Happy Bread Week!

It looks like we’re going to be eating a lot of sandwiches around here this week. Out of the oven today were hard rolls, Vienna bread and Italian bread.  All of these breads are known for their crisp, thin crusts. They have little to no sugar or fat (although that can be remedied depending on what you plan to have with the bread!)

Tricks and tips I picked up today. If you can’t steam bread in your home oven, just take an aluminum roasting pan and invert it over your bread for the first 10 minutes of baking. This can be problematic when the bread is bigger than the roasting pan, but I may just start baking smaller portions at a time. Also, if you can’t find malt syrup, maple syrup will suffice in a pinch. Malt syrup can be ordered online with advance planning, something that I need to get on the ball with.

First up were the hard rolls.  Not too bad.  Definitely lovely right out of the oven. The crust is somewhere between crispy and flaky. I think I’ll leave them in a bit longer next time just to let them get a bit crustier.

I did a better job with that in the following Vienna bread. This will make great sandwich bread and would be great with a French onion soup.  The Viennese developed the steam method to create the crust. It is often prepared as a long loaf and is a precursor to the better known French baguette.

Before I get to the baguette, I took a detour to Italy. It is softer than French bread, due in part to the addition of oil. This one came out with a better split down the middle of the top of the loaf. It makes me want to have something saucy or soupy to mop up. 

I’m afraid that my mother won’t revert back to grocery store bread after this was delivered to her house.

Coming up next will be a whole wheat version of the same Italian bread. Anybody want some?