The Bread

Erin, I like the idea of making sourdough, per your previous post, but there's all that waiting involved. So, my friend Doug, who lives in New Hampshire, and I both make this 5 minute artisan bread on a regular basis. One of us found the recipe in the NY Times (probably Doug), and now we make it constantly and text each other pictures of our loaves-in-progress. It came from some book by some bakery people -- I don't know. Doug can tell you. The most important thing to know is how to make it, which is super easy, which is why we like it so much. I made the best loaf I've ever made a couple of days ago, and I've still got about 2 loaves worth of dough left. This is not it, but this one was pretty:

Sometimes, my dough is so awesome, it looks like art.

It's the easiest thing on Earth to make; here's what you do:

Take 3 C warm water and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of yeast and put them in a big bowl. I wait a few minutes for it to foam up, but you don't need to. Lately, I've been using Bob's Red Mill active yeast, which I find in the refrigerated section near the tofu at Whole Foods. Good yeast makes the difference, in my opinion.

Add 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Kosher salt.

Add 6 1/2 C flour. Doug and I agree that half white, half whole wheat makes better bread than 100% of one or the other. Just dump it in the bowl and stir until it's all mixed together. You're done. No kneading involved. It's Lazy People Bread.

Gather the dough into a ball, let it sit around for a couple of hours, then stick it in the fridge, or cut off a 1/3 of it and make a loaf right away.

Form your dough into a nice round loaf, dust it with flour, score the top, put it on a peel or a pan dusted with cornmeal, and let it rise for 40 minutes. Put it in a preheated 450 oven for 30 minutes with a couple of ramekins filled with water (or pour water in your broiler pan), to create steam, which gives the bread a nice chewy crust. Ta da! Bread! Sometimes I throw in a handful of walnuts, which makes it insanely delicious.

This is the Cliff's Notes version I keep posted near the oven. I'm thinking about editing it down to one post-it note:

Starting Sourdough

Franny was recently asking me about sourdough starter wondering if she made it in Portland would it be different than San Francisco sourdough.  Technically, the answer is yes.  Apparently during the Gold Rush era, the Boudins, a French family of bakers, settled in San Francisco and discovered that the sourdough they made in San Francisco was especially unique so they set about baking... and raking in the cash.

I've seen some very complicated recipes for sourdough starter, but it's actually very simple. Here's my method:

Make your starter at least 3 days before you intend to bake with it.  The following recipe is for a gluten-free sourdough starter, made from rice flour, which helps enormously with getting gluten-free breads to rise properly.  One can substitute bean, wheat or rye flours for the rice flour, if desired.

Sourdough Starter
2 1/2 tsp dry yeast granules
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp potato (instant flakes, potato flour, or cooked russet)
1 tsp sugar
1 cup rice flour

The sugar feeds the yeast so don't leave it out, but you can substitute a few crushed grapes if you prefer.  You can probably get away with leaving out the potato flour, if you don't have it.

In a glass jar or potter crock (no metals!) mix the potato into the water, then dissolve the yeast into it.  Put the lid on and shake to mix.  Add the sugar and the rice flour, cover and shake again.  Take the lid off and stir whatever hasn't mixed thoroughly from the shaking then, leaving the lid off, cover with a paper towel and leave the starter sitting on your kitchen counter for at least 3 days, stirring occasionally.  Over time, it will start to bubble and give off a pungent fragrance - this is the good stuff! (Take out the grapes at this point, if you used them).  The longer you leave it, the more flavor it will impart.  A layer of liquid will eventually form on top so be sure to stir it well before you use it.  I add 1/2 cup to any bread recipe I make - it adds great flavor and helps the loaf rise up nice and fluffy.

Replenish the starter after each use by adding 1 cup of lukewarm water for every 1 1/2 cups of rice flour, or variations on that ratio as needed.

Store in the refrigerator indefinitely.

Superloaf!

Note from Franny: Erin, I got your sourdough starter in the mail, along with all those gorgeous Meyer lemons, and everything else you sent. You're the best!

So, I made my 5 minute artisan bread last night and, as sort of an afterthought, I tossed in most of your sourdough starter. I don't know what I was thinking, adding all that extra yeast, but it came out great! Since you need a source of steam to create the nice crust -- and I'm always trying to figure out the best way to make more steam -- I placed a small cast iron pan filled with water on the floor of the oven. I also added walnuts, and the result was a wonderful, chewy loaf of bread. It's really quite remarkable, if I do say so myself. It seems as though each loaf is better than the last. Here's a picture of  my latest masterpiece >>>

While I was baking, I watched an Ashton Kutcher movie on my computer in the kitchen (the one where he and Natalie Portman are friends-with-benefits trying hard not to fall in love with each other -- No Strings Attached). It was truly terrible.