I am a bread snob. There, I said it. I want my bread to be hearty, dense, and whole grain. You know, the kind that comes from a bakery, not the squishy, light, limp stuff you find prepackaged on the bread shelf in the grocery store. The latter falls firmly into the category of Food Meant to Sit on a Shelf. No, thanks. I don’t want food whose biggest selling point is its longevity. I don’t care about longevity—I care about flavor and nutrition. And being able to recognize the ingredients of what I eat.

Besides the fact that it makes my house smell AMAZING, homemade bread is better in all the ways, which I know something about having spent the last thirteen years baking all of my family’s bread. When we moved into our house in August of 2004, I finally (FINALLY!) had the counter space for the bread maker I’d had for years but had barely used. So, like any rational bread snob/DIYer, I finally put that baby to work.

And man did it feel like cheating…in the BEST possible way. Two minutes (literally) to throw all the things into the pan and three-ish hours later I could have fresh, hot bread? YES, PLEASE. It was magical, you guys, MAGICAL.

It was so magical that I wore through pan after pan after pan. I located an appliance parts supplier where I could buy replacement bread pans and would order several at a time. After about ten years, I replaced the first bread maker with a new one—same brand, same model (because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…well, you know what I mean)—and kept baking.

And then last year it happened. I had run out of replacement pans and needed to order more—something I’d been putting off for a few months because it’s in my nature to procrastinate all the things—and suddenly they weren’t available any longer. The manufacturer had stopped making them. No one had them. Not my supplier, not Ebay. All the sad faces, wringing hands, and curses at myself for my evil procrastinating ways as I wondered what was I going to do now? Should I try some other brand? And which one? (I am terrible at  making a decision when there are a bazillion different choices. How am I supposed to know which one will be reliable? And will I be able to get replacement pans for the next ten years? Because if I’m going to invest in something I want it to last.)

In the meantime, as I was looking at my choices and bemoaning that I really and truly could no longer use the pan I had because the liquid was running right out of it, I reluctantly starting making bread by hand.

BY HAND.

I didn’t want to do it. I was spoiled by the bread machine. Doing it by hand was too time consuming, wasn’t it? I mean, it takes HOURS to make bread and you have to DO THINGS, like keep track of time to let it rise, punch it down, roll it up to put it in a bread pan, let it rise AGAIN, and then get it in the oven at the right time. It’s so much more work than using a bread maker, isn’t it?

Okay, this is where I admit that I am a Very Ridiculous Person sometimes. Because you know what? Baking bread isn’t hard and it’s not the huge time commitment that it sounds like. There are hours of time in between the Doings. You can mix up the dough and let it rise as you run errands (been there, done that). Come back to punch it down and let it rise a second time in the bread pan while you drop off your kids at karate class (check), do laundry (check), or go for a hike with the dog (double check).

And do you know what happened in the year since that last bread machine pan wore out? I’ve fallen totally, completely, incandescently in love with baking bread by hand, and finally settled on the perfect bread recipe. This is my go-to. It’s easy, simple, with few ingredients, which I love, and it’s perfect, creating a great loaf every single time. You really can’t get much better than that.

This recipe is the result of years of baking, trying all kinds of combinations of ingredients–sometimes with eggs, milk, butter, and honey. Trying to work out the most reliable results, looking for a loaf that was hearty but wouldn’t dry out.

Bit by bit, I simplified the recipe until it was perfect—the least amount of yeast, the right amount of rise, and a resulting hearty, moist loaf. And surprise, surprise, this perfected recipe turns out to be vegan-friendly, and can be used in a bread machine, as well.

There are a few things I’ve learned in all these years of making bread that I want to share with you:

1) Adding ground flaxseed to the recipe actually increases the lift in the rise, giving you a loftier loaf, pretty much guaranteeing you perfect bread each time. I add ground flax to almost everything because of the nutritional boost, but hadn’t been adding it to bread (don’t ask me why…I don’t know). I’d noticed that it was doing really nice things to my pizza dough after I impulsively threw some in one day, so I added it to the bread dough the next time and was thrilled with the results. So, if you have a favorite recipe but aren’t getting the lift you want, try mixing in 1/4 cup of ground flaxseeds and see what happens.

You can buy flaxseeds already ground or grind them yourself in a blender or coffee grinder. Keep the ground flax in an airtight container in the fridge because it can go rancid if left at room temperature.

2) The pan makes a difference. After struggling to get loaves out of my glass and ceramic bread pans (which I have all heart-eyes for, but they like to hold onto bread a little *too* tightly, *sad baker sigh*), I bought myself a couple of aluminum bread pans, my favorite by far being Fat Daddio’s* (pictured). The straight sides give the loaf the shape I want, the bread slides out super easy, and the pans are not covered in Teflon, which makes me doubly happy. This pan should last me forever since there are no coatings, nothing to flake off, nothing to crack or break. I love that.

3) Experiment. You want to add sunflower seeds to your bread? Do it! This is a basic recipe and you can add all sorts of things into it. I have found that some additions can affect the structure of the bread—like millet can sometimes make bread more crumbly. I haven’t tried it in this recipe yet, so I can’t tell you what it’ll do with this specific recipe, but if you want the nutritional/textural boost of seeds and grains, give it a go!

4) It takes practice to learn to slice bread in thin, even slices. I’ve been doing this every week for more than a decade, so I’ve had some practice. If your slices don’t look like mine, don’t worry about it. Mine didn’t look so good either in the beginning. A quality, sharp bread knife is huge in getting good slices. Also, hot bread won’t slice thin and evenly. If you’re slicing the bread as soon as it comes out of the oven, go thicker. You get the best, even slices by waiting until the bread has completely cooled or, even better, slicing it the next day.

Everday Whole Wheat Bread

A hearty, whole wheat bread perfect for everyday use.

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Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Course: Bread

Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients

Volume - Weight

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt (cut in half if using table salt)
• 1 teaspoon fast-acting yeast
• 2 cups warm water (warm to the touch, ~96 F/35 C)
• 2 tablespoons oil

Instructions

By Hand/Mixer

• Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl. Add warm water and oil. Mix until dough comes together. If using a stand mixer, let it run for another minute as the initial kneading of the dough.
  
• Sprinkle dough and bowl with flour, remove bowl from mixer, and release dough from paddle. Knead with your hands for about a minute, folding the dough over and into itself, sprinkling with more flour as needed if the dough is sticking to your hand. When you have a smooth, soft ball of dough, pick it up, pour about a tablespoon of oil into the bottom of the bowl, then put the dough back in, swirling it around to completely cover the dough and inside of the bowl with oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise until dough has doubled in size, about 2 hours. (May take more or less time, depending on temperature of environment.)
• Grease and flour a bread pan. Once dough has risen, punch it down. On a clean cutting board or counter, lay the dough out and roll it up tightly, pinching the dough to itself as you roll to prevent air pockets from forming. Pinch the edge to the roll of dough, then fold the ends under and pinch those to the roll as well (see photos above). Place the dough into prepared bread pan and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rise until the dough peaks an inch or two above the top of the pan, about an hour. (May take more or less time, depending on temperature of environment.)
  
• Once dough is almost fully risen, preheat oven to 350 F/177 C. Bake for 35 minutes. Let sit in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack or cutting board. The bread slices best once completely cooled or after having sat overnight.
  
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (depending on the season--bread molds more quickly in warmer weather), or in the freezer/refrigerator.
  

With Bread Machine

• Load ingredients into pan in the order specified by manufacturer. Choose whole wheat/grain cycle, if available.
  

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