Monday, April 30, 2012

Getting the hang of this bread thing


Last week I found this recipe for a version of the “Outback Steakhouse” bread.  I always LOVED that bread.  My husband I haven’t been to Outback in forever, so I thought it would be fun to try to recreate it.

Note to self - don’t make bread on a Friday evening.  It didn’t come out of the oven until midnight.  My husband and I ate a few bites, but we were tired and wanted to go to bed.  It was so good right out of the oven though.  Warm and super soft and airy.  I put the loaves in an airtight container and we ate more over the weekend.  Just popped it in the microwave before eating and it was still pretty yummy.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly because I’m not a fan of caramel color.  I recognize that it’s derived from a plant, but it’s still very processed and I didn’t want that.  I wasn’t that concerned with getting the bread to be the dark color - I just wanted the flavor.  It’s a great basic honey whole wheat. It has this nice sweetness to it and, for me, 
the texture is perfect - not too dense. I don't like breads that seem stale right out of the oven. Yesterday I made a sandwich using leftover lamb and provolone cheese. It was a perfect match because the lamb is slightly sweet and the bread is slightly sweet. It was fantastic.

This recipe makes 8 small loaves.  I scaled it down to make 4 small loaves.  I want to make it again however and make a larger, “normal” size loaf and use it for our everyday bread.  I may be getting addicted to the bread making thing - I’m starting to think it would be great to just make our own sandwich bread.



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