Ahhh, the smell of bread right out of the oven – is there anything like it? I’ve been baking so much (and so well!) lately that you’d think I was the one raised in a pasticceria by multiple generations of artisanal bakers from the old country, rather than Big Chew. In fact, I was raised by a workaholic, immigrant father who didn’t have the time to cook (and probably couldn’t find any authentic ingredients while living in Iowa anyway), and a mother who liked the idea of cooking more than the act itself and was too busy chasing three kids around that she always served everything in a casserole or a crock pot because, well, that’s probably all she had the energy or inclination to do.
Be that as it may, both of my siblings and I all have an innate passion for food, and (luckily, thankfully!) the natural skills to back it up. Our individual interests are quite varied (my brother bow hunts, I’m vegan, my sister falls somewhere in between), but in our own kitchens, on our own terms, we represent. For me personally, the one area I’ve been really hesitant to explore is baking. Part of it is that I don’t have a sweet tooth. Another is that I’m always chasing Little Chew around – if kneading chickpea cutlets, those oh-so-forgiving, practically foolproof cutlets, is still an exercise in futility – why would I even consider trying to make a loaf of bread? From scratch? One word – pride. About only thing I don’t make from scratch is fresh bread. Also, I just got tired of running to the market every other day and paying five or six bucks for what amounts to about fifty cents’ worth of ingredients.
I have dozens of cookbooks, several years’ worth of multiple cooking magazines, and a binder stuffed with other recipes I’ve collected – all of which are cataloged in my mind just in case. Eager to justify my personal little library, I knew exactly which two recipes I wanted to try.
Both of these recipes rely on long fermentation and are mostly hands-off. Timing the fermentation, proofing, and baking is a little tricky at first, but time is flavor where bread is concerned, and it is well worth the wait. The first recipe is one I came across in the New York Times a few years ago; it yields the best home-baked crust I have ever tasted – you would need a steam-injected oven to create the same results. The second recipe is the basis for an entire cook book.
Recipe #1: Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread 
One 1 1/2 pound loaf
- 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 5/8 cups filtered water
- Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest (ferment) at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice (you’ll want to use a scraper for this, the dough is too wet to handle). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Line a colander or basket with a cotton towel (not terry cloth) that is generously coated with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball and place seam side down in the colander (again, I found the dough too wet to handle; I just plopped it directly into the colander). Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
If you want to add anything to the dough (fresh herbs, olives, etc), just do it in the first step when you’re mixing the other ingredients. A good rule of thumb is 2 tablespoons of fresh herbs, or 1/2 cup total of more substantial ingredients.
This next recipe is from Charles Van Over’s book “The Best Bread Ever.” I picked this book up a few years ago at the Printer’s Row book fair on a whim, and it convinced me that, building on one very simple recipe, you can make just about anything. So far, this recipe has not failed to deliver (homemade bagels, anyone?).
Recipe # 2: Charles Van Over’s The Best Bread Ever 
One 1 1/2 pound loaf
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- scant 1 1/4 cup filtered water
1. Place the flour, salt, and yeast in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. With the machine running, pour all but 2 tablespoons of the water through the feed tube. Process for 20 seconds, adding the remaining water if the dough seems crumbly and dry and does not come together into a ball during this time. Continue mixing the dough another 25 seconds, for a total of 45 seconds. Your dough should be in a sticky, shaggy ball.
2. Remove the dough from the processor and place it in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours. This will allow a slow, cool fermentation. The dough may increase in volume somewhat, but not very much.
3. After the fermentation time has passed, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least half an hour. When it has warmed, turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape into a boule. Line a colander with a cotton (not terrycloth) towel and sprinkle with flour. Place the boule seam side up in the colander, lightly sprinkle the exposed dough with flour, cover with the edges of the towel, and let rest for another two hours. This is the final proofing stage, and most likely your dough will almost double in bulk. When your dough is done proofing, it will be softer to the touch than before, and will spring back slightly when touched.
4. One hour before baking, put the oven rack on the second shelf from the bottom and place a baking stone on the rack. Place a small pan (I use a pie plate) with one cup of water on the oven floor. Preheat the oven to 475°F.
5. Uncover the loaf. Place it seam side down on a peel or on the back of a baking sheet that has been lightly sprinkled with cornmeal or flour. Sprinkle the loaf lightly with flour, and slash the top several times with a sharp knife razor blade. I find that slashing a tic-tac-toe pattern works nicely.
6. Carefully pour another cup of warm water into the pan on the oven floor. Slide the loaf onto the baking stone in the oven. Reduce the heat to 450°F.
7. Bake the loaf for 40 to 45 minutes, adding water periodically as needed. When it is done, the crust will be golden brown, and tapping the loaf will result in a hollow sound. Or, insert an instant-read thermometer into the bread, and if the internal temperature is 205°F to 210°F, the bread is done. I get very impatient/hungry, so I prefer to rely on the internal temperature.
8. Remove the bread from the oven and immediately place the loaf on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing or storing.
If you want to make an herb bread, add 2 tablespoons fresh herbs to the dry ingredients at the very beginning (in the food processor). If you want to add something a little more substantial (like olives or sun dried tomatoes), fold them into the dough with a scraper on a lightly floured surface before you put it into a bowl to ferment in the refrigerator.
And that’s it! The majority of the time is spent just waiting; it probably takes longer to read through the directions than it does to perform the steps.
