by thirschfeld
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2 1/2 cups
ice water, as close to 32 degrees as possible
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2 teaspoons
dry active yeast
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6 cups
bread flour
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1/3 cup
wheat germ, toasted
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2 teaspoons
kosher salt
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1 tablespoon
olive oil
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I fill an eight cup measure half with ice and the rest with cold water. Then I pour off the cold water in the measurements called for.
Ask the hotline about this step!In the bowl of a mixer place 1/4 cup of ice water and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Let the yeast dissolve.
Ask the hotline about this step!Add the remainding 2 1/4 cups of the ice water, the flour, wheat germ and salt. Mix with a dough hook. As the dough comes together add the olive oil. The dough probably won't even gather around hook but should pull around it. If it seems to loose error on the side of a stiff dough and add more flour in 1/4 cup increments. You should see gluten development.
Ask the hotline about this step!Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 24 to 36 hours.
Ask the hotline about this step!Place a baking stone on the middle rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place a cast iron skillet in the bottom of the oven. Keep it close to the edge you will be pouring water into it.
Ask the hotline about this step!Remove the dough from the fridge. Sprinkle the counter with a good cup and a half of flour into about a 12 by 12 inch square.
Ask the hotline about this step!Flour your hands and dump the dough gently onto the flour. Spread it out to be about 8 inches by 8 inches. Dust the top of the dough with a good coating of flour and then spray it with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap. Set a timer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Ask the hotline about this step!After the timer sounds, gently remove the plastic wrap. If some of the dough is stuck to it pinch it and gently pull.
Ask the hotline about this step!Place a piece of parchment onto a peel (or sheet tray if you are not using a stone). Sprinkle it with cornmeal.
Ask the hotline about this step!If your oven or stone isn't big enough only cut what will fit on your stone or in the oven and leave the remainder of the dough whole and covered until needed. Using a dough cutter dipped in water cut the dough into four pieces. Place the peel right next to the dough.
Ask the hotline about this step!Now the tricky part. You want to do this quickly. Put one hand at each end of the loaf. Lift, the middle will start to stretch and drop, quickly move to the peel and stretch back to 12 inches. Repeat with what will fit on your peel or fit in your oven. I do two loaves at a time.
Ask the hotline about this step!Slide the dough onto the stone. Carefully, but quickly, pour a half cup of water into the skillet and shut the door. Turn the heat down to 450 and set a timer for 12 minutes. Do not open the door.
Ask the hotline about this step!When the timer goes off rotate the bread 180 degrees and bake and additional 4 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.
Ask the hotline about this step!I, over time, have started to make all my bread 75% or more whole wheat. I have not made this with that percentage though. What I have been doing And I think it would work just fine here is to add a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten per cup of whole wheat flour. It seems to add enough elasticity to the dough to give it the spring you want for the crumb and air bubbles.
I made this bread with dry active yeast, like it says above, and it did not rise! My loaves looked like sad tree branches. What did I do wrong?
I'm a fairly experienced bread baker, but this bread didn't rise at all for me. I baked 2 loaves, thinking I'd get some oven spring, but no. What did I do wrong? I'm letting the other 2 loaves proof some more. We'll see.
Kathy, I have had that happen once before and it was because I didn't let it warm up enough and rise a little bit before I baked it. Which it sounds like you are letting the other loaves warm and proof a bit more. I hope this takes care of it for you and the remaining two loaves get a good crumb.
This look delicious!! Can't wait to try it. There is nothing like homemade bread!!
I made this and we had it fir supper - I felt like a pro. It looked beautiful, smelled fabulous and had a rich flavor and just the right tender chewy texture of old style breads. Thanks for a great recipe and instructions.
We bake often, most times using a many year old sourdough starter but also making other breads. Two comments. We use a Hearthstone insert in our oven rather than a stone. All the difference in the world. Your oven essentially becomes a full brick oven. The temperature remains very stable and the crusts you get are outstanding. We have two ovens and leave the insert in most of the time. It removes and replaces in about a minute. I don't know if the company still makes them, but you can find them on eBay. We have a wood fired oven outside the the results are comparable. Second, we put a pan with very hot water in the bottom as the oven warms. Enough so it won't all evaporate in the process. Moisture is created as the oven comes to temp and you get a very moist oven without the complexity of trying to pour into a hot oven.
Might I suggest dropping a few ice cubes in that hot cast iron pan on the bottom shelf of the oven? I am a klutz when it comes opening the oven door, pulling out the pan, carefully and quickly adding water, and not burning my forearm. Cubes I can manage!
That is such a good idea!
Actually, I want to slather my computer screen with butter and salt and then eat it.
I'm looking forward to trying this. Probably this weekend. Peter Reinhart was my breads instructor in school. The loaves are gorgeous, and I'm looking forward to seeing the crumb.
Excellent Loaves thirschfeld! They were perfect with my pork chops and my husband thinks I'm a bad a$$. I was nervous at first because they didn't really rise when I set them out for 2 hours but as soon as I tossed them into the oven they puffed up beautifully. I can't wait to make the other 2 loaves tomorrow night with cookinginvictoria's sunday pork ragu. Thank you.
P.S. It seemed strange to me to preheat the oven to 500 an hour and a half in advance, so I waited until the dough was done rising under the plastic. Any reason to do otherwise?
I'm so glad I finally got around to making this bread. The number of instructions made it seem more complicated than it was. I used whey instead of water, which worked great. My loaves came out a bit flatter than those pictured, but they were still delicious. Great crumb, very light, and almost springy. Strangely, they had a bit of an English muffin flavor. Is that normal?
Hi thirschfeld - This breads looks lovely and I can't wait to try it. If I don't want to make all four loaves at once, can I freeze the dough or is it best to make all 4 loaves and then freeze the leftover loaves? Thank you!
I hadn't thought about it but I would freeze the dough. I always think bread is best out of the oven. I really think you have a good idea so let's know how it freezes.
I made this, using my stand mixer/dough hooks and it was wonderful. I scaled down the recipe to 2/3, used 1/4 cup of blue cornmeal as I had no wheat germ, and used the refrigerator pitcher of water . It's got a really nice texture and taste. I'm making another batch right now with toasted corn bran instead of wheat germ.
thank you kaykay I really appreciate that. thank you, again.
This looks great! I recently began baking bread, starting with Jim Lahey's No-Knead and Richard Bertinet's sweet dough... if you have any other recipe's that you feel like sharing, love to hear them!
I do not have a stand mixer, so I mixed it by hand and it was pretty dang easy. It is in my fridge now and I can't wait to bake it today. It was very stiff, however. I hope I didn't do something wrong.
If it was stiff before going into the fridge you may have a problem but it will stiffen in the fridge from being cold. It will loosen quit a bit while coming to temperature.
How did it turn out, by the way? I don't have a stand mixer either, and plan to make this tomorrow or the next day . . . . Thanks! ;o)
AntoniaJames I will be around tomorrow dealing with baby ducks, goslings and turkeys so if you have any questions I am available.
I have seen people make bread with a food processor fitted with a plastic blade (pain to clean I would think) but if I did not have a stand mixer, I would get a large mixing bowl and a wood spoon. This is a very loose dough so I think mixing by hand would be a great way to go.
Very interesting, and very clear instructions. I am about thirty years behind on food trends, so I've only recently seen books and articles claiming to crack the mystery of "artisan" breads. I think I'll try this one. Tell me this, though .. . . if you did not have a stand-up mixer/dough hook system (as I do not, and do not foresee procuring one, due to the miniscule size of my ancient "maid's kitchen," and low clearance of the upper cabinets), what would you do instead? Thank you. ;o)
I have stone, but don't know what a peel is. Can I just put cornmeal on the stone?
Joanne Chang is the pastry chef/owner of Flour Bakery+Cafe and chef/co-owner of Myers+Chang in Boston.
This looked so very interesting! I want to make this, but I am big into whole grains and whole wheat. Any idea how to incorporate some w/w flour into this? perhaps 1/2 w/w half bread flour?