Sharing Bread

27 Reviews 4.6 out of 5 stars

This high-rising, moist bread features oats and whole wheat, along with a healthy percentage of bread flour, to increase its rise. It makes wonderful sandwiches and toast. And it highlights a lovely way to share fresh-baked bread: two loaves baked in a single pan, then pulled apart when cool.

This recipe comes from Gail McNeill, a veteran bread baker and King Arthur fan. Gail uses Demerara sugar and kosher salt for all her baking; thus we call for those ingredients here. You may certainly substitute regular granulated sugar; and table salt, which you'd want to reduce to 2 teaspoons (from kosher salt's 1 tablespoon; table salt measures differently than coarser-grained kosher salt).

Prep
15 mins
Bake
40 to 45 mins
Total
4 hrs 55 mins
Yield
two 9" loaves, or 4 smaller loaves
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Sharing Bread

Instructions

  1. To make the starter: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Mix to combine, cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours, or up to about 2 days.

  2. To make the dough: When you're ready to make bread, stir the starter to recombine it with any freestanding liquid it's generated. Mix the starter with the oats, 1 1/2 cups (180g) of the bread flour, and the remaining dough ingredients. Mix thoroughly, then add the remaining 3 cups (360g) of bread flour.

  3. Knead to make a smooth, supple dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or other container; our dough-rising bucket works well here. Cover, and allow it to rise until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

  4. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it in half. Shape each half into a 9" log.

  5. Lightly grease two 9" x 5" loaf pans. Place one log in each pan. To make two loaves in each pan, divide each half of the dough in half again; and shape each of the four pieces into a ball. Place two balls, side by side, in each pan.

  6. Cover the pans, and let the dough rise till it's crowned about 1" over the rim of the pan. This will take about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F.

  7. Uncover the pans, and bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent lightly with foil, and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until the center of the loaf registers 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

  8. Remove the bread from the oven, and place it on a rack to cool. After about 5 minutes, turn the loaves out of the pans to cool completely on the rack. If you've made two loaves in a single pan, wait till they're completely cool to gently separate, cutting with a knife if necessary.

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