Animal, Nature, and Travel: Taste-bud Journey: No-Knead Sandwich Bread with Instant Yeast

During the pandemic, I am taking taste-bud journeys as I self-isolate rather than physical journeys. Here is my halved recipe for No-Knead Sandwich Bread with Instant Yeast. It is a recipe created by #MarysNest. I simply cut her recipe in half to make one loaf of bread instead of two. Her recipe instruction video is shown near the bottom of this blog.

FYI - The bread indeed tastes wonderful, slices beautifully, and makes great toast and sandwich bread. Woohoo!

Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tbsp sea salt
1/2 tbsp white sugar
2 + 1 + 1 tbsp butter [2 tbsp for original recipe, 1 tbsp to butter pan, 1 tbsp to baste top of loaf]
1.5 cups warm water (No more than 110°F.)
1 packet instant yeast

Procedure

Step 1: Whisk together in a very large bowl flour, salt, sugar, and yeast.

FYI: Make certain that the salt, sugar, and yeast do not touch each other directly. Instead, work each into the flour in their separate corner, so to speak, before mixing all of the flour mixture together.

Step 2: Mix together the water and butter. Warm this mixture in the microwave; however, use a candy thermometer to make certain that this water is no more than 110°F so as to not slow down or kill off the yeast. Add water and melted butter to bowl with flour mixture.

Step 3: Mix all ingredients until they come together to form a wet, "shaggy" (sticky) dough.

Step 4: Cover dough with a plastic wrap or a towel dusted with flour (so the dough will not stick to the towel), place the bowl of dough in a warm place, and allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours if using instant yeast or 1 3/4 hours if using active yeast.

Baker's Tip: A "warm" place in your kitchen can be in an oven that is off but has an electric light or pilot light on. An alternate warm place can be on top of a refrigerator. (Watch the video for additional tips on how to keep your dough warm as it rises.)

Step 5: After the rise time, deflate the dough by pressing down on the dough with your hands or a dough scraper. Handling the dough is best done with well-greased hands.

Step 6: Take a well-buttered loaf pan and transfer the dough into the loaf pan. Even out the dough into the corners of the pans using well-greased hands. (The dough will be very sticky.)

This is a very important step. Make sure that the loaf pans are VERY well-buttered (or oiled if using butter-alternative). This will ensure that the exterior sides and bottom of the bread will be soft.

Step 7: Leave the dough in the loaf pans, uncovered, and allow to rise in a warm place for approximately 40 minutes until the dough is even with the rim of the loaf pan and only slightly domed.

At the 30-minute point of that 40 minutes, preheat the oven to 375°F with oven rack in the middle position.

In a warm kitchen, this rise can take less than 40 minutes.

Step 8: Place loaf pan on the middle rack in the oven, and allow the dough to bake for approximately 40 minutes until the top crust is golden brown. When you tap the top of the loaf, it should sound hollow.

Step 9: Using pot holders, remove the loaf pan from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack.

Step 10: Immediately brush the top crust with butter. This will help the top crust not get too hard and be soft and more like store-bought bread. Then, remove the bread from the loaf pan and transfer the bread onto the cooling rack.

Step 11: Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

The originator of this recipe, Mary, states: 'Bread can be stored at room temperature in a bread box or cloth bag. It will stay fresh for 2-3 days. Bread can also be stored in the refrigerator, well-wrapped (such as in a plastic storage bag), in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for up to 1 week.'

Recipe Source: I cut her recipe in half to make only one loaf instead of two.

Cooking Sites that have inspired me:

Books written by Debbie Dunn:

Here is the Amazon Link to all anti-bullying curriculum books plus all children’s books written by Debbie Dunn (both paperback and Kindle). It will open up in a new window.