A few bread questions

1...Has anyone tried making Mark Bittman's no knead bread (or Ken Forkish's recipe from Flour Water Salt Yeast) in a loaf pan (to make sandwich bread instead of a rustic bread) instead of a dutch oven? If not, do we think it would still work despite different moisture content than other breads?
2...what's the deal with whole wheat bread recipes that have butter/oil in them (eg https://food52.com/recipes...) ? I'm trying to make whole wheat bread at home but would rather leave them out on account of health...is there a reason butter/oil are usually included in the recipe? can i leave them out?

CanadaDan
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4 Comments

HalfPint January 7, 2016
I've made the No Knead bread in a loaf pan and it's fine. Just no thick shattering crust like you would get with the dutch oven method.

Why the fat in most WW bread recipes? Because it's difficult to develop the gluten with whole wheat flour. The bran in WW makes it difficult to develop the long strands of gluten that give bread and most baked goods their soft and stretchy texture. The fat compensates for this because of their long molecular structure. True, you don't need the fat and when you are working with white flour you can often leave it out. But when you are working with other non-wheat, non-white flours, you often need the fat to keep your product from coming out heavy and crumbly.
 
CanadaDan January 7, 2016
hm interesting i had no idea fat would help with that. i think i'll replace it with olive oil. thanks very much for all your answers!
 
BakerRB January 7, 2016
1) Google no knead sandwich bread. A hit on thekitchn.com (among others) has suggestions. http://www.thekitchn.com/noknead-bread-hack-how-to-make-105248
2) The 100% whole wheat breads tend to turn out dry and crumbly compared to white bread, and the fat helps protect against that. The fat isn't required though if you just want to leave it out. I'd add a little extra liquid to replace it if the dough seems dry.
 
ChefJune January 7, 2016
I can't answer your question about those specific bread recipes, as I've never made them. But there's no need to put butter into any bread recipe if you don't want to. I generally use olive or safflower oil in my breads, whole wheat or not. You CAN make bread without any oil, but your texture will be greatly improved with the use of it. Traditional French baguettes are made without any oil - just flour, yeast, water and salt.
 
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