White loaf bread recipe - how to use wheat flour (tepung gandum) / mid protein flour / all purpose flour to make bread

How to use wheat flour, plain flour, all purpose flour for bread making

I have ran out of Bread Flour or High Protein Flour and I have a bag of Vital Wheat Gluten just lying around after a 1 time use from certain baking project and a few bag of wheat flour. It got me thinking how do I adapt both of this ingredients together to make my bread.

a) Vital Wheat Gluten is the natural protein found in wheat. A small amount added to yeast bread recipes improves the texture and elasticity of the dough. The amount to add into your flour depend on the protein level of your flour which is normally indicated under the percentage of protein in the flour. For example if your flour is just 10% for every 100g then you could add around 6g of Vital wheat gluten for every 100g as high protein floor is around 12-16% protein level. However I did not follow this principle. I added more. So far the results did not back fire.

b) As you know the high protein flour will encourage the bread to rise better as compared to mid protein flour. The less the bread rise, the harder the bread will become.

At first I tried to combine this two ingredient: wheat flour which is the most common flour together with vital wheat gluten but it still doesn't rise the way I want it. The bread was rather hard and compact.

2nd time I experiment again by combine with Bread Improver. I added too much and it turns out, the bread rise was rather unstable - it rise very fast but deflated. The bread also tasted soupy.

c) Bread Improver is a mix of various acids and enzymes that serve to strengthen the gluten in the flour and feed the yeast, both of which yield a better loaf. Every 500g of floor, you may add 5g of Bread Improver.

As the saying goes, the third time is a charm. Finally my bread turn out right after all the hard lessons that I have learned!

Oh yea, I also like to weigh my dry ingredients in a few bags (like your very own premix) if i know I will bake again to save time and hassle. I only added the instant yeast, liquid and oil during the actual dough making process. I notice that if I chill the premix, I need to put lesser liquid otherwise the bread will not come out right.

Below are my recipe to success! Do note that some of my flour doesn't have a brand thus did not specify the protein level. I just added more Vital Wheat Gluten but I follow the ratio of Bread Improver to the T.

Bread making is a labor of love. You could buy bread anywhere and it is time consuming but all worth it when you have the end results.

Recipe:
A - Tips: I will bag this into a few bags in advance and store in fridge to save time
450g wheat flour (Tepung Gandum) / plain flour / all purpose flour. Optional: Substitute 100g flour with whole meal flour.
50g Vital Wheat Gluten
5g Bread Improver
5g Salt
30g Sugar

B - use on actual dough making
250-320g water / milk (the actual is 320g water. But if I store the premix [step A] in a fridge, the premix will have trap some moisture so I will start with 250g water then slowly add if it was not enough)
10g instant yeast

C
30g butter / olive oil / grape seed oil (my preference is olive oil)

Steps:
1) Mix in A and B in a stand mixer. The amount of water depend on the dough - I will use my hand and knead the dough whereby if it is too hard then I will add a touch more water and continue beating. The amount of water would be just nice when i stick a finger into the dough and some of the dough stick to my finger. I would continue beating till the dough feels elastic, almost smooth and soft (but not too soft).

2) Add in C at low to medium speed. I notice if I use high speed, the risk of the dough splitting is higher.

The end result is that when you stretch the dough it will be elastic and you could do a windowpane test.

Proceed to let the dough rise for 1 hr by covering the bowl with a wet towel. Shape the dough and put into the bread loaf pan that has been line with non stick baking paper. Let it rise for another 1 hr.

3) Bake (I have my little quarks when it come to baking loaf bread. I do not like it if it is too brown. I like it light brown but I want the inside to cook as well)

At 190 Celsius - Bake for 12 min. Lower the temperature to 160 Celsius for 20 min. Remove bread from bread tin, flip it upside down / side way and put on tray - bake for 20-30min.

I would love to hear your comment on this recipe or what method you use to make nice bread out of plain flour!

Cheers n happy baking! ;)