Enriched Soft Sandwich Loaf

Bread Loaf

Tender enough to be cut with a plain knife, extremely tasty, and super-easy to make, this loaf-pan bread uses clarified butter - also known as Ghee - to enrich, bump up flavor, and reduce stickiness. Mixed by hand or with a stand mixer, and baked in a Dutch oven, paper bag, or old-fashioned roaster pan (see notes), it's minimal effort and maximum reward.

Yield: One, 22-ounce (650 gram) white sandwich loaf

Time to make: 20 minutes mix and prep. 2 hours proof. 1 1/2 hour oven dwell.

Equipment needed: Large bowl with sturdy spoon or stand mixer with paddle attachment. Kitchen scale or measuring cups and spoons. Small bowl. Silicone spatula. 4 1/4 inch X 2 3/4 inch X 7 3/4 inch bread loaf pan. Dutch oven with lid large enough to contain bread pan, or paper bag of similar size, or Turkey roaster pan with lid of similar size. Bakers parchment.

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups (425 grams) New Italian bread mix( see notes)
1 2/3 cups (386 grams) water at 90 F.
3 Tablespoons (43 grams) clarified butter (aka Ghee)
additional clarified butter or margarine to grease bread pan
potato starch or fine white rice flour to dust greased pan

Notes:

An "Old-fashioned turkey roaster" is an oval, steel-and-ceramic pan. See photo HERE. It serves the important function of trapping steam during the first few minutes of baking and is large enough to hold 2 or more bread loaves.

New Italian mix can be purchased from Marie Eiffel Market in the USA and My GF Bakery London in the UK, EU and Switzerland.

Procedure:

1) Place measured flour mix in large bowl or the bowl of the stand mixer. In a separate small bowl, mix water and clarified butter. Add water/butter mixture to flour and stir at medium speed until all flour is wet. Allow dough to rest 2 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, thoroughly grease and dust the bread pan.

3) Mix dough with 50 vigorous strokes (if mixing by hand) or 1 minute on medium-high speed (if using stand mixer). Turn dough out into prepared baking pan. Use wet spatula to smooth surface. Cover loosely with bakers parchment or plastic and allow to rise until pan is filled with domed dough, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

4) Place Dutch oven and its cover, or turkey roaster and its cover, into oven on a low middle rack. Heat oven to 425 F. Using oven mitts, open Dutch oven or turkey roaster and place bread within. Cover pan and close oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove bread from Dutch oven/turkey roaster but keep in oven. Bake an additional 1 hour 15 minutes, or until loaf is chestnut brown.

5) Remove loaf to a a cooling rack. After 15 minutes, remove bread from loaf pan and keep loaf on cooling rack until completely cool.

6) For crisp crust, retain bread at room temperature, uncovered. For soft crust, store bread in plastic bag at room temperature. Loaf or individual slices may be frozen. Do not refrigerate.