Ingredients
- Sponge:
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour or kamut
- 3/8 t instant yeast
- 1 1/4 t honey
- 1 1/3 cups of water at room temperature
- Flour Mixture:
- 1 3/4 cups plus 2 T bread flour
- 1/2 t instant yeast
- 1 1/2 t salt
Preparation
Step 1
Make a sponge:
In a bowl, whisk together 1 cup bread flour , 1/4 cup of whole wheat flout, 3/8 t instant yeast, 1 1/4 t honey and 1 1/3 cups of water at room temperature. Mix until very smooth, about two minutes, and set aside covered with plastic wrap.
Make flour mixture:
Whisk together 1 3/4 cups plus 2 T bread flour (add, ahem, another 1/3 cup of if using reguar unbleached flour), and 1/2 t instant yeast.
Combine:
This is interesting. Just scrape the flour mixture on top of the sponge, cover with plastic again, and set it aside at room temperature. No mixing. In the next couple of hours, the sponge will ferment up over the flour. I left mine for two hours, which was successful, but apparently the longer the better. Four hours would be good.
Mix:
With a dough hook, mix the dough-in-process for about a minute (at #2 on a Kitchenaid), put the plastic wrap back on and set aside for 20 minutes. Then sprinkle 1 1/2 t salt on top of the dough and knead with the dough hook for about seven minutes (using setting #4 on the Kitchenaid).
First rise:
Scape the dough into an oiled bowl and oil the top. Cover with plastic wrap again (I kept using the same piece over and over) and set in a warm place to rise. If you are lucky enough to have a sauna that you have used earlier in the day, that’s a great place for the dough. OK, doesn’t apply to many of you, but it works at our house.
Second rise:
When the dough has doubled in size, take it out, put it on a floured surface, and pat it down into a rectangle. Fold the rectangle up as if you were folding a letter, then round the edges. Put it back in the bowl, put the plastic wrap back on, and put it back in the sauna. Well, wherever.
Get the oven going:
Preheat the oven to 475. If you have a baking stone, put it in on the lowest rack. If you don’t, put a sheet pan on the rack. Somehow wedge a small, heat-proof pan onto the floor of your oven.
Shaping and third rise:
After another hour or so when the dough has redoubled, take it out and put it on a floured surface. Gently shape it into a ball. Transfer the ball to a small cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Oil it one more time, cover it with that ratty old piece of plastic wrap and let it rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. You don’t need the sauna this time.
Cook the damn thing, finally.
Right before cooking, slash the top (decoratively if you can) with a sharp knife and mist the top with water. Put the cookie sheet on top of the baking stone or sheet pan. Gingerly toss some ice cubes into the pan in the bottom of the oven, shut the door and wait while things start to smell good. After ten minutes, turn the oven down to 425. The bread is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 200 degree. Berenbaum says this will be another 20-30 minutes, but mine took less than 15 more (or 25 total).
Cool:
On a wire rack. All the way. Really. When finally cool, slice a piece off, coat with butter and celebrate your fearlessness.