E - Golden Egg Bread

 

E is for eggs, and one of the great things eggs can do is enrich bread dough.  When I was in high school, bread machines were the big new thing.  One day my Dad came home with the DAK autobakery.  That thing looked like R2D2 and made huge cylindrical loaves of bread, usually 2lb recipes.  We used that thing so much, there was always fresh bread, even after it walked itself off the counter and landed on its head one day.  Dad fixed it.  I had fun going through the cookbook that came with it, and that was how I learned how to make bread.  This was one of our favorite recipes, the one used most often for school lunch sandwiches, despite the round shape.  We always had to watch this one like a hawk while rising because it would almost always over proof during the cycle and fill the glass dome either before or while baking.  That's a real mess to clean up so we would try to catch it and poke the top with toothpicks to release some air.  It was just part of the process.

The original recipe was 100% white flour and I have happily made this with a larger portion of wheat flour, but I wanted to get a little closer to those school days memories this time.  It is great for sandwiches, toast, french toast, wherever you may need a good solid country loaf in the kitchen.  It is soft yet sturdy, easily sliced into 16 slices for the 9x4" loaf tin that I used.

We love the color of this loaf, aptly named for the lovely color imparted by the egg yolks.

Golden Egg Bread
makes 1 loaf

2 tsp Instant Yeast (6g)
130g white whole wheat flour
340g all purpose flour
40g sugar
2 eggs (100g)
75g avocado oil or melted butter (85g)
1½ tsp sea salt (9g)
170g warm water

Bring all ingredients together into a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic using a stand mixer or by hand.  Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.  Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface and shape into a rectangle, fold in thirds (longs ends in) and roll up into a loaf, folding under ends.  Place in a greased 9x5" loaf pan and allow to rise until loaf has risen about an inch over the pan lip, or until doubled for a tall sided pan.  (I baked this particular loaf in a tall 9x4" pan, so just until doubled.)  Bake at 350º for 30 to 45 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when thumped on the bottom and about 195ºF internal temp.  Allow to cool fully before cutting.  Freezes well, sliced, for a couple months, especially if double-bagged.  

 Here are some more letter E recipes:

• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Corn and Edamame Salad
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Dim Posto - Bengali Egg Curry
• Blogghetti: Easter Candy Charcuterie Board
• Food Lust People Love: Edamame Summer Salad
• Sneha’s Recipe: Eggless Banana Chocolate Cake
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Empanadas
• A Messy Kitchen: Golden Egg Bread
• Culinary Cam: Mayak Gyeran: A Riff on Korean Marinated Eggs
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Souper Easy Quiche
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Whipped Feta Lemon Zest & Basil Deviled Eggs
   

  

  Pretty darn good grilled cheese!
  Personally I love the French toast though.