Rachel Allen’s White Bread and Coming Soon...the Irish Boutique of Cedarburg
john barry
After living most of my adult life in Chicago, moving to another state with four kids in tow feels like a huge change. Monumental. Talk about logistics. And paperwork. New schools. New doctors and dentists. New friends (please!). But wait, there’s more. SO MUCH MORE!
We’re opening an Irish Boutique in our new town, Cedarburg, Wisconsin!!!!
It’s exciting, and scary and because it’s the family business we already know how much work it will be. But if there’s one thing that has really hit home for us over this last year is that life is short. We’ve thought and dreamt of doing something like this, not this exact thing, but something similar, for years. I don’t think there is ever a perfect time to take a leap of faith like this, a time when you feel really “ready”. It feels kind of like having a baby for the first time, “Here goes nothing!” Ha. At least that’s how that felt for me. But I think we are as ready as we’ll ever be and thrilled to be opening a store in our new community. So there you have it, hopefully this is it on the change front for a while. Cross your fingers for us!
No front teeth! But he doesn’t let that stop him.
We’ve been lucky enough to have both houses for a short period of time which has allowed us to do this move in stages, thankfully, becauseI cannot bear the idea of living in a house full of boxes. Too chaotic! And it’s funny because living like this makes you think about what you really need and what you use on an every day basis. In terms of kitchen appliances, all I have left is a mini-food processor, my toaster and my bread maker. Thank goodness I still have those. The mini-food processor for making meatballs with “invisible” vegetables in them so Isla can brag that she ate a bunch of zucchini without actually confronting one in it’s natural form, and also for making frosting because Eve’s birthday is the weekend before we move-move. The toaster, um, for toast. And the bread maker, for the bread that we put in the toaster. Specifically, plain old white bread.
I mean, what do you want when everything about your life is changing both rapidly and drastically? Comfort. Carbs. White bread. My kids LOVE white bread. We all do. It’s so fluffy and soft. It makes the house smell amazing. I swear my son can smell it from the front porch. None of us can refuse a slice of fresh bread, still warm from the oven (or the bread maker). There’s something magical that happens when you add yeast to simple ingredients: flour, salt, sugar, butter. I could bake a loaf a day for the rest of my life and still be awestruck at the power of yeast.
So fluffy!
As you may have guessed, I bake white bread all the time. At least a couple times a week. I normally use a very simple recipe from the cookbook that came with my hand-me-down breadmaker. I’ve memorized it and could throw it together in my sleep. Today, not in the mood to leave my comfort zone, I decided to mix it up just a little. I looked up Rachel Allen’s White Bread Recipe and saw that it was very close to the one I normally use. Feeling confident that it too would be easy to throw together and, like all of Rachel Allen’s recipes, comforting and delicious, I got to work. And by work I mean, collecting the ingredients and putting them in the canister of my breadmaker - so not that much work at all. I halved the recipe to make just one loaf but I’m including Rachel’s full directions because I’m the only person I know who owns a breadmaker.
White Bread
(adapted slightly from Rachel Allen’s recipe which can be found here. )
Ingredients (for one loaf)
1 tsp sugar
7.5 fl oz warm water
1 tsp dried yeast
2 ¾ cups bread flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp butter, or 2 tbsp olive oil
vegetable oil, for greasing the bowl
1 free-range egg, beaten (optional)
poppy or sesame seeds, for the top of the loaf (optional)
Mix the sugar with about 1 oz of the warm water and yeast and let stand in a warm place for five minutes, or until frothy. If using fast-acting or instant yeast skip this step.
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Rub in the butter and make a well in the centre. (If using olive oil instead of butter, pour the olive oil into the remaining water.) Pour in the yeast mixture and most of the remaining water (and the olive oil, if using). Mix to a loose dough, adding the remaining water if needed, plus extra if necessary.
Knead for about ten minutes or until the dough is smooth and springy to the touch. (If kneading in an electric food mixer with a dough hook, five minutes is usually long enough.) Put the dough in a large oiled bowl. Cover the top tightly and place somewhere warm to rise until doubled in size. This may take up to two or even three hours.
Preheat the oven to 425F.
When the dough has more than doubled in size, knock back and knead again for 2–3 minutes. Leave to relax for ten minutes before you begin to shape the bread.
Shape the bread into a loaf or rolls, transfer to a baking tray and cover with a clean tea towel. Allow to rise again in a warm place for 20–30 minutes, or until the shaped dough has again doubled in size. When fully risen, it should leave a dent when you gently press the dough with your finger.
Brush gently with the beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, or dust lightly with flour for a rustic-looking loaf. I did neither and just popped it in the breadmaker.
Bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes for rolls, or 30–45 minutes for a loaf, depending on its size. Turn the heat down to 400F after 15 minutes for the remaining cooking time. When cooked, the bread should sound hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
This was amazing fresh with a generous lashing of butter. I’m sure it would make lovely toast, if it lasted that long. I’m not going to find out this time, but I will definitely make it again.
So there you have it. Life changes. Comfort food. And more to come about the new store soon!