Tender and Moist Wheat Pan de sal

Denise, an fb friend, once asked me if I have a good recipe for wheat pandesal, and I made a suggestion using my pandelimon recipe with wheat flour replacing half of the bread flour. When she had a good outcome that her friends and family all enjoyed and since then made every week, I felt the need to try it myself, although I used only one cup of whole wheat. The result was not the typical dry choking-hazard wheat breads, but one that was moist and tender. As always, the "secret" ingredient to make it softer and moister was the mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes, whichever you prefer).

Ingredients:
1 / 2 cup milk
1 / 4 cup water
1 / 2 cup boiled and mashed regular or sweet potato
1 / 4 cup butter or margarine
1 large egg
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour + 2-3 tbsp while kneading
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp Fleischmann's bread machine yeast

Instructions:

Mix the milk, potato water and mashed potatoes and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Add the butter and egg, beat to mix then check temperature. It should be between 70-80 deg F (room temp). Pour into the bread machine pan. Add the dry ingredients. Set at dough cycle. after about 10 minutes, start adding flour gradually so that the dough is not too sticky (try to poke from time to time with fingers). It should appear relatively smooth and moist, not wet and flaky. The kneading ends on the 30th minute, then it rises for 1 hr.

Transfer the dough on a lightly greased and floured surface. Stretch and form into a log. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Slice every 1-1.5 inches intervals. Coat with breadcrumbs. Lay on sliced side on baking pan, 1 to 2 fingers apart. Let rise in warm oven for 30 minutes. Bake at 375 deg F for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for additional 2-3 minutes or until browned to your liking. Enjoy with butter, or your favorite "palaman" (I used dulce de leche and butter on the photo above) and cool the rest on wire rack for at least 30 minutes before storing in ziploc bag.

Maple Oatmeal Bread

This is one of the recipes that I sought to make because of available ingredients. My in-laws just made another batch of maple syrup for this year (they do around March) and gave us some. I still had some from last year's, so I thought I'd look for a recipe to use up the opened jar sitting int he fridge. I found one at KAF, but I modified the recipe. Reading their blog about this recipe, I learned that they originally made use of 1/2 cup maple syrup. and while they made use of water, maple syrup and maple flavoring to brush the top to save on the expensive ingredient, I did not have to do that.

I had about 1/2 cup from a pint jar of maple syrup, and after pouring that off into a measuring cup, I had maple sugar sediment at the bottom, which I crushed with fork. This was what I used to brush the top of the loaf prior to baking. The blog author was right, the maple flavor was like creeping on you slowly...and toasting it (I do for 5 minutes) brings out the full flavor. Perfect for breakfast with my coffee, even plain or with jam.

And since I was using my bread machine, I changes the flours to bread flour and traditional whole wheat, both KAF brands, and the yeast to BM yeast. Of course, once these ingredients are changed, the method changes as well.

Ingredients:
* 3/4 cup warm water (80-100 deg F)
* 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
* 1/2 cup real maple syrup
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 cup King Arthur 100% Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
* 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast


Instructions:

Combine all wet ingredients and warm up to 80 to 100 deg F. Place in BM pan. (Don't forget the paddle!)

Combine all dry ingredients and place on top of dry. Start the dough cycle. Run a timer for 30 minutes (this will be the total time of kneading by the machine before it rests to rise for one hour), after which, transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and flatten with your floured palm to a disk. Generously grease your loaf pan.

Roll the dough to a log and place seam side down in an 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 loaf pan (if you use a bigger one, your loaf will not have an overhang and will seem to small for the pan). Cover with cling wrap smeared with shortening on the side that will eventually touch the dough so that dough will not stick when you remove the plastic later. Let rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours in a warm, draft-free, moist place or until the dough has doubled in size and has about 1 inch overhang.

Heat the oven to 350 deg F. Place rack at the middle.

Remove plastic and brush the top with maple sugar-syrup all over. (I placed the loaf pan on another shallow pan to catch syrup drippings.). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until it sounds hollow when top is tapped with finger.

Let cool down for about 5 minutes before turning onto a cooling wire rack. KAF advises to let it cool fully before slicing. I don't. I think the reason they advise that is that it is easy to compress and deform the loaf with the pressure of slicer. I have, in the past, even as a child, learned to angle the loaf in such a way that my slicer hits the bottom corner first. When done this way, versus hitting the loaf from the top or flat sides, the bread maintains its shape, especially if you are not hastening the slicing.

Now this is very artisanal, all-natural, and heart-healthy. I loved the flavor and my kids did as well. Too bad, I did not expect it to take a long time to rise to a level I wanted it to, so that we ate supper first before I baked this, so hubby did not have a taste of it as soon as it was baked (he prefers his breads and rolls eaten at meal times). When freshhly baked, it had a wonderful crunchy crust with that maple sugar on top. This top would not be there after placing in ziploc bag, even upon reheating in a toaster. However, like I said above, toasting it brings out the maple flavor of the bread itself.

This would be a wonderful holiday bread to share with relatives.

Honey Whole Wheat Loaf

My husband loves wheat loaves. He loves the texture and the chewiness. It also happens that my BIL/SIL have honeybees, so every year we get a good supply of homemade honey. One of the few loaves that hubby loves so much is honey whole wheawt loaf, which I found in breadworld.com in my search for loaves with honey and wheat. Everyone in the family loves this. If I can't get my stepdaughter to eat supper, she will gobble up any rolls or loaves I put on the table that are tender and warm.

Recipe courtesy of breadworld.
Ingredients:

Makes 1 Loaf

1-1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 envelope FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise Yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 large egg
1 egg (beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat milk, water, honey, and butter until very warm (120o to 130oF). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly oiled surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces; form each into a smooth ball. Place, side by side, in greased 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Brush top with beaten egg and water. Bake at 375oF for 35 to 40 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; cool wire rack.

Nutritional Information:
Per Serving :
Serving Size: 1 slice (1/12 of recipe)
Serving Weight: 2.2 ounces (62 g)
Calories 160; Total fat 3 g; Saturated fat 1.5 g;
Cholesterol 25 mg; Sodium 230 mg; Carbohydrates 30 g;
Dietary fiber 2 g (0.9 g / oz); Sugars 5 g; Protein 5 g

Potato Peasant Bread

My husband is so fond of whole wheat type of breads. This one combines whole wheat with mashed potatoes, and is very soft and tender, like my pandelimon de patatas (which my husband also loves because they are so soft even on reheating), only healthier. Any leftover is good for garlic bread. So if you are like me who end up wondering what to do with leftover mashed potatoes, this is another wonderful way to use it. Of course I got the recipe from my favorite baking site, breadworld.com .

Makes 2 loaves

3 to 3-1 / 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 / 4 cup sugar

2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN’S RapidRise Yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1-1 / 2 cups potato water or tap water

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 / 4 cup mashed boiled potato*

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, butter and mashed potato until very warm (120o to 130oF). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half. Roll each half to 8 x 12-inch oval. Beginning at short end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seam and ends to seal. Place on large greased baking sheet; flatten loaf slightly. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

With sharp knife, cut 3 diagonal slits (1 / 4-inch deep) on top of each loaf. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour. Bake at 400oF for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Remove from sheet; cool on wire rack.

Double Cheese Wheat Bread

When you are not experienced with yeast bread, yet you love the aroma of fresh-from-the-oven bread, it can be quite hard when you are in a an environment where a bakery is at least 15 minutes drive away.



Good thing here is that there is this "wonder" machine called Bread Machine, which was a wedding gift from my Mom. The first time I used it, and smelled the yeast working on the dough, my mind was flooded with memories of my childhood, the days I spent helping (panggulo at times) around at my Tatay's bakery. It took awhile for me to get used to it, initially just being limited to the recipes that came with the manual. Then I tried visiting www.breadworld.com as advertised in the label of the bread machine yeast I was using. Yeast breads then became a common item on the table.



So for Filipinos like me who are in foreign countries missing fresh-from-the-oven yeast breads, this is a good investment. One can easily train his/her fingertips in recognizing the right consistency of the dough prior to shaping by using the dough cycle. Once trained, baking yeast bread via the conventional oven becomes easier.



The good thing about bread machine breads is the small size of the dough, just enough for family consumption.



Fleischmann's website has a lot of recipes that are suited for beginners as well as for the more skilled, and also has recipes for dough setting only. My friend's mom, who lived in a different state and was here briefly to support her daughter when she gave birth, felt the need to buy a bread machine when I demonstrated to her how to bake pan de sal using it.



In my experience with basic bread recipes, I have also tried to use the dough cycle instead of the basic cycle so that I can shape them into rolls, or wrap them around sausages or hotdogs.



The recipe page only wishes to show the readers how a bread machine works (conveniently!) so they can consider having one, too. It is really a good buy.



Among our favorites are: Basic Egg Bread, Basic White Bread, Mustard-Dill Bread, Herb Focaccia, Buttery Sweet Bread, Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Bread, and Fragrant Cloverleaf Rolls, all from Fleischmann's bakery (see the link at my side bar).