Can I bake whole wheat bread in a convection toaster oven?

[Esther B.]

My regular oven has been broken since April and the landlord is never going to fix it, as he wants to sell this apartment. I want to bake some whole wheat bread for my veterinarian, who was especially kind to my cat last week. Can I do it with the Black & Decker convection toaster oven I've been using for all my baking/roasting needs?

[NOCHEF&JUSTLOVESFOOD.YUM]

Wow, Esther B, That is really an interesting question. I had NO idea, so I did a little searching on the net. Looks like you can. See especially the last paragraph of this recipe. Maybe some of those little mini meatloaf size pans would work?

Current Multigrain Bread



1 packet yeast
1/2 cup warm water

Mix these in the mixer bowl and wait to see if the yeast is good.

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup kamut flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup wheat bran
1-1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup melted shortening (canola oil is fine if you don’t have shortening)
1/3 cup molasses

Mix these with the yeast/water to form the sponge. Use the standard mixing paddle rather than the dough hook, as there won’t be enough density for the dough hook to get into. Put this in a largish container and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, put the following into the mixer bowl:

2 cups of bread flour
1 tablespoon salt

Mix, then pour on the sponge from last night. Mix using the dough hook and add more bread flour until the dough forms a ball and is not sticking to the bowl. You’ll probably need to add 1 to 2 cups more bread flour. Add it in 1/4-cup increments. (Note the proportions: it’s about a 1:1 ratio between the various whole grain stuff and the white bread flour. There’s also the standard 3:1 ratio between the dry team and the wet team.)

Let the dough rest for 10 minutes once it comes together and is no longer sticking to the bowl. Then mush the dough around in the bowl and kneed/mix for 10 more minutes for extra gluten formation.

Put the dough ball into a large greased bowl, cover and keep warm. The dough should be relatively cold, with the sponge coming from the fridge, but after a few hours, it will have doubled in size.

Note that if you’re in a rush, you can skip the sponge step, and combine all the ingredients together in one shot. The dough will double in about an hour in this case, depending on ambient temperature. The overnight sponge thing was something from Alton Brown’s bread episode: you’re giving the yeast a time to slowly ferment the flour, so they don’t burn themselves out, as they would at room temperature.

AP flour can be used instead of bread flour, but the resulting loaf will be a little more “crumbly”. Actually, bread flour is strongly recommended for multigrain bread, since a lot of the grains you’re using won’t have much gluten to start with, and you have to get that from somewhere. Yeah, there are gluten additives, but I haven’t tried those yet.

With the dough ball doubled in size, beat it down and divide into portions. I usually put half to 2/3 into large greased zip locks to keep in the fridge for a few days or the freezer for longer (defrost in the fridge overnight in the latter case). The portion you’re going to use can be formed into whatever shape you want. Let it rise for an hour or so, then into the oven.

I’ve been using the toaster oven for bread baking. Half the dough can be further divided into 3 or 4 decent-sized rolls, which bake in 25 minutes with the toaster oven set to bake at 425F. Larger rolls/loafs will take longer. If all the dough were in one large mass, it takes about 40 minutes in the toaster oven; larger masses aren’t recommended for the small baking space, as the heat isn’t distributed evenly enough and the dough near the back will burn a bit in the 40 minute interval. Putting 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the oven also helps: the steam keeps the dough moist, so it expands more easily.

[Esther B.]

That sounds like a very interesting recipe, which I will have to try. Thanks for posting it! The latest news is that my friend down the street is going to let me use her regular oven to bake my bread. So, I would like to find the best-ever whole wheat bread recipe (with some honey in it). I know that a 100% whole-wheat recipe would result in a heavy-like-a-brick loaf, which is not what I want. I want something lighter, so it would likely be a mostly-whole wheat flour with a minority of unbleached white flour recipe. I want this bread (which I will braid into loaves, no bread pan) to be so mouth-watering delish that the vet will think he's in heaven. And I will have to mix the dough at night, leave it in my fridge until the following afternoon until I get home from work, and then do the rising/pounding/rising/shaping bit, finally carrying the braided loaves ready to bake down the street to my friend's house. What a pain, just to bake bread, but there it is.

[supercooker28]

well i would bake buns in the toaster oven due to the size limits.


--------------------
Healthy Recipes (http://www.healthychoicerecipes.com)