E for Effort

I am part mad-scientist in my kitchen. I’d rather wear a lab coat than an apron. And after kneading many pounds of dough for sourdough bread, I’m sure the scent that clings to me is akin to that of my college lab professors – ripe and heady.

Baking can be a finicky craft, and one does have to possess a bit of a scientific mind to experiment with flour, water, and leavenings. This is precisely why I love to muck with well-written, tried and true bread and cookie recipes. It’s not broken, but I will wrap tape around it.

My basic sourdough bread recipe: 3 – 3 ½ cups flour, 1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups of warm water, 1 teaspoon of salt, starter, rise, punch down, shape, rise, bake at 450 degrees for 40 minutes, bread. While this is a tried and true technique, I seek a method that will allow a slow rise while I’m either in bed or at work. I have seen many a recipe for "no knead" bread using both commercial yeast and wild yeast. No knead bread, as the title shamelessly gives away, replaces the work of kneading bread dough with a simple, vigorous stir. No knead bread recipes still involve a bit of hovering over the shaped bread to ensure it doesn’t over proof. Besides, I enjoy kneading bread dough. It's stress relieving, and two 30 minute kneads a week count as weight training in my book. Never have I had such bulging biceps. I dare you to ask me for directions to the beach.

As long as I'm willing to ruin a few loaves through experimenting with time, a well-risen, tasty loaf of bread without having to coddle it is not diffictult to achieve. My first test at a long rise started at 6:30 on a Tuesday morning. I kneaded a dough consisting of 2 cups of 20% bran flour, 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour, 1 ½ cups warm water, 2 tablespoons of starter, and 1 teaspoon salt. After kneading, I allowed the dough to rest for 30 minutes before shaping it into a tight ball and placing it in a floured banneton. At approximately 8:00 in the morning, my bread started the long proofing process snug in its little basket. At 6:45 in the evening, I started preheating the oven to 450 degrees. As the oven heated, on the bottom rack I let a pan of hot water steam, and on the top rack, I preheated my cast iron skillet. By 7:30 in the evening the dough had almost tripled in size, and was edging towards over-proofing. In my fear of deflating the loaf, I dumped it out of the banneton and into the heated cast iron skillet a half hour earlier than I wanted. Baking wuss. However (!) the dough almost deflated as I slashed it with a clumsy yet abstract letter E.

Fresh from the oven

There isn't much oven spring, but it's still a beauty of a loaf, even with a messy, er, abstract E pattern. I did not slice the loaf until the next morning, as I wanted it to cool completely, and each slice cut beautifully. Forty minutes in the oven gave the crust a good chew, and, considering I used a good amount of whole wheat flour, the crumb has a nice, open webbing. The slices are hearty, but not dense. Overall, a wonderful bread that will not only make scrumptious grilled cheese sandwiches, but thick slices evenly toasted and slathered with butter and jam will be just blissful for breakfast.

I can hear the tea kettle's whistle now.

Will this be my new tried and true method? Perhaps. I do like the ease of only one rise while I'm at work or in bed. Next time I think I'll add some walnuts and rosemary....