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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Rustic Bread At Home

For the past few days I've been experimenting making bread at home.  My goal was to find something that came close to the flavor of Sullivan Street Bakerys Integrale Bread.  I find this to be one of the tastiest breads they make and it's wonderful with cheese & wine as well as eggs & bacon.  Recently I noticed the flavor and texture of their Integrale Bread changed and so I'm on a quest to try and make some at home. Considering the facts:  I don't know what types or brands of four they're using. I chose flours I could easily find in the supermarket, Whole Foods and my local Italian food store.

I started using Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread.  Don't get turned off by the photo they posted on the website even though it's pretty gross looking.  Yours will look infinitely better ~ mine definitely did and I substituted the yeast for my sourdough starter. I also found this wonderful website Turn Table Kitchen .




The recipe adapted from Turn Table Kitchen
Jim Lahey’s Pane Integrale recipe adapted from:
My Bread by Jim Lahey 
makes 1 loaf of bread
2 1/4 cups of bread flour (You can also use a combination of 00 and all purpose which I did)
3/4 cup of white whole wheat flour (Rye Flour can also be used)
1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast (I substituted 1 teaspoon of fresh yeast)
1 1/3 cup of cool water (around 60 degrees F)
cornmeal, for dusting - (I omitted this but it will help get the dough off the towel)
a 4 1/2 – 5 1/2 quart dutch oven (with a lid)
1. Combine the flours, yeast and salt in a medium bowl. Pour in the water and use your hands to mix the ingredients until you have a very wet, very sticky dough (about 30 seconds).
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the bowl sit at room temperature, in a draft-free spot for 12-18 hours (until the dough is more than doubled and is covered with bubbles).
3. Dust a work surface with flour and scrape the dough out of the bowl with a spatula. Flour your hands a bit and fold the edges of the dough towards each other just a few times (until the dough is round).
4. Dust a tea towl with cornmeal and place the dough gently inside. Wrap the towl loosely around the dough (make sure the edges are free at the top, allowing the dough to expand inside). Let rise for another 1-2 hours at room temperature. You’ll know the dough is ready if you poke your finger in the dough and it does not spring back.
5. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F and place the dutch oven (with the lid on) inside the oven for about 30 minutes, as the oven preheats.
6. Carefully take the pot out of the oven. Unfold the tea towl and nudge the dough into the pot, seam side up. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, remove the lid from the pot and continue baking for 15- 30 minutes more (until the crust is nicely browned–but not blackened–and some cracks develop at the top).
8. Remove from the oven and carefully take the bread out of the pot and place on a cooling rack. Wait to eat until cooled (this will allow the inside to firm up).

Have Fun & Enjoy!