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Ugh, The Heel is Gone Again
Published about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
Fresh Bakes for School Lunches
More often than not, I bake two loaves for school lunches because one loaf will never survive the afternoon.
It comes out of the pan, cools on the counter for maybe twenty minutes, and then someone walks through the kitchen, and the heel (my favorite part) is gone. Then the slice next to the heel. By dinner, the first loaf is but a wisp and the second one is the lunch bread.
And that's totally fine.
This is the stretch of the year when my house kind of runs on pan loaves: pain de mie for the kids who want white bread and a couple of whole-grain options for the ones who don't get a vote (and honestly, they end up loving the whole-grain loaves just as much).
I like to put all these loaves to extra use, too. Thick (thicker than you think you should go) slices left out overnight to go a little stale make the best French toast. Thinner ones hold an heirloom tomato from the garden with nothing but chunky salt and good mayo.
Don't worry, there are cookies in here too because everyone loves a cookie π
In this week's newsletter:
Recipes: Pain de mie, seeded sandwich bread, soft sandwich bread, whole wheat and spelt, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread
Baking Tip: How do I time my starter and levain?
Links: The price of bread
π Soft, golden, and perfect for BLTs
β
Full stop, this is my go-to bread for the best BLTs you'll ever have. It also makes the lightest, most golden toast. Oh, and pretty darn good sandwiches too. I guess it can do pretty much anything in the end.
The name (High-Fiber Seeded Sourdough) sounds like something off a cereal box, I know. But the loaf itself is a different story: a soft, close crumb packed with toasted seeds, so every slice has a little crunch to it and a nutty, almost sweet flavor that doesn't need much dressing up.
It's my go-to for a cold-cut sandwich, mostly because it holds up (no sogging out by noon) and keeps you going through the afternoon instead of hunting for a snack at 3 p.m.
Banana bread is the loaf that goes into the lunchbox as a treat but it might end up being traded like currency.
This one uses a good scoop of sourdough discard, which takes the edge off the sweetness and keeps the crumb moist for days (the third-day slice is better than the first, if it lasts that long).
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How does a bread box actually keep bread fresh? And since we eat a mix of store-bought and homemade, do we put both in the box? Does the store bread come out of the plastic?
A bread box works by trapping just enough moisture around the loaf to slow it from going stale, without trapping so much that the crust turns soft and the crumb gets damp and a little clammy. It's a balance: too open and the bread dries out, too sealed and you lose the crust entirely. I keep my homemade bread in the box unwrapped, cut side down. I leave store-bought bread in its bag since it's already sliced and will dry out fast otherwise.
Your climate matters too because if you're somewhere very dry, the box does more work for you. If you're somewhere humid, you might find it holds too much moisture and things get soggy. Either way, a bread box will keep a loaf in good shape for several days, which is about all you need if you're slicing through it for lunches during the week.
βThe Price of Bread (NY Times). War, climate shocks and trade disputes are pounding the worldβs breadbaskets and pushing the global food system into dangerous territory.
Want to make bakery-quality sourdough bread from home? Subscribe for the best sourdough guides and recipes to take your bread from ordinary to incredible.
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