High Altitude Baking: A Plain White Loaf at 5280

A single loaf of plain white bread costs between two and three dollars - upwards of five bucks for the artisan stuff. Yet ten dollars of materials provide sufficient flour and yeast to make 60 loaves. Plus, nothing beats the smell or taste of freshly baked bread.

Plenty of recipes exist out there for DIY baked goods. A few feature directions on bread. VERY few offer any guidance on baking at higher altitudes, and most of those did not work without modifications specific to the precise altitude.

I am in Denver, living precisely 5260 feet above sea level. The compass app on my iPhone says so. This following recipe worked for me, and hopefully this post on the Internet will fill the gap of information for baking a plain white loaf at this altitude.

Equipment Needed:

• Oven. Obviously.
• Bread pan. I use something similar to this 8 by 4 inch pan (link to Amazon). You could alternatively (probably) do one of those free-form style loaves with just a cookie sheet, but I've not tested that out yet.
• Clean cotton dish towel. A cheap bar rag will work, or you can get a proofing cloth.
• Kitchen scale. I got an electronic one from Amazon for about $8. They serve many functions, and every kitchen should have one. (Link to Sweethome on reviews for scales)
• Some means of keeping time. An iPhone or clock works.
• A cup. Preferably of the measuring variety. But with the scale, you just need a cup.

Optional Equipment:

• KitchenAid stand mixer with bread hook attachment and mixing bowl. It makes things a lot easier and less messy, but old fashioned muscle works just fine.
• Bread knife or bread slicer of some sort. Because if you want sliced bread, it has to be sliced.

Ingredients:

• At least 800 grams of bread flour. This can be purchased very cheaply in bulk from places like Costco. All purpose flour is not recommended.
• At least 4 grams of yeast. I use active dry yeast rather than the instant stuff. I also purchased this at Costco for pretty cheap, but it is available on Amazon.
• 500 milliliters of water. The water should be lukewarm for proper treatment of the yeast.
• About 5 grams of salt.

General Notes About Altitude's Effect on Baking:

• Higher altitude means less atmospheric pressure, which means less time is needed for the bread to rise. 
• Less yeast may be required.
• You may need to cook at a higher temperature longer. I am not a scientist and I don't know why, but experimentation has confirmed this.
• Oddly, I've found less water is also required than, at least, most recipes I've come across - 550 mL makes the bread too sticky. This is surprising because Denver has a dry climate.

Directions:

1. Put bread flour and salt in a bowl and mix. If you have a stand mixer, use that with the dough hook.
2. Add about 50 milliliters of lukewarm water (from the 500 total) to a cup and the 4 grams of active dry yeast. Stir it around until it makes a cloudy gross goo that smells kind of like wet bread.
3. Pour the yeast-water mixture into the flour-salt mixture and mix that.
4. Add the remaining 450 milliliters of lukewarm water to the bowl and mix, then knead, for 10-15 minutes.
5. Roll the dough into a ball-ish shape at the bottom of the mixing bowl, then cover it with a wet towel.
6. Let the dough rest for one hour.
7. Grease the bread pan using canola or vegetable oil. Other oils may also work, so long as they are flavor neutral and have a burning point well-above 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 
8. Remove dough from the bowl and shape it into a log for the bread pan. The dough should not be very sticky, so rolling it out on a clean countertop should be easy. Make sure that any creases from rolling out the dough are on the bottom.
9. Let the dough rest for another 15-20 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. Slice a shallow groove down the middle-top of the loaf.
12. Put the bread in the oven. The rack does not matter, but there needs to be enough space for the loaf to rise while baking. Also, make sure the bread is pushed far enough back in the oven, as it will not cook evenly if too close to the door where the oven is slightly cooler.
13. Cook for about 25 minutes. The bread should have a golden-brown top. If not, give it a few more minutes.
14. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes.
15. The bread should be about done. To check for doneness, carefully remove the loaf from the pan and tap the bottom. It should sound hollow. If not, cook it longer.
16. After baking, let the loaf cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it.

The bread will keep for at least 3 days, but it should be covered once cooled or it will get super dry.

Bread following the above recipe, with slight modification for a smaller loaf. Basically, I just split it between two pans and reduce the bake times by a few minutes. Bake times, btw, you still may have to adjust on a day to day basis due to differences in weather.