Bread Glorious Bread

I love bread. I'd rank bread right up there with my love of pasta. Good bread is one of those things that is subjective of course. One persons idea of what good bread is probably is entirely dissimilar from what my idea of good bread is. Last year I went on a quest to make what I reconsider to be a good bread. My proper was that the bread had to be crusty, and it had to be chewy. It also had to have a flavor that was pleasing to the palate. Ok, that should be easy enough. But it isn't so easy when you come down to it. I looked in some of my books, and was left cold. None of what I saw inspired me at all.

I went to the Tassajara Bread Book which was written by the chief clergyman of the Zen center in San Francisco in 1970. Everybody should have this book. It's truly pretty good. The bread formula that I used works well and makes a substantial loaf of bread. The formula truly makes four full size loaves of bread. I used bread pans and the loaves look like sandwich bread you buy at the store. Only it tastes truly good and lasts much longer.

Food Recipe

It was good but not the good I wanted. So then I did a You Tube crusade for "How to make crusty, chewy bread". And I got all kinds of returns. The one I tried was the one where Mark Bittman the New York Times food writer does a enumerate at the Sullivan road Bakery, in Hells Kitchen, in Manhattan. The baker is Jim Leahy who is also the owner of the bakery. I tried this formula so many times and I never got the succeed they show in the video. If you notice one thing you should notice that the dough when they are dusting it with Bran Flour is not what you get when you use this recipe. There is no way you could cope the dough like that without adding flour and kneading it in.

So I decided to come up with my own recipe. Now I know that there have probably been countless other people that have done this same aggregate but for me it's mine. If you determine to use it you can claim it as your own also.

So here it goes:
Three cups of flour. Easy enough but wait! To properly quantum flour you need to fluff it up in the bag or bin before you can scoop it out and throw it in the bowl. You have to aerate the flour. Most expert bakers will quantum flour by weight so it's not a big deal to them. But if you don't have a scale this is the only way to accurately quantum your flour. A cup of flour weighs 4.5 ounces if fluffed up properly. So in a bowl you will want three cups of flour, or 13.5 ounces. Then add 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar and blend it all together. Simple.

I start by adding 1 1/2 cups of close to hot water and stirring it in with a long metal spoon. It will originate a not quite wet dough. It will leave flour in the bottom of the bowl and it will be a little stringy. I then add an further quarter of a cup of water to this and stir it with the spoon until it has picked up all the flour in the bowl. The dough will be quite sticky to the touch and make a mess if you put your hands in it. I then take a small handful of flour and dust the dough nearby the edges and top.

Next you will cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit on the counter or wherever until it rises to duplicate or more in volume. I usually wait two to three hours. Then dust the top of the dough and sides again with a fair estimate of flour because the flour from before is pretty much gone. Neat huh? With your finger tips push the dough down nearby the edges. If you don't use enough flour it will stick to your hands and make a mess. Then push it down in the middle a combine of times then dust it with more flour and cover with a towel again and let it rise to duplicate or so in volume. Someone else two to three hours. Or less if you prefer.

Once the dough doubles in volume, dust with flour, push down nearby the edge and grab the dough out of the bowl. It is still going to be somewhat sticky but with the flour you just used it shouldn't be too bad. Put it on a floured surface, dust with more flour and shape it into a loaf or whatever turns you on. I like the loaf. Place it on a sheet pan or whatever your going to bake it in or on. Cover with a towel and let it rise to about duplicate in size. When the bread has risen and the oven is hot, take a sharp knife or razor blade and slice the dough about a half inch deep the length of the loaf.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees, and slide the bread in to do it's thing for forty five minutes. When the timer goes off you will have a lovely golden brown loaf of crusty, chewy and very yummy bread. It takes no muscle power, and it is as quick and easy as most of my other recipes. I will often put the bread back in the oven after I have removed it from the sheet pan and as the oven cools down. I feel as though it gives the bread a little extra time to take off some of the moisture inside. Either it does or not I couldn't tell you. I am not a food chemist. When you take off the bread from the oven you are going to hear the snap, crackle and pop just like rice crispies as the bread cools down. It's neat to hear.

One caution. Once the bread is cooled to room climatic characteristic you are going to want to put it in a plastic bag. If you don't the crust will get truly hard and somewhat difficult to cut. Which is ok if you like that type of bread, and truly that is what this formula is for. A crusty, chewy bread that is simple, easy and delicious. And you will see that is exactly what you end up with using this recipe. Have fun and Enjoy!

To see the video I created succeed this link Crusty-Chewy Bread and you will see this and many other quick and easy recipes that whatever can do.

Paul

Bread Glorious Bread