Editing to add a 7 year later picture, as time/experience making bread has made me less likely to way over-flour things, so my doughs are less likely to be dry and wrinkley like in this post.

Now my problem is just standing in the way of the lighting…

Super Bread is a good protein rich sandwich/toast/snack bread from the King Arthur Flour cookbook.

❤

The various waiting times may be off-putting to those of you who don’t bake much, but it’s worth it, and really pretty easy to schedule around. I used slices of this bread for Eggs In A Basket 2 months ago before a half marathon, and didn’t need anything else during the race.

The recipe as it’s printed in the book has lots of variations, but this is how I make mine:

The night before, mix milk, brown sugar, honey, and yeast.

A not entirely attractive slurry.

Stir in dry milk powder, rolled oats, and flour. This is your sponge.

Let that sit overnight, and when you come back in the morning you’ll be able to see why it’s called a sponge. (tons of holes!)

You can still see the rolled oats in there, which entitles you to feel super healthy.

Punch down the sponge and stir in 2 eggs and some salt. Add the rest of the flour and knead everything together. Work it for 3-4 minutes, and then let it rest while you rinse out your bowl and grease it. Knead again for several more minutes until the dough is smooth and springy.

Shape it into a ball, and put it in your greased bowl.

Cover this and let it rest somewhere warm without drafts. I recommend in the oven, with the heat off but the light on. The slight head of the bulb actually does make a difference, without being overkill.

Definitely grown!

Punch it down again and knead out any stray air bubbles. Form into two loaves and place in two lightly greased bread pans. At this point it’s totally ok if you’re thinking that those doughballs are pathetically small for those pans.

At this point I should have smoothed out some of the giant crevices. Not positive why I didn’t, but oh well.

Let them rise another hour.

A much more reasonable size.

And it’s finally time to bake!

You should be able to turn them out on to a cooling rack pretty immediately. Let them cool completely before slicing.

Set for sandwiching!

This bread’s another thing that bounces back well from freezing. I tend to slice both loaves once they’re cooled, throw one in the cabinet for sandwiches that week, and one in the freezer for sandwiches and toast later. Grand!

Super Bread

Adapted from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook.

• 1 1/2 c milk
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 T honey
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 3/4 c non-fat dry milk
• 1 1/2 c rolled oats
• 2 eggs
• 5 c all purpose flour, divided (the recipe calls for 2 whole wheat, 3 all purpose, but I always accidentally buy some other junk when I mean to get the whole wheat)
• 1 T salt

To make the sponge:

Whisk the brown sugar, honey, and yeast into the milk. Stir in the dry milk, rolled oats, and 2 c of the flour (the whole wheat, if you’re trying that). Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a cool spot 2-12 hours.

To make the dough:

Stir down the sponge, add the salt and beat in the eggs. Stir in 2 1/2 c flour, and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 c on your counter/kneading board. Keep stirring until the dough begins to hold together, and then turn out on your floured board. Knead 3 or 4 minutes until the dough begins to feel as if it belongs together, and then let it rest while you clean and grease the bowl it came out of. Continue kneading the relaxed dough until smooth and springy, another 3 or 4 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and put it in the greased bowl, turning so it’s greased on all sides. Cover it and put it somewhere warm and draft-free. Let it rise until doubled (roughly an hour).

Punch the dough down, turn it out onto your floured board and knead out any stray air bubbles. Cut it in half and form two loaves. Place them in two lightly greased bread pans, and let rise until doubled (again, about an hour). During the last 15 minutes of the rising, preheat the oven to 350 F. At this point, if you were using the oven as a place for the bread to rise, take it out! Once risen, place the loaves in the preheated oven and bake 35 or 40 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped and is a nice golden brown.

There are lots of other possible variations to this bread, and pretty much everything else in the KAF cookbook. I actually really like the company – they have a store and bakery at their factory in Vermont that a friend and I visited last year. We got a bunch of fun baking junk, cookies, and some delicious eclairs for my mom.