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Daily Bread
This is my standard part fresh ground rye risen with a levain bread. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stolen_tea asked for the recipe, and I'm attaching it as I wrote it to him, not all prettied up into something more formal.
Put a bunch of flour in a bowl - probably around six cups, but I've never measured. (And I'm mostly doing sprouted grain bread at the moment, though I'll probably alternate.) Add enough water to make it a stiff but still hand mixable dough / batter. (Usually around 2.5 cups, but it will depends on the amount of flour, and you know how helpful I am there.)
Mix the holy heck out of it. At least 100 firm strokes (1 stroke being a circuit of the bowl). 200 is better. Your arm should feel it.
Add some of your starter. (I usually add about half of the total, maybe .75 c? I think it's usually about 1.5 c.) Add some of the plain dough to the starter. Mix starter and return to fridge.
Cover with a dishcloth and leave to rise. Depending on the liveliness of the starter, the temperature and other environmental factors, this will take between 6 and 24 hours. It will generally speed up over time. (As the yeast population increases. And then slow down as resources are exhausted, but we don't usually play at that end of the curve.) It should be about twice the volume and thoroughly bubbly at the end of this period. Timing is flexible -- a few hours longer won't matter, and you can stick it in the fridge if you want to slow it down. A few hours earlier will just mean the rest of the process will be slower. (So it can be useful in the short term, but won't get it done quicker in the long term.)
Add about a tablespoon salt (I really need to switch to metric, this is embarrassing), and then enough flour to make a firm, non sticky dough. If you're going to add any non standard flours, this is when you do it -- I add a cup or two of fresh rye flour first, and then enough bread flour afterwards to get the dough to the right consistency.
Knead for ten minutes. Or so. Depends on how much time I have and how energetically I'm kneading. Because you work the gluten so much while making the sponge it doesn't need as much kneading as it otherwise would. Still, you'll feel it get springy and elastic as you knead, and that's the whole point.
Set to rise. This will be a faster rising (3-8 hours, usually) unless you put it in the refrigerator. It should at least double in size. Knead the bread a bit more, and form it into loaves. I make round loaves, wrap them loosely in dishtowels and put them in medium sized bowls to rise. Other solutions are possible (even common). This rise will be even shorter -- but I like how the dough stiffens when cold (it allows it to rise more with being less fragile) so I'll often rise it in the refrigerator overnight.
Pre-heat oven (with oven stone already inside) to 450. Let it sit at 450 for an extra ten minutes so the stone thoroughly heats.
Turn out loaves onto stone. If the loaves aren't too risen for this to work, slash top into an X to allow more rising. (If the loaves are very risen, and somewhat fragile, this can cause them to collapse. OTOH, they don't need the extra room to expand.) Mist loaves with water. Close oven, reduce heat to 400.
Bread usually bakes 40-45 minutes, depending on the oven. Loaves should be an even medium brown. (Not light golden brown, that was just the barge oven.) Ten minutes before the end, mist loaves again to make that shiny crust. If the oven heat is uneven, switch the places of the loaves after ~25 minutes to allow for more even baking.
Remove loaves, place on drying rack (or anything else that allows for bottom air circulations -- an unused electric burner, a few chopsticks, what have you).
Devour. ;-)
stolen_tea asked for the recipe, and I'm attaching it as I wrote it to him, not all prettied up into something more formal.Daily Bread
Put a bunch of flour in a bowl - probably around six cups, but I've never measured. (And I'm mostly doing sprouted grain bread at the moment, though I'll probably alternate.) Add enough water to make it a stiff but still hand mixable dough / batter. (Usually around 2.5 cups, but it will depends on the amount of flour, and you know how helpful I am there.)
Mix the holy heck out of it. At least 100 firm strokes (1 stroke being a circuit of the bowl). 200 is better. Your arm should feel it.
Add some of your starter. (I usually add about half of the total, maybe .75 c? I think it's usually about 1.5 c.) Add some of the plain dough to the starter. Mix starter and return to fridge.
Cover with a dishcloth and leave to rise. Depending on the liveliness of the starter, the temperature and other environmental factors, this will take between 6 and 24 hours. It will generally speed up over time. (As the yeast population increases. And then slow down as resources are exhausted, but we don't usually play at that end of the curve.) It should be about twice the volume and thoroughly bubbly at the end of this period. Timing is flexible -- a few hours longer won't matter, and you can stick it in the fridge if you want to slow it down. A few hours earlier will just mean the rest of the process will be slower. (So it can be useful in the short term, but won't get it done quicker in the long term.)
Add about a tablespoon salt (I really need to switch to metric, this is embarrassing), and then enough flour to make a firm, non sticky dough. If you're going to add any non standard flours, this is when you do it -- I add a cup or two of fresh rye flour first, and then enough bread flour afterwards to get the dough to the right consistency.
Knead for ten minutes. Or so. Depends on how much time I have and how energetically I'm kneading. Because you work the gluten so much while making the sponge it doesn't need as much kneading as it otherwise would. Still, you'll feel it get springy and elastic as you knead, and that's the whole point.
Set to rise. This will be a faster rising (3-8 hours, usually) unless you put it in the refrigerator. It should at least double in size. Knead the bread a bit more, and form it into loaves. I make round loaves, wrap them loosely in dishtowels and put them in medium sized bowls to rise. Other solutions are possible (even common). This rise will be even shorter -- but I like how the dough stiffens when cold (it allows it to rise more with being less fragile) so I'll often rise it in the refrigerator overnight.
Pre-heat oven (with oven stone already inside) to 450. Let it sit at 450 for an extra ten minutes so the stone thoroughly heats.
Turn out loaves onto stone. If the loaves aren't too risen for this to work, slash top into an X to allow more rising. (If the loaves are very risen, and somewhat fragile, this can cause them to collapse. OTOH, they don't need the extra room to expand.) Mist loaves with water. Close oven, reduce heat to 400.
Bread usually bakes 40-45 minutes, depending on the oven. Loaves should be an even medium brown. (Not light golden brown, that was just the barge oven.) Ten minutes before the end, mist loaves again to make that shiny crust. If the oven heat is uneven, switch the places of the loaves after ~25 minutes to allow for more even baking.
Remove loaves, place on drying rack (or anything else that allows for bottom air circulations -- an unused electric burner, a few chopsticks, what have you).
Devour. ;-)