By request from sporky_rat: Grant loaf

[shadowspar]

Grant loaves: super-easy to make whole wheat bread with a super-dense texture (almost muffin-like, with a crisp, substantial crust). No kneading. Minimal time commitment - scratch to bread in 90 minutes.

This is a dense bread that goes well with butter, jam, or a nice cheese. Also great with soups, stews, and the like. Won't fit in a garden-variety toaster, but toasts up nicely in a toaster oven. Definitely not sandwich bread.

The original recipe appeared in a British cookbook published in the 1940s, written by Ms. Doris Grant. It's exactly the kind of bread recipe I'd be looking for if I were working shifts at the munitions factory but still expected to bake fresh bread for the family every day.

The recipe as I remember it, cut down to one loaf instead of the original batch of three:

• 1⅔ cups warm water (yeast-friendly; ~95-100℉ or ~38℃)
• 1 tsp brown sugar (the darker the better)
• 1 tsp yeast
• 4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt

The temperature of all ingredients is key, so if you should happen to keep your flour in a coldroom or some such, bring it into the kitchen and let it warm up a bit.

Grease a loaf pan.

Stir the sugar into the water until dissolved, then add the yeast. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl, or if you're like me, dump them both into a bowl and run a whisk through them a few times to mix. After about ten minutes or so, when the yeast is foamy and happy, make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast & water in. Stir with a wooden spoon, working the dry outsides towards the center. Mix for about a minute. Again, if you bake like I do, you'll get annoyed with the stirring process after about 30 seconds and mix in the remaining dry bits with your hands. ^_^;

Form into a loaf and dump it into the greased loaf pan. Let rise in a warm place for ~30 minutes, until the loaf has increased in size by about a third.

While the bread is rising, preheat your oven to 400℉. Bake for 40 minutes. When done, the loaf should have a substantial crust and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Comments

[afuna]

*suddenly hungry*

[shadowspar]

Recipe added; one of the easiest bread recipes in town if you need to slake a sudden craving. ;)

[afuna]

*bookmarks for later*

(All my previous attempts at bread have failed. I'm hoping this is simple enough that it'll finally work :D)

[shadowspar]

For sure! Let me know how it turns out. =)

[sporky_rat]

Ooooo.

[shadowspar]

Anything like the loaf you mentioned making yourself?
Also (IIRC) this loaf got overproofed because a Certain Someone had a sudden and urgent need for nachos just as I was about to bake the bread off. =)

[dingsi]

I should try this one day. *bookmarks*

[alexbayleaf]

om nom nom! *bookmarks*

[tamouse]

This recipe looks unbelievably simple. I will have to try this. The one thing that daunts me about breadmaking is the kneading step(s). I don't know what to expect, how it should feel, how much to do, etc. A no-knead recipe is right up my alley!

[shadowspar]

Yeah, I still find that getting the kneading right is a trial-and-error thing for me with each new recipe. Some of them describe the amount of kneading required or the feel that the dough is supposed to take on better than others. There's definitely a change in texture when things are working how they're supposed to -- the dough starts to get less rough and lumpy, and becomes smoother and more elastic.

[tamouse]

Yeah, I get lots and lots of descriptions about it, and it just does not translate at all to the kinesthetics of it at all. *sigh* I really just want to make bread with someone so I can *feel* it, ya know?

[shadowspar]

Yeah, indeed. There are some things that it's just much easier to teach or learn while physically present with someone else who knows how to do it, and this is one.