Then I made blueberry-banana-walnut muffins for breakfast along with "one -eye sandwiches" or "egg-in-a-hole". Later made meatballs, sausages, braised pork in wine - all for the tomato sauce.
But back to the bread.
My more recent attempts with a softer dough (more water) resulted in very good, but somewhat flat loaves. There was good texture, but the dough spread out on the baking sheet and the loaves looked more like focaccia.
The "experts" tout "high hydration" and small amounts of yeast as the key to success. Some even say "no-knead" bread is the way to go. Tried them all.
I had been more successful before consulting all the experts, so I went back to my original non-recipe technique. My "recipe" is simple. Makes three loaves of Italian-style bread.
One coffee mug of warm water, three teaspoons of yeast, a little sugar (not more than a teaspoon) into a large bowl and let the yeast start ot foam up and make bubbles.
Add flour (2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour and the rest King Arthur Bread Flour and some All Purpose flour) and three teaspoons of salt. But I never actually "measure" the flour. Next time I will make an attempt to do so.
So I add some of the flour (maybe 3 cups) to the water/yeast and beat it with a wooden spoon, then keep adding flour until it's too stiff to work with a spoon. Then I knead it and add small amounts of flour until the dough is not sticky, but still soft. And knead it some more.
It goes into the fridge for 6-8 hours. It comes out of the fridge and I punch it down, then let it come to room temperature.
Sprinkle corn meal generously on baking sheets, divide dough it into three, form loaves, place on baking sheets, let rise for 45 minutes plus the time for the oven to heat, set oven temperature to 475 degrees, when temperature is 475, place a roasting pan of boiling water on floor of oven, brush loaves with cold water, sprinkle sesame seeds if desired, slit loaves with razor or scissors, put loaves in oven, rotate loaves from top and bottom shelves after 10-12 minutes, bake for another 12-15 minutes till the loaves are well browned, turn off oven, remove loaves from baking sheet and place them on oven rack, crack open the oven door with some potholders and let oven cool along with the bread loaves.
Perfection. Crisp, crunchy crust. Soft, light, interior. Bready, yeasty, delectable taste. With some butter or with a meatball and tomato sauce.
2 comments:
You're amazing. Everything looks and/or sounds delicious (since you kind enough to not share photos of the muffins). I've been up since 4:30, as well (wrong time zone). All I did was pace, stretch my aching hip, and read your blog post.
Go with what works for you! It DOES look yummy! I bet it's good toasted too.
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