50:50 Apf:Wwf Bread

Those were the days when I had just started baking breads. I have had my share of dense and not so porous breads, difficulties in understanding the proofing, not kneading the dough properly and many other issues. So, when I got a near perfect loaf with 50:50 apf and whole wheat flour, I was super excited to say the least. I was very much satisfied with the crust and crumb texture. The photography is done by my daughter Neha. Made a sandwich and gave to hubby for his cycle ride to Mahabalipuram. I really liked the height of the bread.

I had just stopped referring to other people’s bread blogs and mustered  enough courage to try out my own version and proportions. With due respects to all bread bakers whose blogs I had followed till then, I found it a bit more easier to try out your own version rather than following a recipe verbatim. This gave me lot of confidence. I was never a person who cooked anything following a recipe book to the letter T. So, I was quite stressed out and nervous when I was following recipes of others. This bread gave me enough confidence to try out different variations and proportions of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour in my breads.

Ingredients:

• Maida 200 gm
• Whole wheat flour 200 gm
• Salt as reqd
• Sugar 1 tbsp
• Instant yeast 1/2 tsp
• Olive oil 2 tbsp
• Milk plus little water 1 cup plus few tbsp more as reqd

Method:

• Add the yeastand sugar to the diluted lukewarm milk and keep aside for 10 minutes.
• Mix the flour and salt well and add it to the yeast solution and stir well.
• Add the oil and knead into a soft dough for 12-13 min. Keep the dough aside in an oiled bowl and cover the bowl with a clean cling wrap or fresh shower cap for almost an hour for the dough to rise and double in size.
• Gently punch the dough to remove air bubbles and knead for 1-2 minutes. Roll the dough into a rectangle and roll it into a tight log. Place it in an oiled bread tin ( I use 9 x 3.5 x 3.25 tin) for 30-40 minutes or till the dough almost reaches the brim of the tin. Apply some oil on the top of the dough while proofing to keep the top of the dough from getting dry.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree celsius for 30-35 minutes. ( Depending on your oven) I prefer to bake without the foil for the first 20 minutes and incase you feel it’s browning too much, cover with an aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes or so.
• Take the tin out and apply milk wash on top and bake for 4-5 minutes till you get a nice colour on the crust. Remove from oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack
• After 2-3 hours, when the bread is fully cooled, slice it neatly and serve.