LATE NIGHT BREAD2 1/2 cups bread flour1 cup AP flour1/2 cup...
LATE NIGHT BREAD
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup stone ground wheat flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
1/2 cup warm water
(organic everything)
Mix well the yeast, water, and sugar in a cup. Warm water means that when you put it on your wrist, it feels neither hot nor cold. Allow to fester fifteen or thirty minutes, until nice n' frothy.
Mix the flours and salt in a large bowl with the yeast mixture and an additional cup of water. Mix, mix, mix some more. You want the dough to not stick to the sides of the bowl or to your hands, but still be a little tacky. A little bit more water may be needed or a little bit more flour. Fuck around with it until it is awesome.
Knead and knead some more until soft and elastic.
Shape into a ball and coat with a touch of oil so it doesn't dry out. I use e.v.o.o., also organic. Put into a bowl to rise. In a half hour or so, it should be a lot bigger. Normal recipes say it should be double in size, but who the hell measures?
Take the ball out and smash it and knead it again a few times. Shape once more into a ball and coat lightly with oil. Put back into the bowl and allow to rise again, again for another half hour or so.
Take the ball out and flatten it into a rectangle about the length of your bread pan. Roll into a loaf shape and put into the pan. Slice the top three times with a razor blade you get from the bathroom. Be sure to use a new blade and not the one with tiny, pepper-like black hairs on it or the remnants of Musgo Real shaving cream (which all male bakers should use for the perfect loaf).
Allow the bread to rise until it is sticking about an inch above the pan. At this point, your oven should be heated to 425 degrees American. Do not pre-heat your oven. It is impossible. What, are you going to heat it before you heat it? No, you're not. Just heat it.
Put the bread in for 35 minutes. You can coat the top with a little oil, or with some egg white mixed with water. If you do that, you can sprinkle on sesame seeds, which stick. Tonight, I skipped this very last step, but know that if you choose to do it your bread will be 10-15% awesomer.
French toast in the morning. Yer all invited.
