Great Bread
I think I’ve finally realized the key ingredient for great bread… patience. Lots of. freaking. patience.
Take these beauties for example. If you count developing the “poolish,” it takes 17 hours of fermenting/proofing! But oh baby! is it ever worth it. Yeah, I know… I shouldn’t be eating bread. At least this recipe doesn’t make me itch as bad and my mouth doesn’t hurt at all… unless I eat the whole loaf… which is REALLY easy to do. *sigh* And it makes a great pizza crust!
One other thing… if you have a really crappy oven (like mine), cooking the loaves in a heavy lidded pot (like cast iron) while in the oven makes them turn out like a hearth bread. Oh so cracklingly crunchy on the outside. Soft and sproingy on the inside. As if I didn’t love my cast iron cook pot enough already. 
Here’s how I’ve been doing it…
Day 1: Make poolish
- 1/4 tsp yeast
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups water
Mix well. Cover and let sit for 4 hours. Then pop in the fridge overnight. OR… take out one cup to make bread with today and store the rest in the fridge to make more bread tomorrow. (and the next day)
Day 2: Make bread
Take a cup of poolish from fridge an hour before you want to use it. Into the mixer it goes with 1 1/4 cups warm water, 3/4 tsp yeast and your flour. How much? Depends upon what flour, I’m finding. Usually around 3 or so cups. 1/4 cup of that is wheat, the rest is unbleached white. I add a little oil (tablespoon or so) at the end of the kneading (I use a kitchenaid mixer).
Cover and let rise for 2 hours. I just cover the kitchenaid bowl with a plate. 
Punch down. Knead for a minute. And repeat the above line.
Carefully turn out the dough. Don’t really want to deflate it this time. I cut it into 2 pieces and form each into a round loaf by tucking the edges under unill the top is tight. Put them on a well floured cotton towel and cover.
Let rest for an hour. 30 minutes into that time. Preheat the oven WITH your heavy lidded pot in it.
Then, carefully turn the rounds over into the pot(s). Add slashes to their tops if you are so inclined. I bake mine at 425 for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then I take the lid off and bake for another 10 minutes or so.
Amazingly they pop right out of the pans. No oiling needed!
Day 3: repeat day 2
Day 4: do it all again ‘coz you still don’t have any bread in the pantry.
I could make batch after batch of this and never have bread sitting around. I swear it vaporizes. ;) My son, bless his heart, goes on and on to anyone who will listen about how good this bread is.