Know Kneading kneeded

Wood nettle harvest

I figure I’ll take a break from poking the hornet’s nest and write about my requested bread recipe. I mean, really, who can get riled up about bread? Oh…

Anyway. I make all the bread ’round here which, as I’ve mentioned, isn’t a whole awful lot. This time of year, I make two loaves every other week or so. In the winter, we eat about half that much. All the bread I bake is sourdough, based on a starter I got going a few years back and have been faithfully tending ever since.

My bread-making history is littered with doorstops. For years, I made a lot of pig food. That changed a few years back, when I met Stu Silverstein at the Kneading Conference in Maine. I’d been invited to do a talk at the conference and Stu was there to lead a class on earth ovens, which I sat in on. At the end of the class, I bought a copy of his book Bread, Earth and Fire along with a copy of the documentary movie he made in the 70′s called Dead River Rough Cut, which you really ought to see. Supposedly, it’s the most-requested movie in the Maine state prison system. I can see why, because when you get right down to it, it’s about freedom. With the exception of one very short exchange, it’s a great family film. We’ve seen it numerous times, which might mean we have more in common with prisoners in Maine than I care to think about.

Anyway. Stu’s recipe totally changed my bread-making experience. I’ve modified it a bit over the years to include more sourdough starter and a greater percentage of fresh-ground flour. I also like to let it ferment for longer than he suggests; I typically shoot for 20-24-hours. Here’s what my two-loaf recipe looks like:

4 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour from hard winter wheat berries

3 cups boughten wheat flour (I can do it with all fresh ground, but the boughten stuff is a finer grind and probably has more gluten in it, resulting in a lighter loaf)

Approx 3-cups water

1/2 to 3/4 cup sourdough starter (I just dump a bunch in, so I’m not sure exactly how much. But plenty)

1 Tablespoon salt

I mix all this together and let it sit for 24-hours in a warm-but-not-hot place. 70-degees is about ideal. After the ferment, I take it out of the bowl and fold it a few times, then let it sit for 20-minutes or so. KNOW KNEADING KNEEDED! At that point, I divide it into loaves and let it rise in cheesecloth-lined baskets (you can see these stacked on top the cold box in the lower right hand side of the photo above) until doubled, which generally doesn’t take longer than a hour or maybe 90-minutes.

Here’s another key to making good bread: The oven has to be smokin’ hot. The average kitchen range ain’t gonna cut it. I use our wood cookstove, and I look for 600-degrees on the firebricks. Which brings me to another key: To get a good crust, you really need to use a good base (like firebricks) and cover your bread with something. I use an old metal bowl. I’ve also experimented with baking inside a cast iron dutch oven with great results. Not sure if it’s real good for the dutch oven, though. I check my bread after about 30-minutes in the oven, and maybe push it for another 10. In general, the closer you get to burning your bread without actually burning it, the better it’ll be.

Anyway. There you have it.