It's a New Year, time to start talking food again - Bread

January 4, 2010

Since Christmas I have been thinking about my prepared foods business and wondering how to move forward, more importantly how I want to move forward. The first step is starting this blog and to stop procrastinating about it. Step 1 complete.

Now onto the business of Bread, in particular making your own. I have been baking my own bread in different forms on and off for about 20 years. When I was younger it was all about sourdough, and as Anthony Bourdain so eloquently put it, "feeding the bitch." You need a starter for any sourdough and depending who you talk to that is begun with grapes or potatoes, but you can build a starter with simply flour and water. The problem with making your own starter is twofold, first it takes about 2 weeks to develop a starter and 2nd unless you are dedicated to it, your starter will die. For those that would like to make their own sourdough I will find one of my old feeding schedules, a simple one and post it at a later date.

Today I make bread almost daily, partly because I got tired of paying for something I could do myself and because now I just keep it simple. I have a few base recipes that I use that are quick, simple and produce a good loaf of bread. It's not the sourdough I used to make, but maybe I'll get back to that later.

Simple Bread Recipe 1

6-7 cups unbleached flour, use a good quality flour
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast (dry active)
1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt, use a good quality salt
1 tablespoon honey
3 cups slightly warm water

mix the water, yeast, honey & salt together, allow the yeast to dissolve.
stir in the flour until incorporated, but do not knead the dough.
let the dough rise, covered (about 2hrs.). Once the dough has risen, you are ready to bake. Cut the dough to size, this recipe will give you approx. 4 500g loaves, but you can cut the dough any size you want. Baking time will have to be adjusted, a little longer for a bigger loaf and a little less time for a smaller loaf. The dough will last in the fridge for a few days. For best results use a baking stone, but it is only recommended not necessary. I do use a baking stone, but a baking sheet will work.

-preheat your oven to 400 degrees, add a water bath to the bottom of the oven to create steam.
- you need flour for dusting

-take your cut piece of dough (500g), dust it with flour and shape it into a ball.
score the dough and leave it to rise, you can bake after about 40 minutes, but I leave mine longer. While the dough is resting make sure there is enough flour so it will not stick to your board.

- take the dough from your board and place it on your baking surface and bake for approx. 30 minutes

- once your loaf is baked remove it from the oven and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it.

Good eating,

David