Midnight Snack Series: Bread!

my bread. fresh out of the oven. phew!

I have three ultimate baking fears: yeast, candy thermometers, and meringue. Well this week I am trying to overcome them! As you can see from the photo above, I succeeded in making bread. So this is kinda like telling you a love story when you know the main characters get together. But isn't it really about the journey? So here goes...

Yeast has always been my number one baking fear. Sure, I've worked with it before, but I could never get it to rise properly. It became frustrating, especially when my very basic bread would turn out dense and have that yeasty taste. Ick. And not having a Kitchenaid made it more difficult--my mixer doesn't have a paddle attachment, and the dough hooks (yes, there are two. and they are not that much different from the beaters) does not mix the dough easily. I know I can knead by hand, but there is always more room for error--especially with the addition of all that extra flour.

So when it came down to it, I just let yeast dough go. And I missed out on a whole world of tasty treats. Breads, croissants, bagels, pastries. Sigh. Then one day I was watching Good Eats (a new obsession), and started discussing instant yeast. It doesn't need to proof ahead of time--it can be tossed straight in with ingredients to make the dough. Well, I thought, how hard could that be?

So I set out to make Alton's Very Basic Bread Recipe, which was featured on the episode Dr. Strangeloaf. And though I will repeat the ingredients and instructions below, with my notes, I highly encourage you to all watch the episode to get the full story.

Ingredients:
1 pound bread flour (I used a scale, but you can find an online chart to convert to cups)
1 teaspoon instant, or rapid rise, yeast
2 teaspoons honey
10 ounces filtered water
2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 quarts hot water
Vegetable oil, for greasing rising container
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
note: some sort of pizza stone is required for this step. If you don't have one, Target sells this Bialetti for $15 (and it comes with a pizza cutter!). If you don't want to spend that much, you can do what Alton does: use an unglazed terracotta saucer from the hardware store (still costs about $7).

Directions:
The first step is to create the pre-ferment. This should be done the night before, unless you want to bake bread at midnight (which, coincidentally, I did!). Combine 5 ounces of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast, the 2 tablespoons of honey, and the 10 ounces of filtered water. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. I was nervous and hoped that this science worked!

My pre-ferment seemed fine after 8 1/2 hours, and so I proceeded to the next step. In the large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, combine the remaining 11 ounces of flour, the 3/4 teaspoon of yeast, and 2 teaspoons of salt with the pre-ferment. Use a dough hook to knead the mixture on low for 2-3 minutes. The mixture should just come together. Cover the dough in the bowl with a towel for 20 minutes.

Uncover the dough and knead with dough hook for 5-10 minutes on medium speed. For me, this was a little more complicated with my dough hooks. As you can see, it tends to flatten the dough out instead of move and knead the dough around the bowl. But I used my spatula to keep it going, and prayed to the bread gods to let it work. I used Alton's membrane test to check and see if the dough was ready (see the video).

Alton lets his dough rise in an uncovered (and lightly greased) container in the oven (not turned on). Pour the 2 quarts of water in to a shallow pan and place it on the bottom rack of the oven, with the container of dough above it. This allows the dough to rise in a warm and humid environment for 1-2 hours. It took 1 1/2 hours for my dough to double in size.

This waiting process was the most difficult for me. And I admit I was shocked to find that my dough had actually risen! Once it has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured counter top or cutting board. Now the final knead (again, see video). Press the dough out with your knuckles, redistributing the air bubbles, then fold it into thirds. Press the dough out again and repeat the folding process. Cover dough with a towel for another 10 minutes.

Flatten the dough once more with your knuckles, then fold the dough in on itself to create a "jellyfish" (really, what you are looking for is a nice sphere with a taught outer skin). Place the dough on the counter and roll gently between hands. Move the dough onto a pizza peel (cookie sheet or cutting board will suffice) dusted with the cornmeal. This will make it easier to transfer to the pizza stone in the oven.  Cover once more with a kitchen towel and let bench proof for 1 hour (the final rise).

Place your pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add more water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated in the oven. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl.

Once the dough has risen for 1 hour, uncover and glaze the surface with the cornstarch mixture (for a crispy crust). Slash the top surface of the dough in a box pattern. This allows the bread to expand in the oven (approximately 1/2 inch deep). Slide the dough off of the pizza peel onto the stone. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Do not open the oven during this time.

I baked my bread for a solid 55 minutes. When it was done, I was shocked at how beautiful it looked! Had I made bread? I took it out of the oven and followed Alton's last, and very important, direction: let sit on a cooling rack for 30 minutes.

By 1:30 am my bread was done! Will had arrived 15 minutes earlier, and we sat with our mouths watering waiting for the bread to finish. I cut into the loaf and it was perfect on the inside. We covered our slices with butter and ate. And it was bread! It was crunchy crust and fluffy warm inside. There was no hint of a yeasty taste!

I couldn't quite believe my luck. With some discipline and the right tools, I had finally made a decent bread. My fear of yeast was conquered! Well, almost. I plan to replicate this recipe on Thursday, so here's hoping it was more skill and less of a happy accident. Alton's recipe deviates from the normal bread making instructions, but it worked. I recommend this to anyone who wants to get serious about making bread.

Happy Snacking!

Antonia