"Easy" Bread

Once upon a time I decided to go down the bread rabbit hole. Still can't keep a good starter going but I've found Brian Lagerstrom's brilliant guide. Because I'm a poor plebe, I don't have a dutch oven so I use a big roasting pan turned upside-down on top of my pizza stone or cookie sheet. Breadmaking is possible, you just need to measure everything exactly and remember to start the day before you want to have delicious bread.

For the poolish

Combine the water, yeast, and bread flour in a bowl. Keep it covered at room temperature at least four hours but preferably for 24. You'll get a gloopy bubbly mess. That means your yeast is happy.

For the dough

In a medium bowl, mix the water, instant yeast, and ripe poolish. Add the salt, bread flour, and whole wheat flour to the bowl. Use a spoon or a dough whisk if you're fancy. Then get your hands in and mix it up until evenly mixed. Cover and let ferment for 30 minutes.

Perform a strength building fold by pulling out a handful of the dough on one side and folding it over to the other side of the dough. Rotate the bowl slightly and repeat about 7 more times, rotating the bowl after each fold. This is covered in the below video.

After the folds, grab the ball of dough, around its side/bottom, picking up the ball, rounding and rotating it, then setting it back down to tension across the top and round it onto a ball. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature again for another 30 minutes. After 30 minutes repeat the strength building folds and turn it over again. This time you'll leave it for an hour. All this adds up to two hours of rising and in the end your dough should be double the size you had in the beginning.

Now, Brian's guide has three different ways you can turn this dough into bread. I'm just going to share how to make it into a boule that will impress everyone you know.

Big Boule

Flour your work surface and gently flip the dough out onto it, and pop any large bubbles.

To shape the dough, grab a corner/side piece of the dough and pull it across to the other side of the dough, about 60% of the way across the other side of the dough. Grab another side/corner of the dough next to the first, and fold it across, about 60% of the way to the other side. Repeat all the way around the dough. You’ll do this between 7-9 times in total, popping any big bubbles that form along the way.

Flip the dough ball over so that the seam side you is against the work surface. With your hands on either side of the dough, roll the dough on its seam side to seal it and create tension across the top of the dough.

Grab a medium sized bowl that’s just bigger than the dough you just made. Line the bowl with a thin kitchen towel and dust the towel with a mix of wheat and all purpose flour. Transfer the dough ball to the floured towel-bowl, seam side up, tucking the seam once again to better seal. Fold the towel over the dough and let it proof at room temperature for 45-80 minutes until it has doubled in size. When you poke the dough, it should indent then slowly spring back.

Preheat your oven to 250C/450F with your dutch oven/pan for 30 minutes.

Carefully flip the shaped loaf into the dutch oven (seam side will now be DOWN) and score the top with a few cuts or slices.

Cover the dutch oven with the lid and bake for 18 minutes.Then remove the lid and continue baking for another 20-25 minutes, reducing the oven temp to 465F/240C.

Immediately remove from the oven and listen to the crust softly crackle and sing to you. Even if it's ugly, it's fresh bread and it's delicious.

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