Bread Recipe for Mini-Loaves

Here is the bread recipe as a downloadable Word document.

Recipe Yield: 12 mini-loaves (140g each) with perhaps a little bonus for the baker!!

Preferment or Poolish (made the day before baking)

Hi-Gluten or Bread Flour                               300g

Water warm but less than 120^¡  F                300g

Active dry yeast                                                  4g

Dough (made the day of baking)

Whole Wheat Flour                                         600g

Water                                                                 500g

Oats, rolled                                                         65g

Oil, olive or canola                                            50g

Salt, course or fine by weight                         16g

Active dry yeast                                                 12g

Honey                                                                  48g

Hi-Gluten or Bread Flour (if needed)           30g

1. Combine poolish ingredients and stir until fully combined.  Wrap and place on the counter for at least 2 hours or up to 6 hours.  Immediately refrigerate poolish until the following day.
2. Next day, start dough
3. Combine water, oats, oil, and yeast in a mixing bowl.  Soak for 5 minutes.
4. Add ½ of the whole wheat flour to water/oat/yeast mix and stir to combine for 2 minutes.  Dough should be very wet.
5. Let sit for 15 minutes (autolyze), covered with plastic wrap.
6. Add poolish and start mixing on low speed with dough hook (or by hand).
7. Once poolish is incorporated, add remaining flour, salt, and honey.
8. Knead for 8-9 minutes in a mixing bowl with dough hook (or approximately 15-20 minutes by hand).
9. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let ferment until approximately doubled in size, about 1 hour (how long it takes to double is dependent on temperature.  In a warm room, it will ferment more quickly than in a cold room).
10. Once doubled, remove dough from the mixing bowl and place on a lightly floured counter.  Form into a long 4” wide loaf to make portioning easier.
11. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough into 140g portions.
12. Using your hand spread each dough portion out into a flat rectangle.  Fold the dough over in a rolling motion, pinching dough tight each time each time to create tension until a mini loaf is formed.  Tuck ends under.  You should approximately 13 portions from this batch.
13. Roll each mini loaf in water and then in rolled oats.
14. Add 4 mini loaves to a standard loaf pan (9”L x 5”W x 2”H) (seam down).  If you have extra after filling three pans with 4 mini loaves each, you may use a smaller loaf pan or a cookie sheet to bake the remainder.  Let proof (2nd rise) for 30-45 minutes.  Pre-heat conventional oven to 400 degrees F or 375 degrees F for convection ovens.
15. When mini-loaves just about reach the rim of the bread pan, they are ready to bake.  Do not over-proof.
16. Bake at 400 degrees (conventional oven) or 375 degrees (convection oven) for approximately 20 minutes.
17. Mini-loaves are done when the internal temperature is approximately 190 degrees.  When checking internal temperature, place the thermometer in between loaves at an angle so that the small hole left by the thermometer is not evident as it would be if you went straight through the top of the mini-loaf.
18. Cool on a cooling rack for at least one hour.  Package about 10 portions using the bags, ties and labels provided.  Write your name on the labels and place them on the bags.  We hope you will donate 10 mini loaves…the rest of the fresh bread is for you to enjoy!!
19. Thank you so much for your support!