Loaf 88 – 9 Grain Sandwich Loaf

Posted on Dec 9, 2012 in loaves

This was an experiment with using a loaf pan to shape my 9 grain bread to get a form hospitable to sandwiches.

The dough was mixed with the same recipe and process I’ve developed before (see Loaf 80) up to the shaping step. I divided the 1200g of dough into a 700g loaf for a large loaf pan and two smaller pieces (220g each, as there was 60g lost in the process of mixing, stretching, shaping…) for small loaf pans. The shaping process was the same as for a rectangular banneton. I then put some water on the top of the loaves and sprinkled them with poppy seeds.

The loaves had proofed for 2¼ hours when the poke test proved them to be very soft and ready to bake.

I scored the tops and then baked them in a 350° oven (rather than hearth-style). The small loaves baked for 35 minutes, the large loaf for 45 minutes.

Results

• The large loaf’s crumb in the center was very similar to my artisan-style loaves, but you can see where the constriction of the loaf pan didn’t allow the bread to expand around the bottom and sides. This is likely why the extra oven pop I was expecting didn’t happen – there simply wasn’t enough room to expand before the top crust formed.
• Also, because all the proofing happened “right side up” the dough at the bottom had to have the full weight of the loaf all the way through the process. Most loaves I bake get flipped over right before baking, so the denser bottom has plenty of room to rise in the oven.
• The flavor was good, but the texture was inconsistent for this reason.
• The small loaves were fun. Three sandwiches at the smaller size were about equivalent to a regular sized sandwich. Fun to eat, but not really practical.