New here, great site!! Bread suggestions please - for toasting and snacking

Hello friends,

I hope everyone is doing well.

I am in the Houston, TX area.

This is a great forum. I am new to this site, and to making bread. I am hoping to learn how to make bread through this site, and of course, share my knowledge as well.

Till then, I need to suffice with store purchased bread.

I was wondering if anyone can please share some suggestions for:

1) Good bread for toasting? I would like to toast it in my Breville toaster oven, and enjoy it in the morning with a coffee, and some marmlade or cheese.

I like the toast crispy.

I do not need to many nuts, seeds etc. in the bread, as I have a smoothie with nuts, fruits, etc. every morning.

2) Some nice breads, like sourdough, that can be enjoyed for a snack, with or without cheese or a spread. I like some of the breads they give in the nicer restaurants which have a powdery crust, and are not too hard, or not too soft.

I will really appreciate any suggestions you may have, and I will reciprocate in whatever ways I can.

Thank you!

Oxonian

Here are two recipes to start you off. Let me know when you are ready to tackle sourdough; that takes more patience and time. Time and patience is the key to making good tasting bread but time and patience squared is the key for sourdough.

Ford

White Bread

For the poolish

3 cup (12.8 oz.) King Arthur Bread Flour

1/4 tspn. dry active yeast

3 cup (24.9 oz.) chlorine-free water

Poolish hydration: 188%. Note: for half a cup of the bread flour you may substitute half a cup of whole-wheat flour to modify the taste and texture.

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in a little of the water, then add the rest of the water and flour and mix enough to wet all of the flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let ferment for 8 to 18 hours at room temperature. If desired, the poolish may be refrigerated after 4 hours of fermentation.

For the dough

All of the polish

2 1/8 cup (17.6 oz.) warm scalded milk (or skim ©)

1 tspn. dry active yeast

10 1/4 cup (43.6 oz.) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

1/4 cup (2 oz.) melted butter (or corn oil)

1 1/2 Tbs. (1 oz.) salt

1/4 cup (2 oz.) of melted butter (or corn oil ©) for greasing pans, brushing the dough, and for brushing the baked bread

water in a sprayer

Dough hydration: 69%.

Into the bowl containing the poolish, beat in the milk, the yeast, and about 6 cups of the flour, or as much as can be readily mixed by hand. Cover and let stand for half an hour or an hour (autolyse).

Mix in the 2 ounces melted butter, the salt, and as much of the rest of the flour as convenient. Scrape the dough on to a surface dusted with bread flour and thoroughly knead the dough, adding flour from the measured amount as necessary until the dough is smooth. For a more open structure, minimize the amount of flour. For a more dense structure, add additional flour. Allow the dough to rest for about ten minutes and then knead some more. This dough will be elastic and smooth. Place the dough into a greased bowl (about a teaspoon of corn oil) and cover to rise to double the volume, about an hour. Gently degas the dough by folding it on itself.

With melted butter, thoroughly brush three loaf pans (2 qt size, 9 5/8" x 5 1/2" x 2 3/4"). Divide the dough into three equal pieces (about 32 to 34 oz. each). Shape each piece to fit the bottom of each pan, puncturing the large bubbles. Place the loaves in the pans, seam side down. Brush the top of the loaves with melted butter. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let rise until the domes are about 2 inches above the tops of the pans. Bread benefits from retardation. (Place in the refrigerator when dough just reaches the top of the pan and remove next day and allow to come to room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 450°F with a pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf, with the middle shelf being reserved for the bread pans. A large broiler pan works well. When the dough has risen above the tops of the pans (about an hour), spray them with water, and immediately place them into the oven. Spray the loaves 2 additional times at 1 minute intervals to permit additional rising. After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until the interior loaf temperature reaches 195°F, an additional 45 minutes (about one hour total). The loaves should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. Turn out on to a cooling rack, brush with melted butter, and cover with a damp paper towel until cooled. Bread may then be packaged and frozen.

Whole-Wheat Bread

For the poolish

5 cups (21.3 oz.) whole-wheat flour

3 cups (24.9 oz.) water

1/4 tspn active dry yeast

Poolish hydration: 114%

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in a little of the water, then add the rest of the water and whole-wheat flour and mix enough to wet all of the flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let ferment for 8 to 18 hours at room temperature.

For the dough

All of the poolish

2 1/8 cups (18 oz.) warm scalded milk (or skim)

1/3 cup (3.8 oz.) honey, or brown sugar, or corn syrup

2 tspn. dry active yeast (remainder of the package used in the poolish)

8 1/4 cup (35.1 oz.) King Arthur unbleached bread flour

1 1/2 Tbs. (1 oz.) salt

1/4 cup (2 oz.) butter (or corn oil)

1/4 cup (2 oz.) melted butter (or corn oil) for greasing pans. brushing dough, and brushing bread

Dough hydration: 75%

Into the bowl containing the poolish, beat in the honey, the milk, the yeast, and about 5 cups of the flour, or as much as can be readily mixed by hand. Cover and let stand for half an hour or an hour (autolyse).

Mix in the 2 ounces melted butter, the salt, and as much of the rest of the measured flour as convenient. Scrape the dough on to a surface dusted with bread flour and thoroughly knead the dough, adding flour from the measured amount as necessary until the dough is smooth. Allow the dough to rest for about ten minutes and then knead some more. This dough will be elastic, not as elastic as the dough of the white bread. Place the dough into a greased bowl (about a teaspoon of corn oil) and cover to rise to double the volume, about an hour. Gently degas the dough by folding it on itself.

With melted butter thoroughly brush three loaf pans (2 qt size, 9 5/8" x 5 1/2" x 2 3/4"). Divide the dough into three equal pieces (about 34 oz. each). Shape each piece to fit the bottom of each pan, puncturing the large bubbles. Place the loaves in the pans, seam side down. Brush the top of the loaves with melted butter. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let rise until the domes are about 2 inches above the tops of the pans.

Preheat oven to 450°F with a pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf, with the middle shelf being reserved for the bread pans. A large broiler pan works well. When the dough has risen above the tops of the pans (about an hour), spray them with water, and immediately place them into the oven. Spray the loaves 2 additional times at 2 minute intervals to permit additional rising. After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until the interior loaf temperature reaches 195°F, an additional 45 minutes (about one hour total). The loaves should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. Turn out on to a cooling rack, brush with melted butter, and cover with a damp paper towel until cooled. Bread may then be packaged and frozen.

Thank you Ford.
I still have a way to go before I can start baking bread for myself.
I will definitely keep these recipes in mind.
In the interim, I am hoping some of you can please recommend some breads that I can buy at the store which fit my needs, till I can start baking!
Thank you!
Oxonian

If you begin with a basic white no-knead loaf, it's quite easy. And from there, it's only a small step to using add-ins and/or substituting some of the flour to suit your personal preferences. Even if you never get into more complex recipes and methods, the variety of tasty breads you can make is effectively endless.

I am new to baking bread, been experimenting about 2 years. I've made bread that didn't rise but was still delicious, ciabatta bread in oil in a flat pan, pizza dough, calzone, way too hard dinner rolls...and have had an amazing time experimenting and learning.

I found a recipe by Jenny Jones that for my purposes is fast and almost foolproof once you get the hang of it, making a no-frills loaf of delicious white sandwich bread from start to finish in 90 minutes. I've done this twice in two days and it works really well just to get some simple bread in and out of the oven with little fuss:

http://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/easy-white-bread-no-egg/

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour (or bread flour)
2 teaspoons (1 packet/ 7 gms) instant yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (I use 1%)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (or butter) – I use extra-light olive oil
about 1/2 cup additional flour

Instructions:

Combine flour, yeast, sugar & salt in a large mixing bowl.
Warm the milk and oil together to 120° F.
Add milk/oil to flour mixture and beat with electric mixer on high for 2 minutes.
On low speed slowly add enough flour (about 1/2 cup) until dough forms a soft mass.
Place dough on floured surface and knead 50 turns.
Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
Shape dough into a loaf and place in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 -inch loaf pan.
Cover and let rise in a warm spot until it’s one inch taller than the pan, about 35 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375° F & bake for 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, I cover the top of the loaf with a foil tent to prevent over-browning.

No mixer? No instant yeast?
No mixer? Just mix it in a bowl by hand but knead longer, about 150 turns.
No instant yeast? Use regular dry active yeast but check the package for liquid temperature, which should be lower – probably 110-120° F.

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Here's the video of her doing the wheat bread version, which is almost exactly the same as the white bread so you can see how it works. This isn't fancy bread or anything near what the artisans on here are capable of, but it will get you started!