You'll Never Buy Store Bought Sandwich Bread Again!

Still buying store-bought 50-50 honey wheat sandwich bread because you think it's healthier option for your family? Come on, stop. You can make it so much better at home. I'm talking about real whole wheat, the sourdough version of course. First thing first, stiff starter. Don't panic, nothing fancy. It's just a starter with lower hydration, in this case 50 percent instead of 30 grams starter, 60 grams flour and 30 grams water. Then I like to use my finger, bring everything together until I have stiff dough like this. Clean up the jar, bring it on the counter and I like to knead it a bit. Voila! Are you ready? This is my magical starter. Have you seen something like this? I don't like my everyday soft sandwich loaf to be super tangy. To reduce the tang in my loaf, I make a stiff starter. You can make this recipe with same amount of starter, no problem. You can even use polish or big eye if you don't like sourdough. Make sure to check the description. And after just four to five hours, boom! It's double or triple its size, super soft and airy and you see some bubbles forming on the side and under this dough. This is going to be interesting. Let me show you inside the stiff starter. That's magic my friend. Next thing we're gonna do before making the main dough is to make tanzo. And this is kind of a shortcut to make tanzo. In a small bowl, add 20 gram flour. I'm using milk, 100 grams. You can use water if you don't want milk. Mixy mixy, kind of dissolve the flour. Then into the microwave for 20 seconds. Take it out, stir. 20 more seconds, microwave. Take it out again, stir again and do this for two to three times until you hear this sound. Something like this, a bit thicker than a roll. Why tanzo? To make my bread soft and fluffy and extend the shelf life of my loaf. Let it cool down completely. You can even put it in the fridge. Let's make it. Time to make the main dough. In a medium-sized bowl, add 6 grams salt, followed by teaspoon of honey, all the stiff starter, all the tanzo, 90 to 100 grams water. Mixy mixy. It's not gonna dissolve completely but do your best. 50-50. I have 50% whole wheat, 50% bread flour. That's why they call it 50-50. 140 grams whole wheat, 140 grams bread strong flour. Mix everything with your beautiful hands. With the clean hand, turn the bowl. With the doughy hand, just mix that bad boy until you get a stiff dough like this. In this stage, if your dough was dessert dry, you can add a little bit of liquid or if it was too sticky for you, you can add a little bit of flour. I like to add a teaspoon of olive oil but not into the dough on the counter. So make the kneading process smoother. Then go ahead and knead this bad boy for a good 8 to 10 minutes. Should not be bothering at all. It's a quite stiff dough. After 5 minutes of kneading, I check the dough temperature. Ideally should not exceed 27-28 degrees Celsius. Then continue for another 3 to 5 minutes until you get a gorgeous smooth dough like this. Today bicep and tricep workout done. But hey, if you want to use a stand mixer, that's even easier. Dump everything into the mixer and mix it for 8 to 10 minutes or a little bit longer. Into the bowl, I'm gonna let it rest for 30 minutes. 30 minutes later, I like to make sure I have a smooth elastic dough and create little more tension. I like to fold all the sides to the center then flip and round it up one more time on the counter while I'm pushing the dough underneath. Voila! Look at this bad boy. Into the smaller bowl to see how much it's going to rise and let it rise. This is my room temperature. Before finishing its bulk fermentation, after bulk fermentation. Did you see the difference? We have like 50% rise. You might see more rise in cooler climate. The dough is super airy and puffy. If I poke the dough, it's gonna bounce back slowly. Do you see how gorgeous it is? It's quite softer than it used to be. It's not a sign for a low hydration dough like this but it should pulls away from the side of the bowl as well. And this is the ideal dough temperature after finishing its bulk fermentation. This is the size of my pan loaf in case you need to know. It's slightly smaller than a regular 9 to 5 inch pan. Make sure to grease it generously with a piece of butter if it's not non-stick. Don't forget to punch the dough because it's so satisfying. And bring the dough on the counter. The last sign of a good fermented dough is those beautiful bubbles underneath. I'm gonna degas my dough a little bit and check the size of my pan as I'm gonna shape it accordingly. And nothing fancy. I'm gonna shape it quite simple. Something like my regular batard shaped sourdough but a bit tighter let's say. Make sure to seal the edges and pull the dough on the counter toward yourself to create a little more tension. To fit in my pan I like to roll it a bit on the counter. Beautiful. Into the pan and voila. It's a same day recipe and I'm gonna let it proof on the counter. We are looking for a good rise. In this case one centimeters above the rim. And to get one of those perfect square shaped sandwich breads you need to use After almost two hours at 27 degrees Celsius we have a good rise here. The dough is super airy and light and if you poke it gently it's gonna bounce back slowly. The goal was one centimeters above the ring. There you have it. I'm gonna use double loaf pan method to cover my dough for the Bake at 220 degrees Celsius 450 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Remove the lid. Enjoy the rise. Reduce the temperature to 190 degrees Celsius 375 Fahrenheit until you are happy with the color. For me takes 20 to 25 minutes. And brushing your hot sandwich loaf with the knob of butter right after baking softens the crust and add a rich flavor. Let's check the crumbs shall we? Think about it as an investment for your family. I mean for your family health. A real sandwich bread which is not just healthy but loaded with flavors. I mean instead of chemical filled gummy store-bought sandwich bread right? I can eat this sandwich loaf every single day. I mean we just use a splash of olive oil and a teaspoon of honey. Give it a try. It's worth it. Alright I guess that's it. If you like this recipe give this video a thumbs up and hit subscribe so you don't miss my next video. As always keep baking and take good care of yourselves.