June 7, 2009

Pastor Ryan's Bread

I thought some homemade bread would go great with our meal tonight, so I decided to whip up a batch of this Pastor Ryan recipe. Yum! I added chopped, fresh parsley for the herbs and some dried, minced onions for fun. I hope that it turns out as good as his looks!!!

Pastor Ryan Bread

Ingredients:
20 oz. of bread flour (all purpose is okay, too) - about 4 cups.
8 oz. of water (or 1 cup.)
4 oz. melted butter with chopped herbs of choice
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon active or instant yeast


Directions:
Combine these ingredients all together in the KitchenAid stand mixer with the dough hook (it can be done by hand…it just takes longer).

Mix together for about 10 minutes or so until you achieve a windowpane with the dough. This is where you can pull off a small chunk of the dough you’re kneading and stretch it gently to see if it is somewhat translucent. If you can do this without it tearing, it’s ready.

Once this elasticity has been achieved, the dough can sit out with plastic wrap over it for 1-4 hours to double in size. After it’s gotten bigger, it should be kneaded for a minute or two so that the yeast can redistribute.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut a large ‘X’ into the surface of the bread dough so it can bloom!

Bake inside a covered cast iron pan after coating the rounded dough with olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove lid to finish it off for another 15 to 30 minutes.

If you like to use a thermometers, we’re looking for an internal temp. of around 200-210 degrees. (The bread can get brown on the bottom if it’s too close to the heating element; if that happens, just slice it off with a sharp knife.



The Result:
This was really yummy and easy bread. I am not the best baker, so I am pleased with the results. I did have an issue getting the bread to the "windowpane" stage in my mixer. I let it mix for 10 minutes, as per the instructions, but it didn't stretch properly. Instead, I took it out of the mixer and hand-kneaded for a few minutes. Finally, it got where it needed to be. Other than that little snafu, the bread turned out perfect!

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