Breaking the Baguette Habit

Though I love baguettes, my jaw is tired after a month of non-stop baguette chewing. Actually that’s only half of the truth. The other half is that I hardly had time to bake and do more research over the weekend. And my schedule doesn’t seem to slow down at all for the next several weeks. I’ll try to maintain my regular posting schedule, but I apologize in advance if I have to skip a week or two.

I made this bread a few weeks ago when my baguettes were… still not tasty at all. I was frustrated and seriously getting tired of eating my unsuccessful gummy bread. I didn’t want to make just plain soft white bread nor butter-heavy pastries. I was looking for something different. I looked up a Japanese bread book and the homemade toast breads I found seemed like a perfect choice.

Despite the slightly burnt top, it was nearly as good as ones from a Japanese bakery. Perhaps it was my previous weeks of consistently lackluster results that set my expectation really low. I was so surprised at the final product that I ate one third of the loaf for breakfast while it was still warm.

It reminded me of a light and non-eggy brioche bread. Fluffy yet not too soft, buttery but light. I only used about 1-2 Tbsp of butter for the entire loaf, which was just enough to give flavor and yet not heavy enough to induce heartburn.

It was great as is. I ate my first slice with jam, but I didn’t need anything for my second or third. Even though it was toast bread, I didn’t have to toast mine because it was still warm. Because it wasn’t overly sweet, I made a sandwich out of it for lunch, too.

I’ll try to post a recipe sometime, but for now I need to get some sleep!

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Japanese Toast Bread

280g AP flour
2.2g yeast
16.8g sugar
4.5g salt
190.4g milk
22.4g egg yolk
19.7g butter

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and knead for about 10-15 minutes. Adjust
the temperature of milk so that the dough will be about 80F.

When the dough becomes smooth, make it into a giant ball and place it in a bowl,
cover with wet cloth and let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in
size.

Lightly flour the surface of a large cutting board. Fold the dough into thirds.
Turn the dough 90 degrees and fold it again into thirds.

Again place it into a bowl, cover with wet cloth and let it rise for about an
hour or until doubled in size.


Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Roll each dough into a ball. Working
one dough at a time, roll out the dough with rolling pin, fold it into thirds,
and then turn the dough 90 degrees and roll it up. Place the dough in the
nonstick loaf pan. Repeat the procedure with the other two.

Let it rise until the top surface of the dough comes up to about 1/2” above the
pan.

Preheat the oven to 450F. When the oven is ready, spray the surface of the dough
with water and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375F and bake for 15-20
minutes.

As soon as you remove from the oven, drop the pan on a kitchen counter, so that
hot stream can escape. Remove the baked loaf from the pan and let it cool on a
rack.


Makes 1 loaf.