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This is a hearty, yet soft bread with a good crust. Perfect for sandwiches.
POOLISH:
2 ½ CUPS FLOUR
1 ½ CUPS WATER, ROOM TEMPERATURE
¼ TEASPOON INSTANT YEAST
STIR INGREDIENTS TOGETHER, COVER AND FERMENT ON THE COUNTER FOR 3-4 HOURS. COVER, REFRIGERATE AND USE WITHIN 3 DAYS.
SOAKER:
COARSE CORNMEAL
QUINOA
ROLLED OATS
MILLET
BUCKWHEAT
WHEAT BRAN
WHEAT GERM
CHOOSE 3 OF
THE GRAINS ABOVE AND COMBINE 3 TABLESPOONS OF ANY 3 TYPES WITH ¼ CUP WATER. COVER AND REST AT ROOM TEMPERATURE OVERNIGHT
THE BREAD:
Poolish – 1 RECIPE
Soaker – 1 RECIPE
Yeast – 1 PKGE
flour – 2 CUPS BREAD FLOUR + 1 ½ CUPS WW FLOUR
Salt – 1 TEASPOON
WATER, ROOM TEMPERATURE – ABOUT 1 CUP
BROWN SUGAR X 3 T
COOKED BROWN RICE X 3 T
HONEY X 1 ½ T
SALT X 1 t
DAY 1 – MAKE POOLISH AND SOAKER
DAY 2 – PULL POOLISH FROM THE COOLER WITH YOUR MORNING TEA TO ALLOW IT TO COME ALIVE AGAIN
1. DISSOLVE YEAST IN A FEW TABLESPOONS OF WATER
2. COMBINE POOLISH AND SOAKER
3. ADD YEAST TO WET MIX, 1 CUP WATER AND THEN HALF OF THE FLOUR. COMBINE WELL
4. ADD ALL OF THE OTHER INGREDIENTS, THEN SLOWLY WORK IN THE LAST OF THE FLOUR
5. MAKE A STIFF DOUGH THAT PASSES THE "WINDOWPANE" TEST
6. PLACE IN AN OILED BOWL, TURN AND MOVE AROUND UNTIL WELL COATED WITH OIL, SPRINKLE WITH FLOUR, COVER TIGHTLY AND REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT.
DAY 3 – PULL BREAD FROM THE COOLER TO ALLOW IT TO COME ALIVE AGAIN.
1. "SCALE" THE DOUGH..., WHICH IS JARGON FOR CUT THE DOUGH INTO PIECES AND SHAPE IT HOWEVER YOU PLEASE. SIMPLE LOAVES ARE BAGUETTES, BOULLES OR LOAF PAN BREADS. IT CAN BE SIZED FOR ROLLS, BUNS OR FULL SIZED LOAVES..
2. OIL THE SURFACE OF THE LOAVES AND SPRINKLE WITH FLOUR. COVER TIGHTLY WITH PLASTIC AND TAPE THE SIDES DOWN. PUT THE PANS INTO THE FRIDGE AND CLEAN UP THE MESS
3. PREHEAT OVEN ON ITS' HIGHEST SAFE SETTING. HAVE YOUR CERAMIC POT ON THE LOWEST RACK, AND THE SECOND RACK AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE OVEN. SET A POT OF WATER ON TO BOIL.
4. AS QUICKLY AS SAFELY POSSIBLE, PUT THE BREAD IN THE OVEN, THEN POUR AN INCH OR TWO OF BOILING WATER IN YOUR CERAMIC BOWL. CLOSE THE DOOR AND TAKE A DEEP BREATH. YOU DID IT!
5. AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES... AND WITHOUT OPENING THE DOOR... TURN THE OVEN DOWN TO 325.
6. IN 20 MINUTES OR SO, OPEN THE DOOR, AND TURN THE PANS AROUND, AND TAKE A MOMENT TO ADMIRE YOUR WORK BEFORE SHUTTING THE DOOR. GIVE IT ANOTHER HALF HOUR OR SO, THEN TEST FOR DONENESS BY THUMPING AND LIFTING.
7. WAIT 1 FULL HOUR BEFORE CUTTING! I MEAN IT! A FULL HOUR! YEAH RIGHT.... PICK THE SMALLEST, UGGLIEST LOAF AND DIG IN.
As a technological advance, bread is tied up with all sorts of other important skills. The wit to harness the various powers of agriculture, pottery, civil society and long range planning is all wrapped up in what it is to be Human. Once we (They... Us) started baking bread, it follows that we were settled and permanent. We had grain fields to tend and storage facilities to build. Dwellings for ourselves and our animals had to be built. With industry came commerce and trade, accounting and currency. All of this and more follows directly from the simple timeless act of baking bread. If you can bake bread (and anyone can, I assure you) then you are plugged in to something so deep that it doesn't have a word.
It is interesting to me that one of the mysteries of anthropology is that of whether Man first settled in cities and grew grain for the purpose of baking bread or that of brewing beer. There is some evidence for either viewpoint, but the bottom line is that the two skills are so nearly identical as to be but versions of the same thing. Both activities center around a microorganism – Yeast - and what happens when you feed it. Beer takes advantage of one by product of raising yeast... Alcohol. Bread baking takes advantage of the other... CO2.. Both result from combining live yeast with food, water and room to multiply. For most this may seem unimportant, for me this is the juice of cooking well. Learn to bake like a caveman and you necessarily become more yourself. Oh, and have a beer, too.
