf pan and I could have cooked it a little longer but all in all I was pretty impressed and it made great toast in the morning. I will keep trying until I perfect it and like you said in your post I should be able to make it around dinner, pop it in the oven after dinner and have fresh bread for breakfast and sandwiches :)
Yaaay! Great stuff, Pen! Let our nephew know that we’ll be sending up more strawberry jam to go on it as soon as his Uncle Pete gets a chance to make some.. ;-) xxx
I don’t often make white bread but toast bread, now that’s a different story. I looked at that photo of the sliced bread and could almost taste its yeasty flavour. This is a must-try recipe for me.
Maureen, Joanna’s recipe really does work well – my sis-in-law Penny’s been making it as well!