“This was a mistake that turned out to be extremely interesting. I was testing another version of the free-form loaf, the recipe for which appears below, turned the oven to 375 degrees without my glasses on, and placed the loaf in the oven. I thought it was browning magnificently and then discovered I had turned the oven to ‘broil.’ I immediately switched to ‘bake,’ but by this time I had a beautifully brown, crisp top crust and the loaf had risen. In the end the loaf tasted absolutely wonderful, and the upper crust was superb.”
-James Beard, Beard on Bread
Since the Buttermilk White Bread I made last week was such a hit, I decided to try a similar recipe, Broiled White Free-Form Loaf, to use the last half-cup of my quart of buttermilk.
Here are the ingredients:
I had a difficult time getting the dough to the right consistency. Following the recipe, I got a dough that was very crumbly and didn’t hold together. I mixed in some water, and then turned the dough out to be kneaded. As I kneaded, I had to add more water at several points to keep the dough from falling apart. Finally, I got a smooth, elastic-y dough that was ready for its first rising.
After about an hour, I punched the dough down, kneaded it for a few minutes, and let it rise again. Once it had doubled in size (about 30 minutes) I shaped the dough into a round loaf and let it rise yet again for another 30 minutes. Finally, the loaf was ready to go in the oven.
This recipe is unique in that the loaf is baked using the oven’s “broil” setting for the first 25 minutes, and then the oven is switched to the “bake” setting for an additional 20 minutes. Since I very rarely use the “broil” setting on my oven, I didn’t consider the position of my oven racks. For optimal results, I think that the rack should be exactly in the middle of the oven; because I baked the loaf closer to the top of the oven, the top crust burned slightly.
Despite the slightly charred and crispy top crust, my Broiled White Free-Form Loaf was a success. The texture, like Buttermilk White Bread, is very light and fluffy. Using the “broil” setting creates an evenly crusted loaf, which makes for a nice sandwich bread.
Not logged in