Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
One of my favorite things to do is bake bread. I love the way it makes the house smell. I love warm super crunchy crusts with a perfect moist crumb. (that's bread speak for really great on the inside too) It can be intimidating OR it can be so easy you will be making a loaf everyday. Seriously!
I recently stumbled on a recipe you will not believe! I just made it and it's a must share.
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 1 ¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed...or a sprinkle of more flour. 1 1/2 cup H2O
Preparation:
Step One In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
Step Two Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
Step Three Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
Step Four At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:01 pm Posts: 1902 Location: Pine City, NY and Dothan, AL
Thanks. Apparently not accessible without signing up for a NY Times account, but I found Robertson's books. It seems he does only sourdough (natural yeast) bread. I've done that, but it's kind of a pain if you're not dedicated. If I baked more than once a week, maybe. My artisan breads tend to be a tiny amount of yeast, aged in the refrigerator for 4 days, and baked on a stone.
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