Steps
These steps are the ones I follow to make my daily bread. There is always (a) a starter being fed, (b) a bowl with dough or batter in it on the counter, and (c) a basket or two in the fridge, in my kitchen.
Can someone tell me which of these steps is unneeded or even harmful to the production of great bread? I would appreciate any tweaks or deletions or additions that might be suggested.
The Steps
Pour starter from its vessel into my bowl.
Add lukewarm water and AP flour to make a batter.
Let that sit for a few hours or overnight.
Add flours to make a dough, salt also.
Give three hours to the act of half-hourly folding.
Shape loaves & into proofing baskets.
Refrigerate overnight.
Pull from fridge and let sit while oven reaches temp. Turn oven on now.
Preheat oven to 500 with dutch ovens inside while loaves sit on counter, post fridge.
Place loaves in dutch ovens.
Bake at 500 for 10 to 15, then at 450 for 35 to 40.
Cool until cool.
Any cool magic tricks out there?
Comments
curious as to why the change?
Any chance we can see the inside? We're a bit voyeuristic that way... ;)
oops
this one is almost entirely AP flour by request from a friend who has an aversion to brown breads. i like the crumb better in my darker loaves, more beautiful holes . . .
mine get the blame for my all-too-frequent 'oops' messages!
Looks quite nice inside, as well as out, and would no doubt make a delightful sandwich. Mine also tend to be browner than white, and peppered with any number of extra surprises. It has been a while since I made a white bread, but it's on my short list. Perhaps in time, your friend will come to better appreciate some variety...
Best baking!
Cathy
FYS 094-01. Bread. This class is an investigation of bread. Our investigation will lead us to understand bread through the filters of science and technology, politics, art, poetry, and religion; through our own experience making and eating bread (yes, lots of delicious bread!); through the methods of production and distribution of bread in local, national, and global markets. The course will unpack our relationship with bread and the many ways it informs our cultural and political worldview
You are a teacher...at one of the most expensive institutions of higher education in the USA...best of luck with the course...I may audit it...but your skin is far too thin and needs to thicken...peace!!
PS You never answered my question...why you changed the name of your blog...breakingbreadfixesus...Best!!
Hi fotomat1 -- I am not sure why you say I have thin skin. If you go back through our exchanges, the comments about 'trying to be done here' and 'taking the bait' are both based on my impression that the internet is too often a space for anonymous antagonism--the very culture that has made me wary of trying blogs out much until now. I guess I am suspicious of the format. Beyond that, you will recall that when called on to justify the course, I did so to my best ability. When others stepped in to comment that your treatment of the exchange was harsh, even boorish, it was I who defended you and pointed out my own shortcomings (idiots like me and other such statements) and noted the ways my blog may have offended (the Jesus analogy) or failed to inform (my failure to fully explain the nature of the course from the outset). What I did not do is whine or cry foul. Working artists cannot survive long with a thin skin--our world is rife with rejection letters and failed artist grant applications, far more than the accepted applications, just the nature of the field. I'd guess for every art project commission I receive or exhibition I am invited to join I am turned down for 5 or 6. No room for bruised egos there.
The blog name: after starting this I was thinking about a performance piece I am doing with bread in Miami this winter. I decided to use that title for the performance piece and changed the name to 'bakers are such nice people' to remind myself to be less suspicious of blog/social media culture, as in "Bakers are such nice people, why not try a blog at a baking site?"
I see you have done some research into the course I am teaching! Strange to see the description posted here by someone else, and someone I do not know, no less. Nor having named the school where I teach. Where I teach is a lovely place. I am honored to work with such excellent students and faculty. Peace to you fotomat1!