Guilty of oversharing on pictures again. I had been having trouble with my ho-made bread (too often too
rustico), so tried a different approach (same-day, lots of yeast). Worked out very well.
View attachment 62341
Paul, any chance on sharing the full recipe for your bread. It looks magnificent and takes me back to days in Italy. I can make a meal on bread, cheese and wine. Thanks.
Sure. The yeast treatment I describe below is not my usual one, as described later. Also, I prefer to measure my ingredients by weight, but my scale broke; Amazon has been telling me the replacement will ship "any day now" for about 4 weeks. So I am using volumes below. All mixing is done by hand, i.e., I do not use an electric mixer.
Timing: I started this about 10 in the morning.
I used 1.5 cups bread flour, and 1.5 cups whole wheat. Added 1.5 tsp salt. I proofed 2 tsp of quick-rise yeast in 1/4 cup of ~110F water with 0.5 tsp sugar for 10 minutes or so, until nicely foaming. Mixed that in to the flour, then added another ~1.25 cups warm water. (I do the water addition by feel and appearance. It is easy to add too much, but I got it right this time.)
After mixing, I cover the dough with a plastic bag, to prevent the surface from drying out. After a half hour or so, I "fold" the dough: pull the dough from the side up over the top of the ball, then turn the bowl 1/4 turn and repeat, all the way around. This leaves you with a nice ball. I do that every so often, like maybe once an hour.
Yesterday, I did that last at about 1 pm, then went out for a walk for 2.5 hours (not all walking!) . When I got back, the dough was WAY overinflated, and I feared it would be "wholly holey." I removed the plastic bag, and the dough deflated before my eyes. I punched down, and folded again.
Shortly thereafter, I shaped the dough. Here, you throw the doughball onto a floured surface, and fold one more time, so most of the outside is now floured lightly. Then turn it upside down on a non-floured surface. You grasp the ball, with your pinky fingers against the surface, and pull the dough ball toward you, stretching and tautening the surface. Give a quarter turn and repeat 6 or 8 times. The surface that is now "up" will be the bottom of the loaf. Then put more flour in a bowl (as a release agent), put your doughball upside down in the bowl, and let it rest for another hour (if you have the time -- I think I cut it to 1/2 hour yesterday).
Preheat your oven to 450F, and put your enameled cast-iron dutch oven there to preheat. When hot, place your dough on a piece of parchment paper, plop it in the dutch oven, cover, and bake for 1/2 hour. Then remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.
This basic procedure is from
Flour Water Salt Yeast, which
@Boatboy24 turned me on to. (He is a much more experienced baker than I am, so listen to him, not me.) However, where this batch differed was that I had been making the bread the night before, and using far less yeast, just a pinch of regular (not quick-rise) yeast (as directed). But the size of my holes were hit-or-miss, often with huge cavities. So I decided to make same-day bread, and then used a more traditional amount of yeast (according to the instructions on the yeast jar).
. Basic rub that I had leftover from the last time I did a pork butt. Then some homemade sauce about 10 minutes before I took them off.
![[Upgraded] 9Pcs Tree Root Growing Box with Drain Holes, Half Transparent Plant Rooting Propagation Ball & Metal Core Twist Ties, for Fast Propagation Plants (Size M)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514MWQxtWOL._SL500_.jpg)
