Yeast Breads Make Muscles!

This week my shoulder was almost better, and I could at least use forward strength (as opposed to arm out to the side or back), which meant experiments with yeast breads and kneading! I haven't been posting the recipes because I wasn't 100% satisfied with a couple of the breads I did, although minor tweaking will produce more of what I want, I think. I am also very aware of how many muscles it takes to knead bread dough by hand and how you too could have great looking arms and shoulders if you hand knead bread daily!

First up, chocolate bread. Yep, chocolate bread. This is not exactly a sandwich bread, and I think it is better toasted than straight up, but cut off a fairly thick slice, toast it medium darkness, and slather it with jam or peanut butter, and oh my goodness, what a delight! I suspect that this would also be a very good bread pudding and could make an interesting crouton or bread crumb since the chocolate is not overpowering. I've made this before with hand kneading, and I felt that I had to work in too much flour to keep it from sticking terribly to the counter and to my hands (and flour draws out moisture, making for a more dry, dense loaf). This time, I used my kitchenaid stand mixer to knead it. Don't use the dough hook for the parts of the recipe that say to mix the ingredients in a mixer, use the beaters or paddle attachment, but then switch to the dough hook for kneading, and knead the dough with no additional flour. If you do that, I recommend that when the dough is put in the greased bowl, spray the top of the dough with nonstick cooking spray or rub your oiled hands over it - flipping it was tricky to say the least! I did think that the dough was a bit moister and more airy, so I will do it this way the next time. I did also have the brilliant idea of substituting strong coffee for the cup of water in the recipe, and I'm looking forward to trying that this week! This loaf would also be good studded with tart dried cherries, chopped walnuts, mini chips, etc.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp if you have the jar of yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk (I used Silk plain soy milk)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 egg (1/4 c. Eggbeaters for me!)

1. In a mixing bowl, combine 1-1/4 cups flour, cocoa, sugar, yeast, salt and baking soda.
2. In a saucepan, heat the water, milk, chocolate chips and butter; stir until chocolate is melted. Cool to 120 degrees F-130 degrees F.
3. Add wet ingedients to dry ingredients; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add 1/2 cup flour and egg; beat on high for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough. II use all the remaining flour, and it is like sloppy play doh.)
6. urn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. (Or use a dough hook and knead for 5-6 minutes, no additional flour needed.)
7. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
8. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into loaves. Place in two greased 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
9. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until browned. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks.
This recipe came from either http://www.allrecipes.com/ or http://www.recipezaar.com/, I can't quite remember which.

Next was a basic white bread recipe. The biggest problem I had with this recipe was that I baked it for the full time plus an extra few minutes, and both loaves still had a slightly doughy section running through the whole loaf. Frustrating! The bread was still good, doughy section removed. S in particular loves having a thick slice toasted and spread with jam or with butter and cinnamon-sugar. It's a more dense bread, but it had a nice raise, a nice flavor (albeit mild, it is just a simple white bread), nice color (browned well on the top), and it has kept well for several days. This one I will make again, but the baking time will be more like 45 minutes instead of the recommended 25-30 minutes. I did put a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of the oven to keep the oven a bit more moist, a trick I learned long ago for aiding in rise (the top doesn't harden as quickly, allowing for rise) and in the moistness of the loaf. I might also try this recipe with bread flour to get a chewier, stronger loaf.

White Bread
2 packages (1/4 oz each) active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp of loose from the jar)
2 c. lukewarm water
1/2 c. sugar
1 T salt
2 eggs, beaten (I used 1/2 c. Eggbeaters)
1/4 c. vegetable or corn oil
6 1/2 - 7 c. all purpose flour

1. Place water in a bowl. Add 2 tsp of the sugar to the water, then sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside for 5 minutes to let the yeast activate.
2. Combine the activated yeast, remaining sugar, salt, eggs, and oil.
3. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time. Add just enough flour to form a pliable, soft dough.
4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes.
5. Place dough into a greased bowl, making sure all the sides are coated. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth, then place in a warm place (70-80 degrees) until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
6. Punch dough down. Divide in half and shape into two loaves. Place in two greased 9"x5"x3" loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 (yeah, right, I need to bake for 45!) or until golden brown. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks.

Recipe came from http://www.cookingbread.com/.