Well, about the only thing between you and having your own loaf at home just like it is possibly the baking stone -- though in a pinch a cast iron frying pan, unglazed tile, or a big terra cotta planter saucer will do. The rest of the process is so easy it's crazy. Three cups lukewarm water (100°F or somewhat less), 6.5 cups all purpose flour, 1.5 T yeast, 1 T salt. Stir it all up until there's no dry flour, cover it with a towel and let it sit for 2 hours (or longer is fine too). When ready to bake, put a metal broiler pan (empty) on the lower rack of the oven and your baking stone in the middle rack, preheat to 450°. Sprinkle a liberal amount of flour on top of the dough, and carve a chunk off the dough about the size of a grapefruit, form it into a round loaf by stretching and tucking the dough under the bottom (or you can roll it long, cut in thirds, and braid, like I do), sprinkle the top generously with flour, and let it sit for 20 minutes on a cornmeal strewn peel (or you can use a cookie sheet, as long as it doesn't have a lip all around). Pop that in the oven on the baking stone, and pour a cup of cold water into the broiler pan and close up the oven quick and set a timer for 30 minutes. Pull that puppy out and good luck waiting until it's cool.
The rest of the dough (and there will be enough for two more loaves left, at least) goes in the fridge in a covered container for the next time you want fresh bread -- it's supposed to store several weeks that way, but I have yet to make it to the outer limit. Among other things, between the baking stone and the dough ready to go, it's really easy to do midweek home made pizza.
Fancifications I do -- add a bit of beet syrup (molasses, effectively, and honey would work too) to the warm water to give the yeastie beasties extra feed, also a generous sprinkling of dried minced onion, which give s a mild oniony flavor to the final loaf that I like, and this time I substituted sesame seeds for the flour sprinkling on the loaf top. I've also been playing with a mixture of bread flour and all purpose flour to get it extra chewy, but none of these are crucial.
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Date: 2014-03-23 06:09 pm (UTC)The rest of the dough (and there will be enough for two more loaves left, at least) goes in the fridge in a covered container for the next time you want fresh bread -- it's supposed to store several weeks that way, but I have yet to make it to the outer limit. Among other things, between the baking stone and the dough ready to go, it's really easy to do midweek home made pizza.
Fancifications I do -- add a bit of beet syrup (molasses, effectively, and honey would work too) to the warm water to give the yeastie beasties extra feed, also a generous sprinkling of dried minced onion, which give s a mild oniony flavor to the final loaf that I like, and this time I substituted sesame seeds for the flour sprinkling on the loaf top. I've also been playing with a mixture of bread flour and all purpose flour to get it extra chewy, but none of these are crucial.