On Dough Day…
Get a large plastic container/storage-type
bowl that has a top (your local dollar store usually has these) and
mix in your ingredients, one by one. Start by pouring in 3 cups of
warm water and then add 1.5 tablespoons each of yeast and salt. Stir
it all together for a few seconds with a wooden spoon.
A word about yeast: You can get it at
any supermarket (Red Star and Fleischmann's are the most popular
brands). It's granulated and comes in little 1/4-ounce packets
(apprx. 2-1/4 teaspoons) or loose in a 4oz.
jar. Buy a jar for now, then start looking for a food
co-op or a store that sells bulk foods, and next time get it there where
it's considerably cheaper. Make sure you store your yeast in
the fridge. Note: If you find a food co-op/bulk store,
you'll save 50%-75%, so it's worth looking. Yeast is your
biggest ingredient cost.
Okay, now that your have your first three
ingredients together in the bowl, start adding your flour. It's best to
use unbleached all-purpose flour (NOT self-rising). It's sold in 5 lb
bags at every supermarket (note: store brands are considerably cheaper than,
say, King Arthur or Gold Medal, and other than price, there’s no difference between
name brand and generic).
Scoop out 6.5 cups total and add them one cup
at a time, being careful to level off your measuring cup each time by scraping
a flat knife across the top. (Try to be fairly accurate in your
measurements.) You can add a cup and stir or add all 6.5 cups and
then stir. It doesn't matter. But it's easy to lose count of your
cups at this stage with cell phones chirping, ESPN blaring in the
background, the doorbell ringing, etc., etc. SO, you could
pre-measure the flour into another bowl before you get started and THEN
simply dump it into your prep bowl at this point.
However you choose to do it, all you do now
is keep stirring your flour-water-salt-yeast with your wooden spoon/paddle
until all the dry flour is incorporated and moist. What you'll
have is a gooey, wet-looking dough concoction that has no dry
flour patches. To ensure that this is the case, be sure to stir
from the bottom UP. The stirring takes maybe 2 minutes or so.
Now take the container's lid and place it
LOOSELY on top (you'll NEVER snap it tightly shut again using this process) and
set it off to the side for 2-5 hours. During this time, the dough will
rise to the top of the bowl, more or less doubling in size.
Once it has risen, place
the container in the fridge, LEAVING THE TOP LOOSELY ON. Although you
could make bread right away, it's far easier to work with the dough when
it's been refrigerated for at least 3 hours.
Bottom line: You have to think
ahead when making this bread, but once you get into the swing of things,
you'll always have dough in the fridge and fresh bread ready to eat.
On Baking Day…
A few preliminary notes… Buy a couple of
these bread pans: http://www.bakedeco.com/a/wilton-9-x-5-in-loa-9325.htm
You can purchase them at everyplace from
Kmart to Williams-Sonoma. Very common.
Just make sure they are nonstick and heavy gauge metal. Don't
skimp! I have the brand featured in the link above (
By having these pans, you can make 2 loaves
at a time and will not need a peel (oversized spatula used in pizzerias
to slide pizzas into the oven and then to slide them out after baking); a
cookie sheet or a baking stone (eventually you should get a stone, but you
can get by for now without it); or to deal with corn meal (which you sprinkle
on the peel to "lubricate" it, so the dough doesn't stick).
Using these pans greatly simplifies the
process...
All you do is dip your hands in flour to keep
them from sticking to the dough, grab a grapefruit-sized hunk, slice it off
with a serrated knife, then form it into a semi-oblong ball by folding it over
four times going clockwise around the dough. Just smooth it out as best
you can (keep dipping your hands in the flour if need be to keep the dough from
sticking to them). Once you have your ball (the entire process takes just
seconds), place it in the loaf pan, rough side down. Repeat with the
other portion of dough.
Let rest/rise for 40 minutes, turning on
your oven to 450 after 20 minutes, Note:
It usually takes about that much time to get to 450. I set my timer to 20
minutes and when it goes off, I fire up my oven. Twenty minutes later,
the dough and oven are both ready.
When the oven hits 450, sprinkle a little
flour on each loaf and make 2-3 angled slices widthwise across the top going
into the dough about halfway down.
Then, put your two pans in the oven directly
onto the center rack. Immediately after, place a heatproof
container (roasting pan, pyrex
pan, etc.) with about 3 cups of hot water on a lower rack.
Note: This creates steam which greatly enhances the baking process and
helps develop a crisp crust.
TIP: Always use an oven mitt or two!
One false move and you've got a singed hand and there goes your short game!
Now set your timer to 35 minutes (but
remember, because ovens vary in quality and accurateness, you may have to
adjust this up or down over time). When the timer goes off,
immediately turn off the oven and pull your bread pans out. Shake the
bread out onto a wire baking rack (also available anywhere baking stuff is
sold if you don't already have one, or if you have an extra oven rack, remove
before baking, place it on the counter, and use that).
TIPS:
It’s best to pour your whole 5-lb bag
of flour into a large, wide-mouthed plastic container with a tight
top, as it's far easier to deal with in this way than directly from the
bag.
When you use a peel, corn meal, and
baking stone (which the book recommends), you can make the so-called
"artisan" loaves, the kind you buy at good bakeries for $5-$9 a
loaf. On the other hand, using conventional loaf pans will give you
every bit the flavor, texture, and consistency of the artisan loaves, just
not the attractive shapes. Start out with the loaf pans, and you can move
on to the artisan stage once you get the hang of it (and can gather all the
equipment).
Finally, let your bread cool for at least 20
minutes. It needs to "rest" for that amount of time to finish
the baking process. Plus, it will be nearly impossible to slice when
right out of the oven.
If you don't have a good-quality bread knife,
get one of those, as well.
Bear in mind that if you leave your loaf out
for several hours, it will harden to the point that you will barely be able to
cut into it with a hacksaw, so after an hour or two be sure to put it
into a plastic bag (ziplock's are best and
you can reuse them).
Note: While plastic bags are used universally
to store bread, purists resist it because plastic softens the crust, which is
the perfect texture right after baking.
Still, softening is better than hardening, and when you toast this
bread, you probably won’t notice a bit of difference anyway. Although it’s also frowned upon by the bread
police, I store my leftover loaf in the fridge after 3-4 days so it doesn’t
spoil. Again, after toasting, it regains is crispness.
If you buy the book (and you should), you’ll
find that this method, once mastered, will lead you to a seemingly endless
variety of other breads from brioche to focaccio.
And finally, the above recipe is enough for
four decent-sized loaves. However, I
always make two large loaves and freeze one.
I know some people who instead make quite small, personal-sized loaves
each day or two, so they always have fresh bread. Just depends on your needs.