Sunday, March 9, 2014

Bread

I've been baking most of our bread for a while now.  (Well, when I say "our"... Alex doesn't eat much of it.)  I like the long rise and depth of flavour from the no-knead bread recipes, as well as the crispy crust of baking in a preheated Dutch oven.

Here's my base recipe:

3 cups flour/grains - this is usually at least 1 cup of wholemeal wheat, and I've also added to various loaves: rye flour, rolled oats, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cornmeal, etc.
2-3 Tbs wheat gluten (more if there's non-wheat grains, less if it's got lots of flour)
1.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp sugar 
1 tsp yeast
2 cups lukewarm water

I combine this with a butter knife to a wet dough, then cover with clingfilm and let rise in the oven, turned off but with the light switched on.  This gives me excellent rising conditions.  I aim to let it rise once, then press out the air, shape the dough and let it rise again on parchment paper.

Then I preheat the oven and cast iron pot to 450F, drop the parchment paper into the pot and cover with the lid, for 30 min.  Then take off the lid for an additional 10 minutes.  

This recipe is very forgiving.  I've had some spectacular results, and some not quite as good, but still certainly edible bread, especially toasted.

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