Based upon this simplified peasant bread recipe, this works fine for me at 6900 feet altitude, though my scale told me 512 grams of flour was about 3¼ cups, rather than the 4 called for in the recipe. My version therefore uses a mix of units. If you have a kitchen scale, you should be fine. If not, you’ll need to use your judgement.
Note also that I’ve cut the original recipe in half.
Ingredients
2C flour – I use 256 grams, which with the flours I use is more like 1½ cups
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 C lukewarm water
For greasing the bowl:
1 Tbsp butter
Special Equipment
Pyrex 1 quart glass oven-safe mixing bowl
Directions
Put all the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. 2 quart capacity or better will give you room to stir. Don’t mix the yeast and salt (put them on different sides of the bowl).
Add a cup of lukewarm water and mix with a fork until everything is pretty uniform.
Cover with plastic wrap (if in a dry climate) or a tea towel, set in a warm area, and let rise until it has doubled in volume. About 90 minutes does the trick here in Santa Fe, but might take longer at sea level.
Grease the Pyrex bowl with about a tablespoon of butter.
Using a fork, pull the dough loose from the sides of the mixing bowl, and fold it on itself so it loses most of the air (punch it down). Scoop it into the greased baking bowl and set it (uncovered) near the oven.
Begin preheating the oven to 425F.
When the oven is ready, and the bread dough has risen to the edge of the bowl or slightly above, pop it into the oven for 15 minutes at 425F.
Turn the oven down to 375F and bake the bread for 15-17 minutes more.
When the bread is done, dump it from the bowl onto a cooling rack.
If the crust looks underdone, put the bread in the 375F oven (out of the bowl) for up to another 5 minutes.
Let the bread cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it.
Enjoy!
Above, I don’t specify what type of flour. I’ve made this with at least 1 cup of bread flour every time, but the remainder of the flour has been corn, rice, and rye (so far). They’ve all turned out well, though the rye needed a little extra water to be the right consistency. Feel free to experiment! It’s a small batch, and goes pretty quickly. I could see making a loaf of this every day if I didn’t have so many other hobbies.
1T yeast (when I was homebrewing, I would use slurry from the bottom of the fermenter)
1tsp salt (you can go as low as ½tsp, but this is the amount that “tastes right” to me)
Other – an egg, some milk, cheese, ham, etc. they’ll all change the end product, and you’ll need to adjust the liquid to make it right, but you have to do that based on what kinds of flours you use, too.
1-2C water – enough to make the dough right but a little wetter generally works better than too dry. The dough should stick to your hands if you handle it without flouring them first.
Method
Put everything but the water into a stand mixer with a dough hook and add a cup of liquid.
Start the mixer on its lowest speed, and run it until the dough comes together. Add a little liquid if it looks too dry. Don’t panic if it looks too wet, because the flours absorb water, and you’ll almost certainly need to add a little more.
Turn the mixer speed up a notch. The dough should mostly pull clear of the sides of the bowl, forming a shiny ball. If none of it is sticking to the sides, add a bit (maybe a tablespoon) more water at a time.
Once you’ve got a good dough going, turn the mixer up to the third speed. This is where the mixer will start dancing around the counter. You want to go at this speed for maybe five minutes. You might need to add a little more water. I generally do.
Spray the dough (in the mixing bowl) with nonstick cooking spray and cover with a piece of plastic until it has doubled in size.
Prepare a pan or sheet with grease or flour to bake the bread on. Even a nonstick pan needs some flour or grease on it.
Put a little (maybe a tablespoon) of flour on a board or the counter and turn the dough out onto it. Fold the dough over a few times to knock some of the air out of it, then form a loaf. Sprinkle the top with any toppings, slice expansion marks in, and cover loosely with plastic wrap so it can rise again.
When the dough has doubled in size again, pop it in a hot oven. Generally 350-400 is the right temperature range, but I’ve baked in ovens as hot as 700F. Hotter gets done quicker.
Bake until the dough hits 190F internally. 20-40 minutes in a 350-400F oven, depending on the dough, loaf size, and shape. As little as 3 minutes in a blazing hot pizza oven if you’re making flatbread.
Cool on a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes, but 10 is better. Things need time to set and if you cut in too early, the bread can deflate and will look sad. Cut off a slice or six, and enjoy!
Today was another windy day out. The temperature was warmer than yesterday, but the wind is still blowing around 20mph, which is just too windy to do anything outside, so I baked a batch of bread.
They’re. 2:1:1 mix of Graham flour, bread flour, and corn flour, and we’re going to have lunch in a few minutes. I bet we have sandwiches!
Mix ingredients thoroughly and knead until the dough is glossy. Let proof until it has doubled in size.
Knock the dough down, shape the loaf, flouring the outside if it’s too sticky, set on a greased pan and let rise until doubled in size. Bake for 23 minutes in a 425F oven. Interior temp of the loaf should be 190F when it’s done.
Throw it all into the stand mixer and mix it on low until it comes together as a dough, then increase the speed to medium and knead for 10 minutes.
Let proof in the mixing bowl until doubled in size. Turn out onto the (floured) counter and punch it down. Divide into three equal parts and roll into small loaves and place into three small greased loaf pans.
Let rise until the top is just spilling over the top of the loaf pans. Bake for 22 minutes in a 425F oven and turn out onto a cooling rack to cool.
Once cooled, enjoy!
This has (just) enough heat that you can tell there’s peppers in there, but the #bread still tasted great wrapping a ham and cheese sammich.
