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By request from [personal profile] sporky_rat: Grant loaf

Monday, October 3rd, 2011 23:59

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.

Grant loaf

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.

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 07:59 (UTC)
*suddenly hungry*
Thursday, October 27th, 2011 13:29 (UTC)
*bookmarks for later*

(All my previous attempts at bread have failed. I'm hoping this is simple enough that it'll finally work :D)
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 11:10 (UTC)
Ooooo.
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 15:51 (UTC)
I should try this one day. *bookmarks*
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 03:43 (UTC)
om nom nom! *bookmarks*
Thursday, October 27th, 2011 14:09 (UTC)
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!
Friday, October 28th, 2011 01:47 (UTC)
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?