jury duty & honey black sesame bread

after magically managing to escape jury duty for most of my adult life, my number was finally up.  slated to report to the center street court house this monday, i started feeling a bit anxious on sunday morning. and when i’m anxious, i bake.

a while back, i attempted to make the japanese double soft bread (ダ○ルソフト), and it came out lopsided. i decided to give it ago a second time, with some last minute modifications, of course.  i was out of barley malt and substituted with honey.  i was out of heavy cream and used half & half.  i decided to up the yeast quotient a bit (but mostly b/c my yeast is a bit old — having been hibernating in my freezer for a year +) , and black sesame seeds seemed like a good idea.  i also decided to forgo the egg wash, as i didn’t have enough eggs left.

30 minutes in the oven later, and poof! the smell of fresh bread greeted me.   if i can master the double soft bread and get a perfectly split dome, surely, i could muddle my way through jury duty the next day, right?

(and for those that are curious, i ended up being sent to jury selection for a *gasp* murder trial, but wasn’t “smart” enough so they say  in the  jury duty orientation room to be selected.  phew! i think i may have needed to bake 12 dozen more loaves of bread, if i ended up having to sit thru such a grisly case)

Honey Black Sesame Bread
(makes 1 8.5″ loaf)

I know, I know.  A lot of people grumble that my recipes are sometimes written in metric.  But I highly recommend getting a kitchen scale!  You can find a fairly workable one for $5-$30 these days (i’m told that ikea sells the $5 ones), and you’ll find that metric recipes really aren’t that bad.  In fact, i actually prefer metric b/c it means less washing of those pesky measuring cups!)

Bread Flour	160g
AP Flour	160g
Dry yeast	5g
Sugar	13g
Honey	32g
Salt	6g
Egg	1 large one
Half & Half	32g
Butter	16g
Warm water	160g
Black sesame seeds	30-40g, depending on your preference

1. Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water.  Set aside and allow the yeast to foam up for about 15 minutes
2. Pour flours, honey and salt into the bowl of your standmixer with the dough hook attachment.  Mix for 1 minute.
3. Add in egg, cream and butter.  Blend together on low/medium speed.
4. Add yeast, sugar, water mix slowly (you may not need all of the water) until the dough just comes together.  Sprinkle in black sesame seeds.  Continue to knead for about 5 minutes until the dough begins to separate from bowl.
5. Let proof until the dough has doubled in size.  Roughly 1-2 hours.
6. Separate the dough into 2 even pieces. (And, here’s where a kitchen scale comes handy! if you weigh each piece of dough, and get them to be roughly the same weight, you’ll get an even split.  unlike my lopsided first attempt).
7. Flatten the dough until it’s about 9-inch round on a floured surface, using a rolling pin.
8. With your hands, roll the dough into a log and tuck the ends under.  Repeat with other piece of dough.
9. Place the 2 logs next to each other in a greased loaf pan (about 4.5 x 8.5 inches).
10. Let proof until the dough has reached the lip of the loaf pan. About 1 hour.
11. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes
12. Take out of pan and cool on a rack.