Rustic Bread This recipe is adapted from one that ... - WordPress.com

Rustic Bread This recipe is adapted from one that King Arthur Flour designed for a bread machine. It was called “In Search of the Perfect Rustic Loaf”. I like experimenting with bread recipes, but this is definitely my fall-back. I love this bread. I usually double the recipe to make three round loaves or two oval loaves. Sponge: 1 cup warm water 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast 1 1/4 cups bread flour a dash – 1-2 tablespoons – each of whole wheat flour, rye flour, and cornmeal Mix the ingredients together, cover the bowl with plastic, and let rise overnight – maybe 12 hours or so. Full dough: 1 cup warm water 1 tablespoon sea salt 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast 3 cups bread flour, more or less ½ cup rye flour if you have it, or whole wheat flour if you don’t. Stir up the sponge and, if it’s dry, cut it into smallish pieces with a knife or fork. I pour the warm water over the sponge and stir it until it hopefully becomes a uniform gluey mass. I’m not sure if that’s how you’re supposed to do it or not. Then, I add a cup of bread flour, the yeast, salt, and sugar, and stir it together. Then, the rye flour. Then, the rest of the bread flour. The amount of flour is not exact. You have to make the dough the right consistency, which is something that must be learned. I like a fairly slack dough, but it has to hold together and not stick to your hands too much when you knead it, which is the next step. Don’t over-knead, but make sure it’s a cohesive dough ball with uniform structure. Next, put the dough ball back into a bowl, cover it with plastic, and let it rise for a couple of hours. If it doesn’t rise a ton, don’t worry – remember, this is more or less sourdough, and you’re not using a packet of yeast for each loaf! It will still rise once you put it in the oven. Anyway, after the first rise, knead it a bit and then shape it. You can shape it however you want. The best description of how to make oval loaves that I have read is in Jeffrey Hamelman’s book Bread. Just make sure that however you shape it, you have a way to hold it in that shape during the second rise, or else your lovely loaf will flatten out like a pancake. The second rise should be an hour or more. Finally, stick it in an oven that’s running about 425 degrees. Throw some ice cubes in the bottom before you put the bread in – the steam will give the bread a nice crust. You can throw a few more in as it’s baking. The bake time depends on your loaves’ size and shape, so just pay attention.