Crusty Bread with Minimal Effort
Hi from California (Covid lockdown land). Today is Easter 2020, and I’m cooking up a storm for my little family of three. One of the things I‘ve made is my favorite bread.
This bread I measure with weight, so you do need a good scale, and I use metric for this one (because I worked outside of the USA for years and prefer metrics). So you need a scale you can switch to grams for this one. If you don’t mind being less precise, and just can’t figure out metric weight, I did include American Standard equivalencies for the mathematically timid. You also need:
A pizza peel
Pizza stone
Corn meal
I made two versions from the starter; a Boule and a Pain D’epi. Today I’m going to share the method for the boule, I’ll record the Pain D’epi another day. Enjoy!!!
Crusty Boule
340 grams lukewarm water (1 1/2 cups)
5 grams granulated yeast (1/2 Tbs)
12 grams kosher or sea salt (1 3/4 tsp.)
455 grams All purpose or bread flour ( Either one works-3 1/4 cups)
In a large sealable container whisk together the water, yeast, and salt. Add the flour and mix together with your fingers (yes this is messy, but the easiest way).
Once you have a loose, shaggy dough, cover loosely and let rise on the counter 2 hours.
Place the starter in the fridge for 24hours-5 days. The longer the dough rests, the more complex the flavor.
Remove the dough and roll into a tight ball like this:
Place your dough ball onto a pizza peel generously speared with corn meal and cover.
Let rise 90-120 minutes. 45 minutes before baking set your pizza stone in the oven, and turn the heat to 525. Place a metal (DO NOT USE GLASS IT WIL SHATTER) baking dish under the stones on the oven floor.
Once you are ready to bake, coat the dough liberally with flour and slash with a sharp knife or dough blade several times over its top.
Heat about a cup of water to boiling. Slide the dough into the oven, pour the water into the baking dish and close the door quickly. Turn the over down to 450F, and bake 25-35 minutes (until your bread is as dark as you prefer it to be). Remove to a wire rack and cool. If you put your ear to the cooling loaf, you should hear it crackling away as it cools!
Slice as desired and serve slightly warm.
This bread I measure with weight, so you do need a good scale, and I use metric for this one (because I worked outside of the USA for years and prefer metrics). So you need a scale you can switch to grams for this one. If you don’t mind being less precise, and just can’t figure out metric weight, I did include American Standard equivalencies for the mathematically timid. You also need:
A pizza peel
Pizza stone
Corn meal
I made two versions from the starter; a Boule and a Pain D’epi. Today I’m going to share the method for the boule, I’ll record the Pain D’epi another day. Enjoy!!!
Crusty Boule
340 grams lukewarm water (1 1/2 cups)
5 grams granulated yeast (1/2 Tbs)
12 grams kosher or sea salt (1 3/4 tsp.)
455 grams All purpose or bread flour ( Either one works-3 1/4 cups)
In a large sealable container whisk together the water, yeast, and salt. Add the flour and mix together with your fingers (yes this is messy, but the easiest way).
Once you have a loose, shaggy dough, cover loosely and let rise on the counter 2 hours.
Place the starter in the fridge for 24hours-5 days. The longer the dough rests, the more complex the flavor.
Remove the dough and roll into a tight ball like this:
Place your dough ball onto a pizza peel generously speared with corn meal and cover.
Once you are ready to bake, coat the dough liberally with flour and slash with a sharp knife or dough blade several times over its top.
Heat about a cup of water to boiling. Slide the dough into the oven, pour the water into the baking dish and close the door quickly. Turn the over down to 450F, and bake 25-35 minutes (until your bread is as dark as you prefer it to be). Remove to a wire rack and cool. If you put your ear to the cooling loaf, you should hear it crackling away as it cools!
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