Passport & Plate - Bread
Canada | Monday, March 2, 2015 | 2 photos
Ingredients
1 c. sourdough starter
6 c. bread flour
3 c. water
2 t. salt
1/4 t. yeast
How to prepare this recipePour 2 cups of room temperature tap water (not warm) into a very large bowl. Scoop out 1 c. of sourdough starter and stir it in. Stir or whisk vigorously. Stir in 1/4 t. yeast and 3 c. bread flour. Mix until smooth.
Stir in the 3rd cup of water. Add the salt and mix thoroughly. The salt will slow down the fermentation
Stir in the remaining 3 c. bread flour. Stir until completely mixed. Do NOT need to knead this bread.
Cover the bowl of dough with a towel and set aside in a draft-free place. The bread dough needs to just sit and do its thing for 12-15 hours.
"turn out the dough." Start by sprinkling some more flour across the top of the dough. Flour your hands and sweep your hand around and under the dough in the bowl. Get a little more flour on your hands. Scoop and roll the dough over. It shouldn't take too many scoops and sweeps before the dough starts feeling elastic. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface OR a large piece of plastic wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
The dough is ready for its second rise. You have two options. You can either oil the inside of the bowl so that the dough will roll out easily when it's time to put it in the oven.
Let the dough rest, it needs a few more hours. Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a draft-free area. Let the dough rest another 4-5 hours. If your kitchen is warm, you'll want to keep an eye on things and consider baking the bread after only 2-3 hours.
The very best option for a pan is a heavy cast iron dutch oven with a cover or a covered roasting pan.
The key is the cover. You'll need a cover to create a miniature steam oven for the first 30 minutes of baking. Use pans that are 8 - 12 quarts in size. If you want to divide the bread into two smaller loaves because you only have smaller pans, everything stays the same in terms of baking time.
The sides of the pan need to be straight or tapering out. If the top of the pan is narrower than the widest part of the pan, don't use that that pan! You'll never get the loaf out.
Turn your oven on to 450 degrees and stick the pan and cover in to preheat for 30 minutes.
Pull the pan out of the oven. Sprinkle corn grits or oatmeal on the bottom of the pan. This will keep the bread from sticking.
Gently roll the dough out of the bowl and into the pan. Pop the cover back on and put it in the oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove the cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes to brown top.
After a total of 45 minutes, take the bread out of the oven and tip onto a cooling rack.
The story behind this recipeI just love bread -it makes me feel like I am home on Canada's east coast. Everyone makes bread there - it is served with every meal. When I moved to the west coast I had to find bakery after bakery trying to find the best homemade bread.
Some were good, others were not. This recipe is so easy, and even though I thought I could not make bread I can! And now I feel like home when I start to miss it.
When I travel, I always search out bakeries. I LOVE breads. And tasting them from around the world just excites me.
