Baking bread
This is how I make bread when I just wake up in the morning and decide I want to make bread that day. It's a one day method where you can start in the morning and have it ready late afternoon. This is a no knead bread, so it's pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it. I use this recipe to make 2 loaves. If you only want one, simply halve the recipe. This recipe takes most of the day, but there's not that much prep time.
The ingredients are pretty simple as there's only 4. I have a few tools that make the job easier, but none of them are required as there's alternate items you can substitute you probably already have. If you don't have two dutch ovens, halve the recipe. If you don't have cast iron dutch ovens, use a steel one. It just needs a lid. You can bake these on a cookie sheet or a bread pan. I've never tried it and I suspect the crust won't be nearly as good, but it should work fine. If you don't have proofing baskets, use a well floured piece of cheesecloth inside a bowl or use a kitchen towel bunched up at the sides to maintain shape. If you don't have a polycarbonate mixing tub, use a mixing bowl and cover it with plastic or a towel.
I do most everything by weight which makes it much easier. If you don't have a kitchen scale you'll have to look up the volume equivalents, but I highly recommend using a scale especially when it comes to the flour and water as the ratio is important for good results.
Ingredients:
1000g all purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
720g water (~95 degrees F)
21g fine salt
3g sugar
4g commercial yeast (I use active dry but instant, rapid rise, or bread machine yeast works fine)
Measure out the flour in an 8qt polycarbonate tub, add salt and combine with a whisk or your hand.
If you are using instant or rapid rise yeast you can skip this step and just add the yeast to your mixture, or do it anyway as it's a good way to proof your yeast. In a small cup combine the yeast, sugar, and about 20-40g of the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes. At the end of the 5 minutes the mixture should be producing small bubbles letting you know the yeast is working.
Add the yeast mixture to the tub and rinse out the cup with the rest of the warm water into the tub. Combine everything with your hand (I use a wetted rubber glove). Cover the tub with a lid and allow to ferment for about 5 hours. The dough should double to triple in volume, so if your kitchen is cold you might need a bit more time (mine was 71F today). The dough was a bit below the 2qt mark after mixing and was at the 4qt mark after fermentation. The advantage to the poly tub is it takes the guess work out of it.
Pull the dough out onto a well floured surface. The dough will be slightly wet and very sticky, so I will sprinkle with some flour to make it workable. At this point I divide it in two. In my case I have a 6qt and a 4qt dutch oven so I make one at about 700g and one at about 1000g.
Pull the dough at each end stretching it to about double and then fold the ends into the middle. Repeat this about 2 more times turning the dough about 45 degrees one direction. Grab the ends with one hand squeeze to stretch the underside. Place the dough seam side down into a very well floured proofing basket.
Sometime during the proofing place the dutch oven(s) into the oven and heat to 475F. If your oven takes 25 minutes to get to that temperature, give it at least 35 to heat up the dutch oven(s) properly.
Proof for about 60 to 75 minutes. To test, poke the loaf with your finger about 1". If the hold springs back immediately, you need more proofing time. If it springs back slowly and leaves and indentation, it's perfect. Timing is fairly critical at this stage as a properly proofed loaf comes out much better. Today the proofing time was 70 minutes.
Remove the dutch oven(s) from the oven and take the lids off.
Invert the loaf onto a well floured surface. If you floured your baskets well, they should come right out. Otherwise they may need a bit of gentle coaxing. The bottom side when it was in the basket will become the top of your loaf. Grab the loaf by the sides with the sides of your hands and plop them into the dutch oven. If they don't land in the center, don't worry about it and don't try to fix it. The loaf will be fine.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lids on, then remove the lids and bake for another 15-20 minuted depending on how dark you want your loaves. Remove from the pan immediately and allow to cool before serving (if you can wait that long). I baked for 30+20 today. You can go even longer if you want an even darker crust, but I wouldn't go for more than 5-10 more minutes.
Stored in paper bags the loaves will last 2-3 days but will start to dry out. Stored in plastic bags they won't dry out and will store longer, but the crust will get soft. The French are masters at using dried out bread and there's lots of recipes for it. I usually make French toast with it on the 3rd day if I have any left over so I just store in paper.
For those who noticed, this is essentially a Ken Forkish recipe. He prescribes a couple of folding operations during the ferment stage. I've done it with and without and have found it doesn't make much difference and it adds an additional step of complexity. It does give the loaf a bit more structure and helps it to rise more during proofing and baking, but I find it unnecessary and I didn't do so today.
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Of course, that Major Nikon guy horns in on everything!
-Laelth
