Heres the thing about my bread recipe. Its very forgiving. It doesnt have to be perfect and it doesnt have to come out the same every time to deliver the taste. Ive been saying for over a year Ill make a video of it but havent got round to it. But Ive moved it up on my list of things to do because its just not fair to keep it to myself. Keep in mind most of the time is TIME, just being patient and waiting around. But my basic recipe is this: Recipe for single person loaf. Note that the ingredients can be double or tripled and it does NOT affect the timings. Also note that you can put the final bread into a loaf pan, and casserole dish, or just plop it onto a pre-heated pizza stone for that artisan look. Also note - this is the BASIC recipe, there are ways to pretty it up with cuts, poppy or sesame seeds, flavorings in the dough... but just get comfy with the basic recipe first. A few times. INGREDIENTS 1/2 cup flour (regular white flour works, but bread flour is best) 1/4 cup warm water 3/4 tsp yeast pinch of salt OVEN TEMP: 375 to 400, doesnt really matter, cuz youll be watching it. TIME: About 3 hours, total. Ingredient notes: Its been my experience that water thats too warm kind of cooks the yeast, you want the water to be tepid warm, luke warm, but not on the hot side. Also, its been my experience that salt kind of does something to the yeast, too, so dont use a LOT of salt. Wait until its ready to go in the oven then lightly salt or use grated salt on top of the dough. First, get prepared. Get ready a spoon (any spoon), a glass bowl lightly (VERY lightly) coated with olive oil, a clean cotton dishtowel or washcloth or linen napkin thats been washed without laundry fragrances. If using a loaf pan or casserole or souffle dish, very lightly grease that with olive oil, too. If using a pizza stone, lightly dust the area the loaf will sit on with flour. Get a wood cutting board (or a wood tray or plank) and lightly coat it with some flour (any flour, doesnt have to be the bread flour if thats what youre using). OKAY, here we go. Blend together the flour, yeast and salt. Add the warm water all at once. Use a spoon to cut the water into the flour mixture until it gets crumbly and kind of sticky. Wash your hands and dig in... use your knuckles to press down on the dough repeatedly until it becomes more of a sticky ball that you can pick up. This will be VERY STICKY on your hands. Excercise the dough. Squeeze it. Pull it. Stretch it. Smoosh it. Its going to stick all over your fingers, but you can get that off later and add it to the main dough. Keep doing this about 3 to 5 minutes (longer for bigger loads of dough) until the dough is kind of stretchy and consistent. Dont exhaust the dough by over exercising it, you dont want it to be creamy smooth, you want it to be kind of lumpy with air pockets but still hangs together quite well when you stretch it. The smoother it gets, the less air bubbles youll get in the bread. Personally, I love a lot of air bubbles. When the dough is nicely excersized, drop it into the glass bowl. At this point you can pull as much dough off your fingers as you can and just poke it into the dough in the bowl. Set the bowl in a warm place (but not TOO warm, you dont want to cook the yeast before it has a chance to grow). I preheat my oven early sometimes and put it on that, or if I have a wood fire going, put it on a step stool about 4 feet away from the stove. Cover the bowl with the towel (or whatever) and set a timer for one hour. Meanwhile, you can wash your hands and the bowl and utensils. I like to pour a glass of wine at this point. When the hour is up, the dough will have risen to be about twice the size. Punch it down. Just one or two light punches, you dont have to beat the shit out of it. Cover it again and let it rest 10 minutes. Dump the dough onto the floured wood board. If you used too much olive oil, it might be stuck to the bottom of the bowl, no big deal, just carefully pull it off with your fingers or a spoon. Very carefully roll and shape the dough so that it is very lightly coated on all sides with the flour. You dont want to handle the dough a lot here, just a couple twists and turns, dont squeeze it. Now carefully transfer the dough to whatever it is your going to cook it in. If using a pizza stone, just leave it on the wood board so you can slide it off later. Cover the dough again and let it rise in a warm place another hour. (Time for another glass of wine). At the end of the hour, the dough will have risen again and look very loaf like. Carefully transfer the dough to the oven (middle rack) or slide it on to the pre-heated pizza stone (also middle rack). Now comes the tricky part... how long? Depends on the size of the loaf and the oven temp. At least 20 minutes. When the loaf gets lightly browned and sounds kind of hollow when you knock on it, its done. Take it out and let it cool until it shrinks enough to put it on a cookie wrack or back on the wood board. This should only take a few minutes, maybe 2 to 5 minutes. Let the bread cool at least 20-30 minutes, depending on loaf size, before cutting. Dig in. This really isnt as hard as it looks, its mostly waiting times. Which is why I want to get around to that video real soon, to show how easy it actually is.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 02:48:17 +0000