03/27/2020
Take 2 cups water and drop in a handful of ice
22 ounces bread (strong) flour in the bowl
One side at the edge where the flour meets the bowl, put 1 tsp kosher salt, other side 1-1/2 tsp yeast
Make a well in the middle covering the salt and yeast.
Measure 14 ounces of the ice water with the cubes strained off and add 1/4 c olive oil. You should have 2 cups liquid total. Save any remaining cold water.
Pour the liquid into your flour well. With a dough hook, S L O W L Y mix until all the ingredients are combined.
Mix on med to med-high speed for 7 minutes.
Let rest for 10 mins
Mix again med to med-high for 7 mins
Dough should completely pull away from sides of bowl but should just barely stick to bottom of bowl. You should see this in your first mixing. If it is sticking to the sides, turn off mixer, add a few tablespoons to a quarter cup flour, turn on S L O W speed again increasing speed after the flour in incorporated. If the dough is not sticking, add some ice water one tablespoon at a time.
Resting for 10 mins between the 2 speed mixes allows the dough to relax. It allows the flour to absorb the moisture from the water and It allows your mixer’s motor to cool down. Give the yeast a taste of good things to come and save that motor for later.
Can you do this by hand? Yes. The whole process can be done by hand, has been done by hand and I have even done it without a bowl. If you have a couple hours, go for it.
During the second mix session, take a sheet pan and cover it with parchment paper. Spray (or brush) the paper with olive oil. Set aside.
So now you have a really nice lump of dough. It should feel slightly sticky. Turn it out onto a lightly dusted board and divide into 6 equal pieces. I split the whole thing in half then try to cut each half into three pieces.
Turn each piece into a ball. Like so: ok, I really thought the motions I use would be easy to communicate. It’s not but I’ll try anyway......
Press down and forward on the front of the lump of dough with the heel of your hand. I make a counterclockwise circle movement about 2” in diameter. Then slowly repeating that movement I will start to lower my fingertips to the board to cage the ball as it forms.
I’m going to have to do a video of this, aren’t I? Leave a comment and I will get the grandkids to help me set it up.
When you finish a ball place it on the prepared pan. Space out those balls. A half pan will hold 6. Spray (or brush) the balls with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Yes. Refrigerate. No, you don’t get bread today. You should have started yesterday for that. Go to bed.
Night passes then day comes. Ignore that pan of bread balls in your fridge. Don’t even touch them. There is magic happening. See, yeast is a living thing. It eats, it farts, it dies. Right now it is busy eating and farting. And, just like beer, it is fermenting your flour and water mixture. That fermentation is making wonderful flavor notes right there in your fridge. Early afternoon is the first time you will even think of looking at it, ok? Ok.
Take the pan out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter. It needs to come up to room temperature. That takes about 3 hours. If you don’t need six pizzas, say you only need 2, cut the parchment paper, G E N T L Y and S L O W L Y transfer them to another pan or something. Cover with plastic and warm up to room temp. Put the rest back in the chiller to continue to eat and fart their way to flavor heaven.
I have been spending too much time with my grandkids. Just the word fart cracks them up. Flatulence is a ridiculously hard word to say or spell. But that’s why I really use *fart*. Of course I would never say it just to watch children break down into fits of giggles.
Flour has strands of protein called gluten. Different grains have varying amounts. We use a Bread Flour or Strong Flour because the wheat used has long, strong chains of gluten. We need the gluten to line up in even longer chains to capture the yeast farts. We also need the dough to relax before baking so we don’t have this iron hard brick to dull our knives and break our teeth. Remember to let your dough rest after working. A good rest will give you a light loaf with proper lift and crumb. It should be well textures with maybe a few larger air bubbles.
The yeast eats the carbohydrates surrounding the gluten and turns it into sugar. Yeast is a funny critter. It likes single carbohydrates. Refined sugar is a double molecule. Yeast cannot eat it. Putting it into bread only makes your bread sweater and spikes your blood sugar. I prefer to keep my savory breads not as sweet but still the proper fermentation gets a sweet flavor. By carefully fermenting you develop complex flavors that will make everyone love your bread. The addition of different grains adds different flavors to the fermented loaf. Think of Bread Flour as your base. Substitute other flours. Baking is always 2 parts knowledge, 4 parts experiment and 3 parts luck. But I digress...
Remember when I said “yeast is alive”? Let’s discuss the last bit. The death part. DO NOT let yeast die a natural death. If you let it ferment too long you will get a nasty, bitter aftertaste. Three days max. You can freeze the dough. It can be vacuumed and will keep for 6 months. I freeze it first then vacuum it. When ready to use, unpackaged it and put it on a pan, cover with plastic and refrigerate to defrost. If you don’t vacuum pack I would say 3 months tops.
Form your dough ball into pizza crust, bread sticks, or baguette. I did breadsticks last night and put grated Romano on top. I proofed them until almost double in size. Baked them in a hot - 400°F (~204.4°C) - oven for 35 mins. Baguette would need 45-50 mins and pizza I would use a stone and about 20-25 mins.
Tips:
• Keep the salt and yeast on opposite sides of the bowl. The salt will kill the yeast. The little bit you are adding will not IF they are not introduced immediately.
• Don’t over handle the dough. The least amount of hands on the better it will be. Your mixer has already done all the kneading for you. Any more and you will have iron bread.
• Yeast really does release gas - CO2, carbon dioxide. Technically it is not a fart as a typical fart is mostly methane. But still..... it does produce the air pockets and gives the bread it’s shape. Like farting in a bubble bath produces bubbles. The developed gluten strands keep the bubbles from breaking.
• Kneading aligns the gluten. Resting and proofing relaxes the alignment. There is a balance you can only know by feel. You will touch the dough and the way it springs back will tell you it has had enough kneading. Proofed dough will not spring back as vigorously but over proofed will sink. Just do it. Practice and play and get those eureka moments. You will know.
• Pizza is a less is best thing. Little sauce so your crust isn’t wet and gummy, enough cheese to say “yes, I put cheese on it”, one or 2 other toppings. Toppings with a high liquid content - mushrooms, zucchini and raw meats - should be cooked prior to topping the pizza. From bottom up you should have crust, cheese, toppings. Fresh leaves of arugula, spinach or basil can be put on the pizza as it comes out of the oven. It will be hot enough to cook that stuff without killing it like a 400° oven will in 20 minutes.
• If at first you don’t succeed, don’t you dare give up. I believe I am a good cook and a fairly decent baker. I only believe that because I got over my failures and kept doing it. There are a few things on my journey that are not worth eating but is was a very tiny amount. Most everything gets eaten up with plenty of suggestions for “next time try”. So if it doesn’t work, let me know. I will help you be a confident baker. If it does work, share pics and any tips you may have found along the way. I am learning, too.
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