Speed White Batter Bread

Dave asked in a comment how long the bread took from start to finish. I was actually pretty prompt with the postings, having posted the recipe and the plan a little prior to starting work, and posting the conclusion right afterwards. I'd say probably a total of 3 hours. I did, however, run out and go catalogue some stuff at Winebank during the first rising, so that lengthened the time more than necessary.

After eating a dinner of ramen, dried fruit, and corn nuts in the office and coming home late, I decided to see how fast I could bake a loaf of bread. Plus, I wanted to try putting in the correct amount of olive oil and increasing the vital wheat gluten by 5 grams.

The result? I cut out the two risings and poured the batter directly into the mini loaf pan. I let it rise until it formed a dome over the top of the pan while heating up the oven. Total time, about one hour and 45 minutes. About 45 minutes of rising and 30 minutes of baking. There was also some IM distraction, so with maximum efficiency, I think it could be done in 90 minutes total and only 15 minutes of actual work.

The bread was okay (definitely less oily) but the texture was noticeably less fine. There were large variations in the size of the air bubbles with some really big ones and some smaller ones, compared to the previous attempt which had uniformly fine texture. What the texture really reminded me of mass-produced store-bought pre-sliced bread. I think less oil and more gluten are definitely winners. Single-rising produces an okay loaf, but not nearly has "homemade" feeling as a double rise.

White Batter Bread Results

Came out surprisingly good given that I made an error and put in 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead of 2 teaspoons.

I was afraid alternatively that I'd used too much vital wheat gluten (too chewy) or would make the loaf too dense as per some of the complaints about the recipe in the forum. Fortunately, it came out really light and not too tough. I could actually use a little more gluten, maybe 5 more grams.

This mini-loaf is worthy of taking to Rourke & Jen's tonight.

White Batter Bread

Recipe reduced to mini-loaf size:

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 130 grams sifted all-purpose flour
• 10 g vital wheat gluten
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix together shortening, sugar, salt, yeast, vital wheat gluten, 30 grams flour. Add warm water and beat by hand about 300 strokes, or 3 minutes, with an electric mixer. Add remaining flour (100 grams), scraping bowl often, and mix all together until smooth.
2. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled in volume.
3. Stir dough down gently, and spoon into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan (the batter should be sticky). Pat down with floured hands to help shape. Cover again, and let rise for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Bake for about 45 minutes. Place on a cooling rack.

I modified the recipe to use 2 teaspoons of olive oil rather than 2 teaspoons of shortening (which i don't have). Also added in the wheat gluten.

Forum postings indicate that the loaf ends up pretty dense, so I'm hoping I can lighten it up. Another possibility is adding in some powdered milk to soften the though if it seems tough.