Yum Peaceful Cooking: Sammies and Buns

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Sammies and Buns


Have you ever wanted to make bread that's good enough to replace the sandwich bread you buy at the store?

I would love to be able to do that. To make something just as tasty yet so much better for you than that stuff.

It took me a couple of tries but this one is the closest I've gotten so far.

Now, it's no Roman Meal (Sir Sportsalot's favorite) but I think it's pretty darned good. And so do the girls. hmmm....I don't think the sports-man even tried it (his loss).

This is one of those infamous no-knead breads from the HBin5 bread braid club where we're baking our way through "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day". A fabulous cookbook!! I can't tell you how much I've learned in just a few short weeks.


To see what everyone else has going on, visit Michelle's blog at BigBlackDogs. She has a wonderful place with incredible recipes and mouth watering pictures. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. :)

So, I tried making sandwich bread, using the master recipe and thought I'd make the Hearty Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf.

I pulled off 2 lbs of dough and let it rise in the bread pan as instructed


Let it bake as instructed and it looked beautiful


Until you turned it around


I mean...I know I live in California but does EVERYthing have to have a fault?? Good lord!!

And then from the underneath...something just wasn't right


It was just soggy. And it was dense (kinda like Sir Sportsalot but different)


and it was too....i dunno....wheaty? I just can't do it. I can't do the intense whole wheat thing.

So I went on a mission. I searched for White Whole Wheat Flour. Sounds like an oxymoron (man...sir sportsalot is popping up everywhere isn't he?) You see, I read about this flour in the book. It's just as healthy only it's more mild in flavor and lighter in color.

MUST TRY!!!

My local market didn't have any so I made a special trip to a health food store and picked up a bag.

Aaaaaand....it just so happened that our HBin5 mission was to make a Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. The differences between the two recipes (besides the flour) is the fact that the soft bread has eggs, honey and oil in it....and ooooooh man....lookie at the difference....


Even the fault was smaller (still haven't figured out why that happens. Any answers out there besides geographical location?)


And I'm totally loving the color!!


It even looks like a real loaf of bread! I was so pleased with it. The texture, the flavor....everything.

The sandwich at the top was the first thing I made with my new lovely loaf of healthy, yummy....good-for-you sandwich bread. I wanted the flavors to be pure so I could get a true measure of the flavor. It doesn't get any more simple than tomatoes and avocado. Especially since it insisted on having a (no matter how minor it was) "fault"....I stuck with a "California" theme.

Of course I had some more dough and there was more to our mission than just a loaf of sandwich bread. We also got to make hamburger buns or hot dog buns. Since my youngest doesn't like hot dogs, I stuck with the hamburger buns


These were even easier than the bread almost....just a little more fun

Form your dough into balls and flatten them a bit.



Cover and let rise for about 40 minutes.... then brush with an egg wash and bake for about 20 minutes



Let cool and then slice em and make your favorite burger. I decided to stick with "healthy" and make turkey burgers with homemade ranch dressing, cheese, avocado, tomatoes, onions and a baby spring lettuce variety. With a side of home baked potato wedges.


Oooooh....total hit!!

I have one more mission completed that I need to share with you....Apple Strudel. How did it turn out? Stay tuned and you'll find out. 

Same bat channel, same bat time....

30 comments:

  1. The fault on the one side of your bread looks a problem with your oven heating unevenly to me. Have you tested it with an oven thermometer on right side, left side, back and front of your oven to see if it's heating evenly.

    But our bread looks fantastic even with the crack. Gorgeous crumb!

    And you hamburge buns looks perfect!

    The Soft WW Bread is drop dead gorgeous. I love white WW flour and so glad you gave it a try and it worked out so well for you!

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  2. I've never seen the white wholemeal flour, not even in my favourite health store.
    But anyway, I've been baking only wholewheat bread for a couple weeks now and even my husband's stopped complaining and he likes it now.
    Both the sandwich and the burger you made look wonderful.

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  3. Another reason to look forward to a move back to the states this summe-white ww flour! I sure remember loving it but can't find it here. I use spelt in all my baking and do agre with the density. In most rustic breads that's a plus but not in a sandwichloaf or in the apple bread. Looking forward to hearing how your apple bread turned out and how you liked it

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  4. I loved this bread as well! Even after this year of bread baking is up I'm pretty sure I won't be able to go back to storebought bread. This kind is just too delicious.

    Love the buns and those burgers! And I can't wait to see what you did with your strudel.

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  5. My loaf had a fault line in it too:D Who knows why that happens, but the end result was still tasty! Love your hamburger buns and the burgers too:D

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  6. Wow!!!! I'm so impressed!!! Bread scares me!!

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  7. I just showed Pete the hamburger picture...I should have waited until he was at a stoplight --he nearly drove off the side of the road. Guess I'll be picking up a copy of that book! Your sandwich looks yummy, too.

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  8. I love bread made with white whole wheat flower...fortunately, it's fairly easy to find around here.

    I've never made bread without using a bread machine....after seeing this, I may get up the nerve to try making it without.

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  9. your sandwich looks so good, I want one right now.

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  10. It looks wonderful Dani!!! Ok, this might help: the "fault line" (as you call it) is actually caused from "oven spring", which is the fast burst that happens while in the oven caused by the carbon dioxide gas building up and needing to escape. If you slash the top of a loaf, you give it an escape route and your loaf will hold it's original shape. If not, the gas will find a place to "burst out of"..in your case it was the sides. Whenever you have a large "fault line" (like the first pic) it could be that you didn't let it rise long enough before baking. HTH (sorry so long)

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  11. Awesome tips from the awesome DD! I had a bit of a fault line on my loaf, too, but it was so delish I didn't even care! Yours looks lovely!

    p.s. my word verification for this comment is "uppers." Is that a suggestion? "Cause I don't think I need any... Haha!

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  12. The fault - so funny! I use White Whole Wheat too, it's just more appealing to me. Your second loaf turned out gorgeous and that sammie - love it! Great-looking burger buns and burger too.

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  13. Your bread looks wonderful- no need for you to ever go back to Roman Meal! The hamburger is to die for, delicious!

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  14. Devastating. I totally want that. I've been meaning to get into making more bread, but my new kitchen is just way too small. I don't have enough room to knead.

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  15. Your bread is beautiful! The sandwich looks even better.

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  16. Oooooh and Ahhhh! Beautiful bread...and the burger looks amazing! I'm so hungry right now, I wish I could reach in and grab it for my lunch! :D

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  17. What gorgeous bread. I'm not much of a baker, but this looks like something I might be able to do myself. The photo of the burger just jumps off of the page and begs to be eaten. My mother used to make homemade buns and they were fabulous.
    Sam

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  18. Your sandwich looks so good. My new favorite thing on sandwiches is avacado. I really NEED that book, we love homemade bread. A shame your first loaf didn't turn out as nice as your second. Your pictures are beautiful.

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  19. Great looking bread. And remember, noting beautiful is ever perfect.

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  20. Your bread and sandwich look delicious! Great job!

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  21. Wow your bread & rolls look fabulous, faults & all!!

    I'm impressed with your picture skills too!!

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  22. I am not much of a bread baker but these make me want to give it a go again. I am not much for those 'wheaty' breads either. Your burgers look heavenly!

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  23. This post was huge and great! Although I have to admit I burst out laughing at "I mean...I know I live in California but does EVERYthing have to have a fault?? Good lord!!"

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  24. What a great blog. My bread had a small fault also. Beautiful burger and sandwich.

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  25. Great idea to try white whole wheat. I will need to try that next too. Great job!

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  26. I just found your blog through CookEatShare - and it looks great. I've made a lot of bread in my time, and my favorite "white"whole wheat is King Arthur - which you can order on line. I have 2 kids who will not eat anything tasting of whole grain, but who completely love bread made with this. If you have a freezer, you can order a lot of this flour and get a bit of a discount...

    I'm going to look for this cook book, but you might also look at Peter Reinharts newest book if you haven't already. Its' called Artisan Breads for Every Day.

    Thanks for your blog - it looks really great!

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  27. I've had my bread do that to me sometimes, too. Doesn't affect the taste, though, happily! Your home baked potato wedges look like a perfect accompaniment to that burger.
    ~Jenny~

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  28. Your bread and sandwich look sooo appetizing! Great job!

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  29. OMG, you totally just answered a trivia question I had earlier this week, does Roman Meal still exist? I was listening to The Wall (Pink Floyd) and at the beginning of Another Brick In The Wall Pt 3, you can hear a TV in the back ground playing the old "this Roman Meal bakery, thought you'd like to know" commercial.

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  30. I'm glad you posted about the "fault" because I ran into that with a loaf recently as well. I'll have to try slashing my sandwich loaves next time as a reader commented. I've made two batches of this dough and I like it with white whole wheat flour as well. My family's more receptive to the lighter color and it doesn't overwhelm the sandwich or burger toppings.

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