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Friday 13 December 2013

Classic white bread with italian herbs




Here is the recipe for Classic white bread with Italian herbs. It has a golden brown crust and inside it is super soft. It’s a very simple recipe and turns out very delicious. The bread keeps well on the counter for 2-3 days. For longer life, refrigerate it in a zip-lock/air tight container for upto 7 days. You can prepare sandwiches, cutlets, toast with butter/jam and many more. When you are going to prepare it your entire kitchen will be filled up with the nice aroma of bread and herbs. I am sure once you start baking it you won’t like to purchase it from outside.


Ingredients

  • All purpose flour/maida - 2 1/2 cups
  • Active dry Yeast - 1 tbsp
  • Sugar - 1 1/2 tbsp
  • Milk - 1/4 cup
  • Water - 3/4 cup
  • Salt - 1/4 tsp
  • Olive oil - 3 tbsp (Instead of olive oil any other vegetable/sunflower oil can be used)
  • Italian Herbs - 1 tbsp

Procedure

In a big bowl mix water and milk together and make it luke warm (To know whether the liquid is luke warm or not just insert your finger, it won't burn or approx 45 degree Celsius). Now dissolve sugar into it and gradually add yeast in it. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes. You will find that the yeast has become frothy. Now add one cup of All purpose flour and mix well with a whisker and again keep for 10 minutes. You will find that the mixture has again become frothy. Now add herbs, oil, salt and rest of the flour little by little and make a dough. Dough will be a bit sticky but let it be. Sprinkle some flour on the working surface and knead atleast for 10 minutes. Keep the dough in a well greased bowl and cover with a wet kitchen towel. Keep aside for 1 to 2 hours until the dough double's in size. When the dough is done then punch it and again knead it for 3-4 minutes. Shape the loaf and place it in the greased bread pan. Cover it again with a wet kitchen towel and keep it for 1 hr or unless the dough is doubled in size. In the mean time pre heat the oven to 220 degree Celsius and place some water in an ovenproof pan and keep it on the oven base. (As shown in the pic)

Keep the loaf in oven and reduce the temperature to 190 degrees Celcius and let it cook for 30-35 minutes. 
If the loaf crust starts becoming dark brown, then immediately cover it with an aluminum foil. This will stop making the crust darker. 
If you want you can apply some butter over the crust to make it soft and moist.


























Bye n Happy Baking 
Priyanka :)

11 comments:

  1. Hello Priyanka Verma,
    Beautiful Bread.<3.Is the water in the oven heated while pre-heating?Later the Bread baked along?It's first time i am reading a recipe with water in a dish.Thanks for the post.

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    1. Thanks Jayashree for liking the recipe. Yes I put a water bath while preheating. This creates a lot of steam in the oven. In the first ten minutes of baking, bread rises significantly in a process known by bakers as “oven spring.” If a crust forms early on, it restricts the dough’s expansion. Hence steam delays the entire process and gives a ight, airy loaf. Hope I have cleared your doubts :)

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Hello Priya,Sorry had to delete the previous comment as the venture with yeast flopped.Gave a try again and yes i did bake the Bread with Flaws.There was a hard crust....to be powdered as bread crunbs,Second the rise was not to expectation...maybe the yeast was having a happy lazy weekend.The texture was soft when sliced and tasted like Best Bread ever.Thanks Priya will not give up on making this bread .

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    4. That's the spirit Jayashree wish u luck. To make the crust a bit soft - apply some milk with a brush over the bread before baking. Secondly as soon as it is baked apply some butter over the crust.

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  2. This is a great recipe priyanka. I'm yet to bake my first bread. This seems super easy for a first try. Thanks a tonne. I use a convection oven. Is there any specific tip I can follow since there is no lower rack to keep water. Tia. _chandrika.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for liking it. Yes its a very simple recipe to start with. Using steam, gives a nice crust to the bread. If u r using the convection oven then u can spray the top of the loaf with some water and repeat the process in between also. Secondly you can also apply some egg wash over the bread. Do share your experience of baking ur first bread.

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  3. The bread looks beautiful. Can I replace APF with whole wheat flour in this recipe? TIA

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  4. thanks for posting this dear. This looks like a really good idea and i am really interested in trying this recipe out for myself. Thank you for shaing this with us.

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  5. some great recipe for baking the bread. i have always been a fan of white bread but with italian herbs this looks yum. thanks Priyanka for sharing

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