101 Sandwich Loaf

For those looking to bake a delicious sandwich loaf at home but do not have a sourdough starter, this is the perfect yeasted sandwich loaf recipe for you.

Ingredients Grams/Percentage 

Spelt, sifted 213g/ 40%

White Wheat, sifted 106g/ 20%

Organic Wheat, sifted 213g/ 40%

Water, 75D 452g/ 85%

Dry Instant Yeast 4g/ .8%

Sea or Kosher Salt 12g/ 2.3%

Inclusions:

Honey 5g/ 4%

Flax Seeds, soaked 35g/ 4%

Day before mix soak seeds in water to plump. Keep refrigerated 

Bran sifted from wheat 26g/ 3%

You will need:

2 large bowls for sifting & mixing 

2 small bowls for inclusions & salt 

gram scale

loaf pan

sharp knife

plastic wrap

fine sifter

spray or squeeze bottle of water internal thermometer if you ha

Mixing 

Sift flours before scaling.  Save the bran sifted for Inclusions. Scale water & yeast in a large bowl. Let yeast dissolve then add flours. Reserve salt for later.

Mix flour and water with one hand just until it forms a dough. Scrape as much dough from your hand as possible. Cover dough with plastic wrap and leave to rest (autolyse) for 20 minutes. Mix Honey into flax, & bran and set aside. 

After autolyse add salt to top of dough with a couple drops of water to dissolve it. Mix in salt by squeezing dough between fingers (pinching method). Mix with pinching method for 2 minutes. Add Inclusions, continue to pinch for another 2 minutes.  Form dough into a ball in bottom of bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. 

Folding & Bulking

Rest Dough (bulk) for 2 hours total. During the bulk fold dough 3 times in 30 minutes intervals. To fold, stretch the 4 sides of dough into the center. Like an envelope. Flip over and reform into a ball. Repeat 3 times. At the end of bulk time dough should be doubled in size.

Shaping

Lightly oil pan. Dump dough into a lightly floured counter. Dust your hands and the top of the dough with flour.  The dough should be gassy and light. Try not to de-gas it much. Make sure it’s floured enough by moving it around the counter a little. It should move easily.   Form into a loaf. 

Step 1 : lift sides of dough up by putting hands under each side and joining them together in the middle creating a seam. Press down gently to flatten.

Step 2 : roll dough up like a swirl. Gently squeeze into loaf shape. Keep the seam on the bottom. 

Step 3 : place dough seam side down in oiled pan 

Proofing

Let dough rest covered in damp linen towel until proofed slightly over rim of pan. About 1 ½  hours. Preheat oven to 425D. Dough is ready to bake when you can gently press it with wet or floured fingers and it pushes back to shape. 

Scoring & Baking

Use a sharp knife or razor to score the bread down the center the long way from rim to rim cutting about ¼in deep. Put loaf in oven.  Crack the door and spray oven with water a few times to create steam. Bake for 30-40 mins. Bread is baked when the internal temp is at least 190D. When you thump on bottom it should sound and feel hollow. Cool out of pan on a cooling rack. Do not cut for a least 2 hours. Because it’s 100% wheat and has a high amount of water it will need to set before cutting. Try hard to wait. I cannot stress this enough.