And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. (Ps. 104)
If you can tie your laces you can make yeast bread. I generally make two 2lb. loaves using 3 lbs. of plain flour (not the strong sort) and 1lb. of coarse stone ground wholemeal flour. I use the sponge method. Into 4 cups or so of lukewarm water I add a sachet of yeast. To this I add a tablespoon of sugar stirring it in and leaving it for 5 mins. after which I add 1lb. of white flour and mix it up well. After an hour set aside it will be quite active. I then add the rest of the flour with 4 teaspoons of salt, you can add less if you want. The dough should be quite wet and as you knead it will be sticking to the table but staying quite intact. Push it away from you with the heel of your hand and fold it back on itself to capture some air. My experiments with wetness of the mix have led me to conclude that the only problem with too wet is that it makes voids in whole wheat bread as it steams. Sticking to the table but not in massive lumps is the golden mean.
That mix will take a few hours to double in size. Then you knock it back, divide and put into greased tins to double once more. Into a pre-heated oven of 210 C. for 40 mins. The secret of non-sticking bread tins is never to wash them.
The bread in the pic looks more done that it is.
2 comments:
Your loaves carry themselves with a lot more altitude than do mine. Maybe I'm not letting the dough stay wet and sticky enough while kneading -- I'll try that variation next time. Last night I made tiramisu using cream cheese instead of mascarpone, and it turned out fine.
Simple declarative bread is a small good thing.
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