A Simple Loaf of Bread

Essays about bread baking all begin the same way. How bread is no more than flour, water, yeast, and salt. How bread is an ancient staple. Words are intoned about staff of life. From there, it’s off to feed the poolish.

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Now, there is bread baking at home, and there’s Bread Baking at Home. Let’s chat about the latter, shall we?

A few years ago I belonged to a group of passionate, highly skilled bread bakers. Many had professional baking experience.

These people took every aspect of bread baking, from ambient room temperature to DIY backyard bread oven construction, utterly seriously in their pursuit of the perfect loaf. And their breads were wonderful indeed.

This is not the kind of bread baking we’re doing here. No starters, no bannetons, no peels. No ovens built from upcycled bricks.

Just a simple loaf of bread.

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I used all-purpose flour rather than bread flour because all-purpose is still easier to find. If you want to bake this bread with bread flour, go right ahead.

The kind of riveting shot everyone loves.

Flours aside, know that the dough will be sticky.

You can leave the dough on the counter until it doubles in size, 1-2 hours, or refrigerate it overnight. Slowing down the first rise via refrigeration is called “retarding,” as in “slowing down.”

The slower the rise, the better the bread. Even a simple loaf like this one benefits tremendously from an overnight rise in the refrigerator. The resulting loaf has a deeper flavor and keeps longer. I have no photograph of this. Well, I do, but it’s not that great. Instead, a charming table in Southwest Berkeley.

I realize some people will find the notion of mixing up a bread dough and then waiting until the next day to bake it laughably unrealistic. You may be waiting for the auto glass repair people to show up. Or perhaps the plumber. Adding an overnight bread rise into the equation?

No. Just no. That’s fine. Give the bread a first rise of 2 hours or 20. It really doesn’t matter, so long as it gets that first rise.

The second rise has arrived, and it’s time to preheat the oven. If you use a baking stone, put it in the oven now. As noted in past posts, I use clay kitchen floor tiles, bought at Home Depot. (If you try this, make sure your tiles don’t have tape or glue backing).

A cast iron griddle is another excellent option. Lacking these items, a sturdy baking sheet works beautifully.

Lightly flour your work top and hands. Now tip the dough out and gently deflate it.

Just before deflating.

The bread may be left plain, or you can fold in a few flavorings. I added oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, and a few Castlevetrano olives.

If you are adding flavorings, pat the bread into a rough oblong shape. Scatter about quarter of the filling over the top. Fold the edges over. Repeat.

If the bread fights you, allow it to rest for a few minutes. Fold again, adding a bit more flour to the counter if the bread wants to stick. A bench scraper is helpful here.

Keep this up until the filling is integrated. Form the bread into an oval shape.

Cover the bread with a clean dishtowel and give it a second rise of about 35 minutes.

This simple bread also makes good rolls. Instead of making one loaf, form the bread into a fat sausage shape. (can’t you tell from my example?)  Using a metal bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the dough into rolls.

When it comes to getting the bread dough into the oven, I use either my hands or the bench scraper. I realize my methods are highly unorthodox, but while preparing this post, I tried combining two jars of dried yeast. One was almost empty, the other new.

In short order my kitchen was scattered with tiny greyish green pellets–across the counter, under the microwave, on the floor. Can you imagine me trying to wrangle a baker’s peel? with a ball of dough at the end of it? into the maw of a flamingly hot oven?

Sometimes hands are the best tools.

Today I learned, as the kids say, that bread is fully baked when the internal temperature reaches 200-210F/93-98C. Thanks goes to Carol Field’s classic The Italian Baker, a wonderful book no kitchen should be without.

Enjoy your simple loaf, or rolls, at any time or place you enjoy bread. This loaf would also make excellent stuffing.