BAKE BREAD

I came across this recipe to make homemade bread:

INGREDIENTS:

16 ounces bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1 teaspoon instant rapid rise yeast
10 ounces bottled or filtered water
2 teaspoons salt


PREPARATION:

-Combine 5 ounces of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast, all of the honey, and all of the bottled water in a straight-sided container; cover loosely and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours (overnight is best).
Why do we do this? Well, yeast does two things for bread: it leavens the bread and it adds flavor/texture to the bread. The problem is that to properly leaven the bread, yeast needs to reproduce quickly (to produce the gasses inside the bread), and to provide the proper flavor/texture it needs to reproduce slowly. The way around this is to make the pre-ferment or "sponge." By putting the yeasty mixture into the refrigerator, you slow down the fermentation process. This lets the dough absorb some of the gasses let off by the yeast (yielding a softer dough later on) and gives the bread an aged flavor. (You may think that "aged" doesn't sound good for bread, but it is.) And lastly, the extra time and hydration helps to form the gluten strands that are so very important for bread dough.

-Place the remaining 11 ounces of flour, remaining yeast, and all the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the pre-ferment from the refrigerator. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the mixture on low for 2 to 3 minutes just until it comes together. Cover the dough in the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, knead the dough on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until you are able to gently pull the dough into a thin sheet that light will pass through. The dough will be sticky, but not so sticky that you can't handle it.
(Though the mixer does make things easier and quicker, hand kneading is another path to the same destination.)

-While the dough is kneading, pour half of the hot water into a shallow pan and place on the bottom rack of your oven. A glass baking dish works well.
Grease the inside of a large straight-sided container with the vegetable oil. Place the dough ball into the container and set on the rack above the pan of water. Allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 2 hours. (The hot water does two things: It warms the dough to let it rise faster and it keeps the air inside the oven moist, keeping the dough from forming a dry skin on top.)

-Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it onto a counter top, lightly dust your hands with flour, and press the dough out with your knuckles; then fold 1 side in towards the middle of the mass and then the other, as if you were making a tri-fold wallet. Repeat the folding a second time. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for another 10 minutes.
Flatten the dough again with your knuckles and then fold the dough in onto itself, like you are shaping something that looks like a jellyfish. Turn the dough over and squeeze the bottom together so that the top surface of the dough is smooth.
Place the dough back onto the counter and begin to roll gently between your hands. Do not grab the dough but allow it to move gently back and forth between your hands, moving in a circular motion. The point of this is to tighten up the skin of the doughball as much as possible.

-Move the dough ball to a pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal (so it can slide off later). Cover with the kitchen towel and allow to bench proof for 1 hour, or until you poke the dough and it quickly fills back in where you poked it.
Place an unglazed terra cotta dish upside down into the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Be sure to put the dish into the cold oven. Terra cotta needs to heat and cool slowly and evenly or else it will crack. To ensure a properly pre-heated oven, turn it on while you let the dough bench proof for the final hour.
(The point of the dish is that terra cotta is made of earth. While metal conducts heat, earth will absorb and radiate heat. The physics behind the amount, rate, and direction of the heat need not be fully understood to appreciate that it helps your bread come out right.)

-Combine the 1/3 cup of water and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Uncover the dough and brush the surface with this mixture.
Gently slash the top surface of the dough ball in several places, approximately 1/3 to 1/2-inch deep. The standard would be the shape of a square on top of the loaf, but you can do an X on top, slash lines, whatever you would like.
Add more of the hot water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated. Slide the bread onto the terra cotta dish in the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes (this can vary in practice depending on how hot and what size your oven is). Once the bread has reached an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F, remove to a cooling rack and allow to sit for 30 minutes before slicing.


I know this looks long and hard, but it's worth it.....bake yummy bread! Then share!


xoxo RitzyNina