Best Light Wheat Vienna Style Bread Recipes

AWESOME LIGHT WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• Add yeast and sugar to 1/3 cup warm water. Set aside and allow to proof for 5-10 minutes.
• Place bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt and 4 1/2 teaspoons of oil in food processor. Process for approximately 10 seconds to combine.
• Add the egg and the 2/3 cup cold water to the yeast mixture and mix well.
• With the processor running, add the yeast mixture through the feed tube in a slow steady stream as fast as the flour will absorb it.
• When the liquid is absorbed and mixture has formed a ball of dough that has cleaned the sides of the work bowl, process for 45-60 seconds longer to knead.
• Place the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large bowl. Using your fingers/hands, coat the sides of the bowl. Rub your hands with the oil to make handling the dough easier.
• Remove the dough from the workbowl and place in oiled bowl. Flip dough over so it is oiled on all sides. Lay plastic wrap on top of dough to keep it from drying while rising (you should have enough oil on the top of your dough so the plastic won't cling to it).
• Place dough in a warm, draft free area and allow to rise until double in bulk. I warm my oven slightly (2 minutes) and allow the dough to rise there. It is quicker. The dough has risen enough when you poke it with your finger and the indentation stays.
• Once dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and punch it down. Reshape it to fit in a greased bread pan. Re-place plastic wrap (being sure you put the oiled side down) and allow to rise a second time, once again until doubled.
• Preheat oven to 375`. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until your loaf is brown on top and sounds hollow when you tap it.

VIENNA BREAD

Steps:

• Remove the pâte fermentée from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.
• Stir together the flour, sugar, malt powder (if using), salt, and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the pâte fermentée pieces, egg, butter, malt syrup (if using), and 3/4 cup of the water. Stir together with a large metal spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients form a ball. If not all the flour is absorbed, add the remaining 2 tablespoons water, or as much as is necessary to make the dough soft and supple, not firm and stiff.
• Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook for 6 minutes), adding flour if needed to make a firm but supple dough, slightly tacky but not sticky. The dough should pass the windowpane test (page 58) and register 77° to 81°F. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature for 2 hours. If the dough doubles in size before then, remove it from the bowl and knead for a few seconds to degas it (the "punch down") and then return it to the bowl to continue fermenting until 2 hours have elapsed or until the dough doubles in size again.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 2 equal pieces for loaves, or into 9 to 12 smaller pieces (3 to 4 ounces each) for pistolets. Shape larger pieces into boules (page 72) or smaller pieces into rolls (page 82). Mist the dough lightly with spray oil, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
• Shape the larger pieces into bâtards (page 73) or the smaller pieces into pistolets (page 80). Line a sheet pan with baking parchment, dust with semolina flour or cornmeal, and transfer the dough to the pan. Mist the dough lightly with spray oil and cover the pan loosely with plastic.
• Proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the loaves or rolls have risen to approximately 1 3/4 times their original size.
• Prepare the oven for hearth baking as described on pages 91-94, making sure to have an empty steam pan in place. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Just prior to baking, mist the loaves or rolls with water and dust lightly with bread flour by tapping some through a sieve or by flinging the flour across the surface of the dough. Score the loaves or rolls down the center as shown on page 90, or leave the rolls uncut.
• Slide the loaves directly onto the baking stone, parchment and all, or place the sheet pan with the loaves or rolls in the oven. Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door. After 30 seconds, open the door, spray the oven walls with water, and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. After the final spray, lower the oven setting to 400°F and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the breads 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking and continue baking until they are a medium golden brown and register at least 200°F at the center. This should take anywhere from 5 additional minutes for rolls to 20 minutes for loaves.
• Remove the loaves or rolls from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing or serving.
• BREAD PROFILE
• Enriched, standard dough; indirect method; commercial yeast
• DAYS TO MAKE: 2
• Day 1: 1 1/4 hours pâte fermentée
• Day 2: 1 hour to de-chill pâte fermentée; 10 to 12 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 to 4 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 20 to 35 minutes baking
• Commentary
• This version of Vienna dough is improved by the pre-ferment method that I've been touting throughout this book. You will rarely find another version made in quite this same way, as most Vienna bread formulas are made by the direct-dough method. But the use of more than 100 percent pre-ferment adds so much character to the bread that I'll never turn back. Vienna rolls made from this dough are a huge hit at Johnson & Wales, where students eagerly line up for sandwiches whenever we send these rolls to the dining hall.
• BAKER'S PERCENTAGE FORMULA
• Vienna Bread %
• Pâte fermentée: 108%
• Bread flour: 100%
• Sugar: 4.2%
• Malt powder: 2.1%
• Salt: 2.1%
• Instant yeast: .92%
• Egg: 13.8%
• Butter: 4.2%
• Water (approx.): 54.2%
• Total: 289.5%
• GRACE NOTE: Dutch Crunch or Mottled Bread
• Dutch crunch is one of many names given to bread made with a special mottled topping. It doesn't refer to any particular formula, as the crunch topping can be spread on pretty much any type of bread. But if you grew up with a certain brand of Dutch crunch, you may associate it with particular styles of bread, like a chewy white bread or a light wheat loaf. Dutch bakers were among the many northern European bread makers who popularized this style of garnishing loaves, and the method caught on quickly in certain regions of America when it was first introduced. I find that Austrian-style bread, with its slightly enriched but chewy texture, is particularly suited to this treatment, which is a slurry paste made with rice flour, sugar, yeast, oil, salt, and water. However, feel free to use it on any type of sandwich dough or enriched breads (but not on lean French bread dough, with its hard crust). The paste is brushed on the dough either right before the final proofing stage, or just before the bread goes into the oven. (If you brush it on before proofing, the separation and mottling is greater and more dramatic; brushing it on just before baking results in a more even coating.) The paste is fermented by the yeast, and it grows while the dough grows. But because the rice flour has very little gluten to hold it together, it spreads apart and then gelatinizes and caramelizes when the bread is baked. This leaves a mottled, slightly sweet, crunchy coating on the bread that kids find especially mesmerizing. You can use the topping on loaf-pan bread as well as on freestanding loaves.
• Rice flour is available at most natural foods markets. You can use either white or brown rice flour or even Cream of Rice cereal. Alternatives would be fine cornmeal, cornstarch, potato starch, semolina flour, or cake flour (it's low in gluten), but they each deliver a different flavor and texture. Rice flour or Cream of Rice cereal is the most commonly used because it is, well, perfect for the job.
• To make the topping, whisk together, 1 tablespoon bread flour, 3/4 cup rice flour, 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, and 6 to 8 tablespoons of water to make a paste. If it seems too thin to spread without running off the top of the dough, add more rice flour. It should be thick enough to spread with a brush, but not so thick that it sits like a lump of mud. This makes enough for 2 to 4 loaves.

LIGHT WHEAT, VIENNA STYLE BREAD

Steps:

• The night before baking, make sponge by combining all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Mix thoroughly and cover with plastic wrap and a cloth.
• Let sit at room temperature overnight or up to 12 hours.
• The next day, add the dough ingredients to the sponge and mix well.
• Knead by hand or mixer with dough hook until all ingredients are incorporated and for about 5 minutes more.
• Cover dough and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Knead for 5 to 7 minutes or until smooth.
• Move dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in volume. A straight sided clean container is best for this or a large graduated measuring cup. This is best at room temperature but can take 1 1/2 hours or more but can be accomplished at 90F in an oven or microwave using hot water as the heat source in about 45 minutes.
• When doubled, stretch and dimple dough to form a rectangle and roll tightly back toward yourself, forming an oblong shape and place on baking paper or parchment to rise. I use an oblong brotform. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with oil.
• Preheat oven, stone or baking sheet, and an empty pan to hold water to 375°F.
• When doubled in volume, score diagonally with sharp knife or razor blade and place in the oven.
• Pour 1 cup of hot water into the empty pan to generate steam.
• Cook for 35 minutes or until 180 to 210 F internal temperature.
• Note: This is easily made in your bread machine, including the sponge. Just mix the sponge on dough cycle and unplug machine and close lid. The next day, either cook on basic cycle or use dough cycle and hand form and bake loaf in the oven.

SIMPLE CRUSTY BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).
• Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.
• Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.
• Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

VIENNA BREAD

Steps:

• dissolve yeast in water and stif in 1 T of sugar and 1 3/4 to 2 cups flour, enough to make a soft spongy dough.
• cover the bowl with a towel and put sponge aside in a warm place to rise about 45 minutes till puffed and soft.
• add the milk, remaining sugar, salt and melted butter and stir the sponge down well.
• work in as much of the remaining dough as is needed to make a stiff dough.
• turn the dough out on a heavily floured board, sprinkle with a little more flour and knead for 10 to 15 minutes, till it is smooth and elastic.
• form the dough into a ball and put in a large buttered bowl, turning once to coat with butter on all sides.
• cover the bowl with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour - till doubled (less time if using rapid rise yeast).
• punch down dough and form into 2 oblong loaves or large braids.
• put the loaves on buttered baking sheets, cover with a towel and let rise for 1/2 or till doubled.
• beat together egg yolk and milk and brush the loaves with the glaze.
• put them in preheated 425 degree oven and after five minutes turn down heat to 375 degrees.
• bake loaves for 20-35 minutes more, till golden brown.

LIGHT WHEAT BREAD (BREAD MACHINE)

Steps:

• Place ingredients in the order given in bread machine bucket.
• Process on basic/white cycle, medium color crust setting.
• I use warm (tepid) water and the rapid (3 hr) setting.
• You can use 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast, but I've found that 2 teaspoons produces a fluffier loaf.