Fresh bread tastes best. But of course,if you need to bake for the entire week, feel free to bake, wrap in cling film and refrigerate. Heat, grill or Toast as and when you need it, it's still wholesome,healthy,chemical and preservative free.My suggestion is, bake at the max two loaves, use them and bake at night again when needed. The maximum time and involvement that bread takes is in the kneading. You and I knead dough for rotis and chapatis daily. So that's hardly a challenge. Otherwise a stand mixer or a food processor with a dough hook is an excellent investment.
Proving and shaping hardly takes time, and baking is a solitary experience for the bread. And if you're thinking of your electricity bills, well one bread takes less than an hour to bake. That's about one unit of power consumption. Your family's health is more valuable than that.We're still looking for a soft , Whole-wheat bread. Hubby dear is majorly partial to white bread. So that's why I bought vital gluten.This dough is half maida and half atta. Regular staples in any pantry.With one spoon vital gluten.And that made the bread so soft, it could be rolled and bent without breaking. That soft. And soft means that the bread stays fresh longer.
Just so you're interested, gluten is a protein that is found in wheat. The flour in the Indian subcontinent is of apoorer quality as compared to its European and American cousin,so therefore our breads are not as soft.That's why he adding of gluten results in super soft bread.I tented these loaves with aluminum foil to mirror the Dutch oven. Awesomeness.One loaf ,I braided and seeded. Just to make it look prettier.For the
Our Daily Bread Half Whole-wheat half Maida No Egg, No Butter-with Vital Gluten
For two. Loaves you need
2 1/2 cups Whole-wheat flour or atta -I used Ashirwad Multi grain2 1/2 cups maida4 tsp instant dry yeast 2 tbsp sugar2 tsp salt1 3/4 cup plus a little extra tepid warm water4 tbsp neutral vegetable oil - I used canola1 tsp vital gluten -optional Sea salt ,nigella seeds, sesame seeds to sprinkle
If you live in Mumbai, Vital Gluten,instant dry yeast and other staples man be purchased from Continental stores in Crawford Market. And small 100 GM packs are available at Victory stores in Crawford Market.
A little science here. The more water you add to Whole-wheat ,the softer your bread is .Here, by weight we are using almost 80% water. You may need less, depending upon the quality of atta.I was thinking of adding milk and eggs...but I wanted the bread to be soft with out any extra calories.
Place the flours, salt sugar and vital gluten into a bowl and place the yeast opposite to the salt. Now use the water to knead the dough to a soft dough. If you're not using a food processor or stand mixer, now tip out the dough On to the counter and pout the oil over. Use the heel of your palm, stretch and bring Back the dough till the dough has incorporated all the oil. The stretched dough should not break as easily as it did when you first begun kneading.A second way to test is by taking a small piece of dough and stretching it to see how thin it will be before it breaks. If you can see light through that stretched dough...you've passes the window pane test.Now pop the dough into an oiled bowl and cover and allow it to rest. That was the actual time consuming work you did.If you have a stand mixer, pop it all in and allow th remixer to knead till the dough passes the same tests.After the dough doubles, bring out your tins.Lightly grease both tins with oil.Into one , sprinkle the seeds and seasalt to coat the bottom. We like the discipline of loaves. Easy to make sandwiches.Lightly punch, deflate or Degas the dough.Cut Into half.The first half, cut into three and make a tight braid.Tuck the ends in and place In the seeded tin. The other half, roll out into a rectangle as wide as the loaf tin is long. I use my hands, because the rolling pin deflates teh dough more.Roll into a tight log and place seam side down into the second tin.Cover and set aside in a warm place. When the dough is almost reached the edges of the tin, preheat your oven at 180C.Atleast 20 minutes.Brush the loaves with water and sprinkle with seeds and salt.Take a large piece of al foil and grease with oil. If you miss the oil, the foil may stick to your loaf, ruining the crust.Pleat it in the center and cover the loaves leaving enough room for them to rise.
Place in the center of the oven and bake at 180C for 30 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil, brush with milk or spray oil over the risen crust and place back into teh oven to bake further 10-15 minutes.You'll know it's done from the crust and also the fact that the bread pulls away from the edges.Bring it out and knock at the bottom.Hollow sound and it's done.
Brush with oil or butter. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes and then remove from tins. Cool and slice and use.
Check the crumb. All airy and uniform. 
This is the bottom of the seeded bread.
Neither of these breads need anything else to taste good. They taste good and are a great accompaniment to any curry or salad. I brushed these breads with olive oil and we had them with a bowl of hot chicken broth. The boys were down with viral fever and cold..so this, the lemon grass loaded chicken broth and a lot of TLC made them human again.
Experiments are a good thing...Tastes vary and there's never a dull moment.That's why these are Artisan .Try them out...keep the basic ratio of flour , water and yeast the same and play with the shapes... or add butter ,add eggs or even potato. Yup, that's coming up next. Potato Bread.So what are you baking today???
