it's just bread

i mean, it is just bread, right? so, it was a lazy sunday to be (it was friday when i decided this), i could feel it in my bones. and as a virgo, i planned for my laze by making a levain the night before the laziness really set in (you have no idea, my bones have a way of turning to jelly, and when this happens, oh man, nothing gets done but reading and stuffing my face. some people call it depression, i call it comfort zone).

many loaves that come out of my kitchen are just straight up plain, right, which is why i don't post very often. i'm baking, perhaps not posting, and i decided to post this here because i wanted to just say this, that it's just bread, okay. it's really no big deal. you've opened the cupboard, a farine reconnoiter of sorts, you saw what you had, right, maybe A/P, maybe bread flour, maybe a handful of each, and then that bit of rye that you've been meaning to deal with, because it's just sitting there putting all kinds of pressure on you.

all i had was A/P this weekend. and i was not about to go to the store. it's the nun in me. i'm not going to waste a handful of flour because there are starving people, like, everywhere, and just because i can run out and get something crazy (i can't, really), like, i don't know what, teff flour or something like that, so that i can pretend like i'm over here in some sort of lab, conjuring up all kinds of cool stuff because that's just my life, doesn't mean i'm going to. it's simple: i check the freezer - yeah, the freezer; i slice my bread and stick it in there, frugality, see, and when i'm hungry, i pry a couple of slices from the frozen block, slide it under the broiler, and there, i've got lunch - if the goods are running lean eh bien, it's time to make bread.

a boule with no name (is still a boule)

you don't have to make this some extravagant venture every time. you can (i'm serious) just sort of bake loaves if you're bored, or hungry, or you're too poor to buy someone a real birthday present. i think this batch of bread will cost you like 12¢ out the door, so you're either a cheapskate or seriously talented. whatever the case, you're terribly sophisticated to think up a loaf of bread instead of presenting your friend with a store bought piece of crap, because, yeah, that takes so much ingenuity. time is money baby, so loaves of bread baked for friends are equivalent to, say, tiffany rings with diamonds, lots of diamonds.

sometimes i think of all these ideas of things i should bake, but i never do because i'm part nun and totally broke, and all i have today (most days) is A/P or a few grams of bread flour and rye. always rye. if i don't have rye, my world stops, the world stops. so today i baked up the last of some A/P, and instead of just eating it, i snapped a few pix and decided to jot down the 'formula', if you can even call it that.

here you go. the formula below makes two loaves, i made this double batch and then another demi-batch. in the case of a demi-batch, just cut all of your measurements in half from levain down to the salt.

THE NIGHT BEFORE DOUGH DAY

make your levain:

100g starter

200g dark rye flour, i used 'to your health'

200g h2o

mix this together to make a paste and ferment. mine took 8 or 9 hours.

DOUGH DAY

make the dough:

500g levain

700g h2o

1000g KA A/P flour

25g kosher salt

mix together the levain, the flours and water until it reaches a shaggy mass. autolyse for 1 full hour. after autolyse, squish the salt into the dough with your hands.

begin the bulk fermentation. for the first two hours of the bulk fermentation, you will perform a series of turns every half hour at room temp. for the last two hours, pop the dough in the fridge and allow it to ferment, untouched.

after the bulk fermentation is complete, turn the dough out onto a counter dusted with brown rice flour, gather it up into a loose round and let it rest for 10 minutes. after it has rested, shape it into a boule.

pop this into a bowl lined with a linen that has been dusted with brown rice flour, pop in the fridge and ferment for 25 hours.

BAKE DAY

one hour before you bake, preheat the oven to 550 degrees. make sure your stone and both halves of the combo cooker are in there too.

after a FULL HOUR (i'm serious), unearth the dough onto a peel lined with a piece of parchment, score the dough in some lovely pattern, then slide it into the shallow half of the combo cooker.

pop on the top half and turn the oven down to 475 degrees. steam for 30 minutes. after the steam, remove the top half of the combo cooker using an oven mitt to avoid a nasty steam burn. turn the oven down to 450 degrees and bake until the chestnut-colored.

verdict: it's just bread. and it's FANTASTIC.

to the staff of life!

this post has been exhibited on Susan's wild yeast blog. thank you susan, for giving us a platform to share our bread!

THE PLAIN JANES

the fruits of our labors

my biggest complaint about artisan bakers is that there is not enough fruit or nuts in their fruit nut breads. but given the expense, i understand their moderate hand. i don't know why i'm bellyaching about it now. i've not purchased so much as a single slice of bread since i started this blog a year and sevenish months ago.

luxury bread

today i'm posting one of my absolute favorite loaves with you. i call her my luxury bread, because she's the most ambrosial loaf in my repertoire and the only one that i anthropomorphize. while i love all my breads dearly, she's got to be the queen of the bunch. and when i occasion to bake her up, i feel like nothing on earth could be better than the moment i sink my teeth into a slice (ok, maybe i shouldn't anthropomorphize). i defy you to disagree.

here's the scoop. you will need two types of nut and four different varieties of dried fruit. not. negotiable. if you try to cut corners, well, then you ain't makin' luxury bread.

you might have noticed that this venture won't be cheap, what with 250g of the fruit, and another 150g of nuts - pecan and wal. yeah. but if you get your goods from trader joes, you will have plenty leftover from the first go round to knead up a few more loaves.. if you can keep yourself from snacking on your stash. i never can.

bench & shape

a few caveats with this loaf: doing the turns is impossible. no, not difficult, impossible. the dough is SOLID, and when you (try to) do them (because yeah, you still have to), you will think you've gone mad, (or i've gone mad for conjuring up this beast, royalty that she is) but by golly, we must forge on with that what is most challenging in order to feel deserved of the fruits of our labors.

after you've given up on your turns (they get harder from the start), trying to shape the bread will drive you bonkers because you have to keep as much of the 400g of fruits and nuts inside the dough as you can so that you don't end up with a surplus of burned goodies on the crust after its gone through a pretty long bake. but you can do it. and after you've had your first bite, you will forget about the pain that you endured and revel in the sheer luxury of it. see, luxury bread.

forget about pannetone for christmas, this is what you should be baking for people this year. it's pure luxury... so you should eat it all the time.

LUXURY BREAD, THE DEETS

THE MORNING BEFORE THE BAKE

MAKE YOUR LEVAIN

make your levain:

37g 100% rye, 100% hydration starter
50g h2o
50g organic dark rye flour, i used BRM dark rye

mix it all up, ferment for 7.5 hours

MAKE THE DOUGH

137g levain
310g KA organic A/P
100g KA organic bread flour
90g BRM organic dark rye flour
330g h2o
62.5g each: golden raisins, thompsons raisins, dried cherries, apricots (chopped)
75g pecans
75g walnuts
10g salt

first things first, toast the nuts. put the fruit in a glass measure and fill with boiling hot water. steep 30 minutes, then drain. set all this aside.

mix the levain with the water and the flours until you reach a shaggy mass. autolyse for 1 hour.

after the dough has gone through full autolyse, squish the salt in into the dough with your fingers, then dump the COOLED nuts and fruit in and fold it into the dough. i know, i know, it's going to seem like too much. it's not. ready for bulk fermentation.

BULK FERMENTATION

for the first two hours of the bulk fermentation, perform a series of turns every half hour. i know, it's nutty (literally), and its going to be impossible. just do the best you can. that's all anyone can ask of you in life.

before bulk fermentation

for the last two hours of the bulk fermentation, pop the dough into the fridge and let it do its thing, unmolested.

after bulk fermentation

BENCH. SHAPE. PROOF.

after the bulk fermentation, dust your workspace with brown rice flour and scrape the dough over it. sort o' gather it into a loose boule and let it rest for 10 minutes.

after its rested for 10 minutes, shape the dough into a firm boule, making sure that you tuck in any fruit or nut pieces that poke through. i mean, some stick-outs you can't avoid. just do the best you can or they will burn during the bake.

pop this dough into a linen-lined bowl that's been dusted with organic brown rice flour and pop it into the fridge for a 15-hour proof.

you should always be covering your dough, yeah, all the way from levain through proof. i usually just use a plate. you don't have to get crazy with the plastic wrap.

BAKE DAY

time to bake your queen!

preheat the oven to 550 degrees, outfitted with a baking stone and both pieces of your combo cooker for a full hour.

just before you are ready to bake, pull the dough out of the fridge, score it, slide it into the shallow end of the combo cooker, cover with the fatty part, and steam for 30 minutes at 475 degrees.

after the steam, remove the lid of the combo cooker, lower the heat to 450 (DON'T bake at a higher temp. this loaf takes longer to bake than other loaves, and you will end up with a black bottom if you crank the heat. i think my loaf took.... mmm... 1 hour and 10 minutes or so?) bake until the crust is a chestnut brown, and be sure to turn it for the last 20 minutes of the bake so one side doesn't get darker than the rest. and do try to wait a full hour before tearing into it. it'll be hard, i know...

OH, and, uh, you can double your luxury by increasing your ingredients by two, from levain all the way down to the salt.

to the staff of life!

THE LUXURIOUS HEADSHOTS

this post was shared on wild yeast blog's yeast spotting.