Slow Sunday ~ Baking Bread featuring Our Daily Bread in a Crock – Weekly Make and Bake Rustic Bread

Slow Sunday ~ Baking Bread

featuring 

Our Daily Bread in a Crock – Weekly Make and Bake Rustic Bread

Sunday 31st July 2011

Dimanche 31 Juillet 2011 ~ St Ignace de L

Slow Sunday

It was my plan to feature a Long Slow French Lunch today, but we are very busy with Bed and Breakfast guests at present, so I suspect it will be a rapid sandwich or a bowl of soup for lunch today…….still, I will need bread, and this bread is an absolute winner ~ and is SLOW too. Sometimes called Hearth Bread, this dough is made ahead of time and then used as and when you fancy a freshly baked loaf of bread.

This is the trick ~ make up a large batch of rustic artisan style bread dough, store it and then bake a loaf each day you need fresh bread, amazing but true. This is a “hodge podge” of old fashioned English and French rustic bread recipes; the bread dough is made up ahead of time and stored (in the old days) in an earthenware crock or bowl, with a lid. You tear a piece of the dough off as and when you want to bake a loaf of bread. Easy! I use this style of bread dough regularly in the B and B, so I can always have fresh bread or bread rolls on hand for breakfast. You can add other types of flour to the basic white batch, as long as the ratio remains the same – you can mix rye or whole wheat flour with the white, or add herbs, onions, seeds, fruit and other flavourings. 

The dough can be used as soon as the initial proving has finished, but it will keep in a cool place or a fridge for a week or two – I do not recommend longer than 2 weeks however. The dough can be used for free form bread loaves, in bread tins, as rolls or other shapes. I have kept this technique and recipe to myself for a while, but I have decided to share it now, mainly as my daughter keeps asking for the basic dough recipe. 

I notice that this type of long-term or long-life bread dough has made a revival in a new book called “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”; this recipe however, is a very old technique and method, dough was always made up for the week and then kept in the cold room or pantry for daily baking. My grandmother who lived in a 600 year old cottage in Northern England, used to have a stone slab in the Pantry where she kept her crock and dough, I remember sticking my finger in it!! This amount makes about 4 to 5 loaves of bread, depending on the weight and shape of the bread that you bake.

 So, with the house full of guests and no chance to pop out and buy a baguette, I made a batch of this dough up today, for Slow Sunday. I started it off last night and made a boule style loaf of bread for breakfast today. Next week I will be show casing a Long Slow French Lunch, but for today, here is the recipe for my slow bread.

Our Daily Bread in a Crock – Weekly Make and Bake Rustic Bread

 (Makes 4-5 Loaves of Bread)

Ingredients: 

• 24 fluid ounces tepid/hand warm water – 1 1/2 teaspoons dried fast rising yeast Or, 1 oz fresh yeast, added to a little warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt 
• 1 3/4 lbs strong white bread flour ( 6 1/2 US Cups)

Method: 

1. Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl – the water should be tepid or hand warm – NOT too hot, as it will kill the yeast.

2. Add the yeast to the water and then the salt, mix well.

3. Add ALL the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or a dough hook until all the ingredients are amalgamated – NO need to over knead.

4. Leave the bread dough in the mixing bowl and cover loosely – I use a shower cap to cover my dough! (That is NOT used as a shower cap any more, I hasten to add!)

5. Allow to prove for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

6. The dough can now be stored in the fridge or you can use the dough to make a loaf of bread immediately.

7. If baking a loaf of bread now, pre-heat the oven and place a baking sheet or pizza tray in there. Tear off a large ball, about the size of a small melon, and knead it for about 1 minute with floured hands and on a floured board, Shape it as desired (Rolls, Cob, Cottage Loaf, Boule, Baguette or Bannette etc) or place it in a greased and floured loaf tin. Allow to prove and rise for a further 20 to 30 minutes. Slash the surface with a sharp serrated knife if you wish, see photos. You can add a glaze or special finish at this point.

8. Bake at 225C/450F for 30 minutes or until well risen, brown and the loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside. (If you wish, you can add a bowl of boiling water as soon as you put the bread into the oven – this steams and bakes the loaf to give a good chewy texture and keeps the inside moist.)

9. Remove the bread when baked and cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter, cheese, jam, hams and cold cuts, or slice when cool for sandwiches. Also wonderful when toasted the next day.

10. Store the excess dough in the mixing bowl, loosely covered, in the fridge or somewhere cool until needed – this will keep for 2 weeks, but I find it has all gone by 7 to 10 days! This amount of dough will make between 4 and 5 loaves of bread, depending on the shape and amount of dough you use.

 This bread is GREAT for making a Bacon Butty!

See you tomorrow……and have a wonderful slow Sunday.

Karen