3 cups lukewarm water
1 Tablespoon granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
1 1⁄2 Tablespoons coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour
1. Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (~100 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl (preferably a lidded container); don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.
3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping leveled cups of flour, one at a time; don’t pat down the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon, stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist. If hand-mixing becomes too difficult, use very wet hands to press it together. No need to knead. This step is done in a matter of minutes, and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.
4. Cover loosely - no screw-topped jars, which could explode from trapped gases. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, or at least flatten on top ~2 hours. Longer rising times, up to five hours, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with than room-temperature dough. We recommend refrigerating the dough at least three hours before shaping a loaf. And relax! You don’t need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional recipes.
5. Refrigerate the dough in your lidded (not airtight) container, and use it over the next two weeks: You’ll find that even one day’s storage improves the flavor and texture of your bread. This maturation continues over the two-week period. Cut off and shape loaves as you need them. The dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in an airtight container and defrosted overnight in the refrigerator prior to baking day.
To make a loaf of bread (and scroll down further to see how to make a pizza crust!)
1. Prepare a pizza peel as the resting spot for loaf of dough you plan to bake. (You will slide the loaf off the pizza peel onto a preheated pizza stone when it's time to bake.) Sprinkle pizza peel it liberally with cornmeal to prevent the loaf from sticking to it.
2. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four “sides,” rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection of four bunched ends. Most of the dusting flour will fall off; it doesn’t need to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf will flatten out during resting and baking.
3. Place the ball on the pizza peel. Let it rest uncovered for about 40 minutes. Depending on the dough’s age, you may see little rise during this period; more rising will occur during baking.
4. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on another shelf.
5. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash a 1⁄4-inch-deep cross, scallop or tick-tack-toe pattern into the top. (This helps the bread expand during baking.)
6. With a forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the baking stone. Quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, there’s little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. When you remove the loaf from the oven, it will audibly crackle, or “sing,” when initially exposed to room temperature air. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire rack, for best flavor, texture and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will firm up again when cooled.
To make a loaf of bread
Follow all steps above, with the exception of stretching dough thinner in step two. I like to place stretched, individual cursts on parchment paper to rise - and then transfer the whole paper and crust onto the preheated pizza stone if baking. Baking crusts take less time (but I've forgotten how much!), so watch closely and comment when you've tried it!
BOOKISH - @Sarah introduced us to this incredible bread. Love it! I've begun to use it for making grilled pizza!
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