Master Recipe For American Loaf Bread

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

(Food Processor Version)  Adjust oven rack to low position and heat
oven to 200 degrees. Once  oven temperature reaches 200 degrees,
maintain heat 10 minutes, then  turn off oven heat. Mix flour and salt
in bowl of food processor  fitted with steel blade. Add liquid
ingredients; process until rough  ball forms. Let dough rest 2 minutes.
Process 35 seconds. Turn dough  onto lightly floured surface and knead
by hand, adding a little more  flour if needed, until dough is smooth
and satiny, 4 to 5 minutes.  Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl,
rubbing dough around bowl to  lightly coat. Cover bowl with plastic
wrap; place in warm oven until  dough doubles in size, 40 to 50
minutes. Form dough into loaf  (there's an illustration, but I can't
reproduce it here - sorry),  placing in greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf
pan. Cover with plastic  wrap; set aside in warm spot until dough
almost doubles in size, 20  to 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees,
placing empty loaf pan on  bottom rack. Bring 2 C water to boil. Remove
plastic wrap from loaf  pan. Place pan in oven, immediately pouring
boiling water in empty  loaf pan; (again, I can't put the illustration
here.....) close oven  door. Bake until instant-read thermometer
inserted at an angle from  short end just above pan rim into center of
loaf reaches 195 degrees,  about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove bread from
pan, transfer to a wire  rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and
serve.  A few variation:  Whole wheat: Substitute 1 1/3 C whole wheat
flour for 1 1/3 C  all-purpose flour. Increase first first to 50 to 60
minutes, and  second rise to 40 minutes.  Oatmeal: Bring 3/4 C water to
boil in small saucepan. Add 3/4 C rolled  oats; cook to soften
slightly, about 90 seconds. Follow above recipe,  decreasing flour from
3 1/2 C to 2 3/4 C, adding the cooked oatmeal to  flour and omitting
the warm water from the wet ingredients.  Cornmeal: Bring 1/2 C water
to boil in small saucepan. Slowly whisk  in 1/4 C cornmeal. Cook,
stirring constantly, until mixture thickens,  about 1 minutes. Follow
above recipe, decreasing flour to 3 1//4 C,  decreasing milk to 3/4 C,
and adding cornmeal mixture to flour  (before incorporating liquids).
Anadama: Follow cornmeal loaf recipe, substituting molasses for honey.
Now, then, I tried to master recipe (white bread) over the last
weekend, and found that it turned out a wonderful tasting loaf, but
the crust turned out much too chewy for me. I will try it next week,
brushing the crust with butter to see if that makes a difference. The
magazine article deals with trying to recreate American sandwich
bread, but I don't think this quite succeeds. It is, however, a nice
bread made with minimal effort and no bread machine. (I love my bread
machine, but slicing those cylindrical loaves is maddening
sometimes.....)  from  COOK'S ILLUSTRATED 6/96  >From:
phyllis.johnpoll@ncsl.org (Phyllis Johnpoll) From: Bread-Bakers
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