Farmhouse White Loaf

Bread Challenge Week 16

There is one interesting thing about this bread challenge that I did not anticipate before it started that keeps coming back to haunt me over and over and over every week. White flour. We usually eat a lot of whole wheat breads and before starting this challenge I has gotten into the habit of trying to load our bread and rolls with as much healthy and good for you stuff as possible. Only after starting off on this this challenge did I realize that so many of the basic breads I was challenging myself to make are one form or another of white bread. So I’m learning a lot, but eating a lot more white flour and white bread.

Oh well, it’s not that I don’t like it, because lets be honest here, I like bread. I like all bread. I just prefer wheat breads more.

So what’s with all this talk about white bread? This week I decided to break down and make my very first white sandwich loaf. So far I’ve made other white breads but I’ve still been making sure to have whole wheat bread in the house for sandwiches and toast.

Farmhouse White Loaf  from The Bread Book by Sara Lewis, is tasty. The book offers instructions for making each recipe by hand or in a breadmaker which is interesting. This particular recipe came with instructions for making 3 different sizes of bread, small, large and extra large. Since I seem to be without pans that actually say what size they are I made a guess on which pan I should use for the small loaf and some thing tells me I was wrong.

So my loaf is funny looking, it is kind of reminds me of Toadstool’s, from all those Mario Brothers video games, head. But unlike my bread wreck from last week this bread was totally edible, and cute to boot. I’m actually thinking about making all my loafs in my mini-loaf pan from now on just so they’ll all look so adorable.

This bread took less than 15 minutes of hands on time and less than 2 hours from start to finish, which in my opinion is great for a yeast bread. The recipe is fairly easy to follow and the product is soft, but not too soft and has just the right amount of sweetness for a white loaf. I actually think this little recipe could be morphed into rolls, or soft bread sticks too. Will I make it again? I’m not sure. We all really enjoyed eating it but I think if I made it again I would need to add in some wheat flour or flax meal or something to make my conscious feel better about making white sandwich bread for my family. I like whole wheat I just can’t help it.

Flavor: 4
Hands on time: 5
Total time: 4
Recipe: 4
versatility: 4
make it again: 3
Catherine: 1
Luke: 1
Maddy: 1

Total Score: 30
(what is this Bread Challenge and how are recipes scored?)

Previous Bread Challenge reviews and scores:
Honey Whole Wheat Slow Cooker Bread – Week 15
The Easiest Loaf of Bread You’ll Ever Bake – Week 14
Hot Cross Buns – Week 13
100% Whole Wheat Bread – Week 12
Thin Wheat Crackers – Week 11
Irish Soda Bread – Week 10
Double Blueberry Muffins – Week 9
Oatmeal Batter Bread – Week 8
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls – Week 7
Cheesy Pretzels – Week 6
Light Rye Bread – Week 5
Country-Style Whole-Wheat Pita – Week 4
Carrot Raisin Quick Bread – Week 3
Potato Bread – Week 2
Focaccia – Week 1